Camping rules
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009For several reasons:
1. I think everyone should build a fire . There is something pretty satisfying about building your own fire. Bonus point for cooking on it.
2. Snuggle time is crucial for fall camping because it can be very cold. Especially if you only bring a single person sleeping bag (not recommended).
3. You can purchase a $1.00 “camping knife”. While useless it can make your husband happy to have a “man-tool”.
4. Smores.
5. You can meet great people!
On Columbus day weekend we headed down to the Shenendoah National Park to go camping. Nick had never been camping before whereas I am a seasoned girl scout. So I was excited ot get him out in the woods and show him the ropes. For his first camping trip I decided to break him in with car camping… I thought backpacking it might be a bit much for his first foray.
Shenandoah reserved spots but if you’re going last minute during a federal holiday near the DC area - there won’t be any left. We tried our luck with first come/first serve and here is a tip - it’s first come first serve to the camp site, NOT the ranger station. After waiting for an hour for someone to deposit a tag at the station I realized that it was first to the campsite, so I asked Nick to wait in the station I jumped in the car and started harassing asking people if they were leaving that day or staying for another night. I luckily found a site and threw a few belongings on it to mark my territory till the woman who had it previously left.
We set up camp and realized there weren’t any stakes in our tent bag, trip to the camp store #1. We started to realized we hadn’t gotten enough firewood so Nick made trips 2 and 3 to the camp store. I noticed some rocks at another campsite and stole them to make a “fireplace”. The rocks heated up all toasty and warm - it was divine. I then set up our tent and unrolled our brand new “king size” sleeping bag. When we purchased it we thought it was a 2 person sleeping bag. When we opened it on a chilly afternoon in preparation for a chilly night we realized that we had actually just purchased a really nice single sleeping bag. crap. Let me tell you, it’s a tight squeeze.
Our camping neighbors came over and introduced themselves, everyone lived/worked in the DC area and they were all nice and friendly. We agreed to meet up again after dinner so Nick and I made a few hot dogs. Real hot dogs for him and veggie hot dogs for me.
The camp store had amazing berry wine that our camp neighbors had brought over and we joined the party a campsite over. We also enjoyed meeting Barrett, a super sweet bichon.
Skyline Drive is gorgeous, and I highly recommend driving it sometime. My family has even taken Skyline Drive home just for funsies after vacations. It has beautiful vistas and during the fall? Well… it just can’t be beat!
We really enjoyed our camping trip, and next year, we’ll be sure to go for longer. And you know, get the right sleeping bag.
Did you go camping this year?






























