Happy Campers

On our first camping trip as a young couple, Jonathan and I spent a week with over planners.  Well intentioned, the other couple planned every meal, every activity and every second of our trip. It drove us nuts. It could be as a direct reaction to that, or our general laid back nature, but when it came to packing for camping trips we tend to take a "wing-it" approach, especially in the food department.

At times this has gotten us into trouble, where we drive around super hungry and cranky  -- at other times it gave us an opportunity to visit local towns and buy our ingredients fresh. Either way, once you camp with kids a "wing-it" nature needs to be curtailed. When little kids are hungry they need to eat.

Our previous camping trips, were short and near civilization. One night in the tent, and twenty minutes from the nearest pizza parlor.  With our Lassen trip we were looking at two nights camping, and we had to plan for every meal.

I'm thrilled to report that our planning worked without being overly annoying or inflexible. We had the right amount of everything. The first thing we did right was to pack plenty of snacks that could add up to a meal. By this I mean carrot sticks, peanut butter crackers, granola bars, pistachios, snack cheese, sandwich fixings, etc.

We also planned all seven meals, including two dinners, two breakfasts and three lunches. Our dinners were easy-to-grill items like hotdogs. Our breakfasts were basic things like cereal, bacon and coffee for the grown-ups and cocoa for the kids. (I think next time we'll figure out how to do pancakes one morning).

I also remembered a dish bin, dish towel and dish soap (the illusive dish soap I almost always forget) for easy clean-up.

Still one of our best decisions was staying at a KOA, with clean and working showers, conveniently located water for the campsite, as well as trash cans.  All of this added up to a wonderful trip.

The boys had a blast camping... we all can't wait to go again. Maybe next time for a week. Our camping check list is located here.

Dude, Where's Our Tent? Getting Ready for the Lassen Camping Trip

How is it that everytime we go camping I spend a day trying to track down all of our camping equipment? I also swear when we get home, I'm going to put it in one central place so that we can easily find it again next time. Then we get home from the trip and the equipment gets scattered to the four corners of the the basement and garage.

So, today is my camping scavenger hunt. Next weekend we are going to Lassen National Volcanic Park for three days. We got into the KOA before the 4th of July rush. We've wanted to go to Lassen for a long time, and finally we get to go.  I've got five tabs opened with possible places to visit, from Turtle Bay to Burney Falls, and of course the volcano. I can't wait! Camping, hiking, swimming and then we return home for the annual 4th of July neighborhood kids and dogs parade, followed by the San Jose Giants game and fireworks.  Fun, fun, fun!

Now if I can just find our tent.

Los Padres National Forest - What No Showers?

Before the boys, Jonathan and I called ourselves the slowest of the elite hikers. We climbed mountains, clung to the sides of cliffs, hiked under waterfalls, trekked through the wilderness in any weather -- of course the real elite hikers always passed us on the trail. We camped in the outback, carried 50 lb backpacks, purified our water from a stream, cooked our dinners, left no footprints, and came out of the woods greasy haired, dirty, but happy.

Boy those days are over. Last month we went on our first car camping trip with the boys. I called it a success, and then I happily planned our trip to Los Padres National Forest. We stayed in Los Prietos Campground, a beautiful location in the Santa Ynez Mountains near Lake Chumash, and only 23 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara. Even better, I was able to reserve on a weekend only a month out.

Well, so you know there are no showers, paid or otherwise, for the Santa Barbara Ranger District, and there are no sinks in the bathroom, and some campsites don't have access to water. It never occurred to me that a shower (even five miles from our campsite) wasn't standard issue for any campground. No wonder there was availability.

But we are tough, rugged, experienced campers...

With two boys under five, one still not potty trained, we apparently are not. We stayed only one night at Los Padres National Forest. The location was awesome, we didn't even mind the black flies at all, and our boys (especially Caleb) loved it.

But Saturday after a day at the beach with scummy teeth, covered in saltwater, sand and camp dust, we gave up on camping and found a hotel. On Thursday I'll write about our fun in Santa Barbara. But lesson learned, car camping with kids requires certain amenities, and those amenities are not always a given.

Camping at Big Basin

Add camping to the list of fun activities we can do with our boys. Xander and Caleb survived their first camping experience, and are both excited to go again. Yippee!

For the most part our night at Big Basin Redwoods State Park was a success.

We headed out of the house on Sunday morning ...  I left a little too much to the last minute, and forgot some items. Some we did without, or were able to buy along the way like sweatshirts and long pants for the boys, bug spray (we discovered an organic lotion that works like a charm), dish soap, a lighter, and a serving spoon.

