...Don't get me wrong, camping isn't all that bad. Aside from the inconvenience, dampness, filth, second-rate food, insects, and cold nights-- it's kinda fun.*
Fortunately, many people are more enthused about camping than fat-cat Garfield, the source of the quote above.
For myself, camping offers four wonderful features:
- enjoying the great outdoors
- enjoying a low-cost getaway
- bringing along the family dog
- getting off the internet/wireless/tv-media grid (- harder to do these days, with wider wireless service, iPhones, etc.)
Also fortunately, on the internet many individuals take the time to share advice.
Family Camping 101
Take Pete's Family Camping Site, for example. Find pointers on just about everything: packing the kitchen, campsite courtesy, ice and coolers, packing the clothes, facing the bugs.....
Family Camping Gear
is a detailed list of what these folk take on a trip.
Tent Topics has advice on tent shape, and the number of people who can, truly, comfortably occupy a given tent.
(I'm pleased they didn't forget the duct tape, of which it has been said: "Duct tape is like The Force. It has a light side, a dark side, and it holds the universe together"--Carl Zwanzig.)
Likewise, What to Pack: Family Car Camping is an excellent list -- including duct tape-- and it's handily organized into "Kitchen Gear", "Campsite Tools", "Light Sources", and other categories.
Family Camping on a Budget
About.com's long-time Guide for Camping has practical advice for first-timers for getting started on a budget of about $600 (for four of you), including recommendations for tents, cook-stoves, etc.
Family Camping: put it in perspective
If you feel overwhelmed by long lists of what to take on family camping trips, just remind yourself that it's still possible to head off with a pup-tent, a few sleeping-bags, and a pack of hotdogs.
Also remember that, even if you do invest $600 on equipment, with proper care that gear lasts for years and provides cheap vacations all the while. (Kids do lose the sleeping bags on sleepovers, though.)
See also, about Family Camping:
- About's Camping site covers Where to Go, Tips, hundreds of Outdoor Cooking Recipes, and lots more
- Camping Resorts: where "family camping" doesn't have to mean roughing it
- Family Camps: like summer-camp for kids, but for the whole family; simple lodgings, low-budget, meals included, many outdoor activities
* Garfield's words
of wisdom come from Life In The Rough, Buena Vista Records, United Feature Syndicate, 1985.
**photo (c) Teresa Plowright