The major oversight was Xander's favorite stuffed animal Bear. I should not have trusted a four-year-old to bring it, and it was a running theme of our night in the tent. "I miss Bear. I can't sleep without Bear. Do you think Bear is okay?"

We started our day off at the Campbell Farmer's Market. We bought fresh lunch and dinner supplies there, like Afghani spinach pie, sauerkraut for the sausages, and carrot cake.  I wasn't sure if we would be able to build a fire, so I skipped s'mores this time.

Before going to Big Basin, we also stopped and rode the train at Roaring Camp Railroads (I'll write about that trip on Thursday).

By the time we got to camp, Xander and Caleb were sound asleep in the car, allowing us to set everything up, without worrying about our little helpers. We couldn't have planned it any better.

Big Basin is located off of Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz Mountains. You can approach it from two directions. From Saratoga the road is narrow and windy ... from Boulder Creek, the road is much wider (still windy).

Once we were there we learned that all the campsites are near a creek bed, so mosquitoes are a problem. That was when we realized we forget mosquito repellent, and bought Sun Bug from the campground store. It contains citronella and was effective in preventing bites where we applied it. I must have missed Caleb's neck, and one of Xander's ears.

The campground was very quiet, only at about half capacity, one of the benefits of checking in on a Sunday and out on a Monday. We were located next to another family with a five-year-old boy, and a two-year-old girl. The boy was into trains, and Xander and Caleb made fast friends. 

We were allowed to build a fire, and bought firewood (and a lighter) from the ranger. The fire was fun, but also our biggest challenge of the night. Both boys wanted to help by putting the wood on the fire, of course that seemed like great fun to the preschool set. Jonathan and I had to educate on fire safety, and Xander still ended up with a time out at around 8 pm. He can break glass with his squeal, and I'm certain folks thought we were doing more than taking him in the tent and giving him a good talking to.

Big Basin doesn't have a bear issue, so we were able to store all of our food in the car. This would have worked great if Jonathan hadn't of slept with his keys. In the middle of the night he accidentally opened the trunk, and a raccoon got in. We had raccoon footprints on the cooler, between the car seats, and in the front. The raccoon got into a bag with a leftover muffin. I had everything else sealed in plastic crates or in the cooler, so it could have been much worse.

Everyone slept well, although Jonathan and I will be investing in foam pads for the tent. We're getting much too old.

Our next camping trip is a little more than two weeks away. Our one night adventure was a good trial run, and we feel much more prepared.

Going Camping

Growing up we camped. Some of my mom's best stories are around the camp trips we took... accidentally happening on the nude beach at Big Sur, horseback riding at Yellow Stone (apparently I cried the whole time), and going on a hike and ending up at the dump in upstate New York... Ahh good times.

So I decided that we should take our boys camping. With young kids the only choice is car camping.

Jonathan and I have only been car camping once since we got married. We went with graduate school friends to Bar Harbor, Maine. Our friend, an accomplished car camper, and a bit type A, planned every meal and packed enough food to last a month. We had different ideas, biking into town for lobster, buying fresh vegetables and meats at the local grocery store, playing it by ear -- at the end of the day we clashed a little, and it wasn't the best experience.

Still, we are fairly skilled campers. We are fully capable of backpacking into the wilderness, setting up a tent, cooking a serviceable dinner on a tiny stove, purifying our own water ... So how hard will it be to camp with small kids? We'll find out this weekend.

We are taking baby steps into the camping with kids experience.  For the last two weeks we have had the little tent set-up in the backyard (which the boys have been playing in). On Sunday for one night we have a campsite reserved at Big Basin Redwoods State Park, 23 minutes from our house.  On September 18 we are off to Los Pedres National Forest near Santa Barbara for two nights of camping. Depending on how everything goes, will either be happy campers, or not... I have a feeling that the boys will love it, and we will have another inexpensive way to travel with our kids.

In preparation for our first family camping adventure we needed a new tent. As much as I love our light weight two person tent, it just isn't big enough. I online shopped for a new 6 person tent, reading plenty of reviews and we settled on the Kelty Yellowstone. It was a good choice, it took me (I'm 5 feet 4 inches) twenty minutes to set-up in the back yard, and two minutes to take down.  We do have a full size Coleman camping stove from our 1994 car camping trip ... which is still in good shape. I also bought some additional lanterns, cooking supplies and mugs.

Everything is piled up in the backyard. From the picture you can see it is a mess. This afternoon I'll start packing it away for Sunday... Wish us a luck!