We get up around 9:30 or 10:00 because we watched TV until late or read a book the night before. The dogs need to go out, so while DH is getting dressed and ready to take them (at least one and one on tie down who cannot walk far), I get dressed and start a pot of coffee and put the biscuits in the oven. DH returns and feeds/water the dogs and comes to get a hot cup of coffee We set up breakfast outside (this is all assuming it's not pouring rain): DH is working the grill and I'm gathering dishes, utensils, OJ, and fixings for whatever is cooking (bacon, eggs, etc.) and then we sit down to eat. After reversing the breakfast stuff to indoors and clean up, we start the day with maybe a walk or visiting an attraction in the area. We visit WalMart because, well, doesn't everyone? 🙂 But mainly we relax or hike through the woods, photographing wildlife, maybe kayaking (need to do more of that!), and talk to each other without the phone, TV, or other distractions. Take the dogs for a long walk again. Sometimes we drive around and find local interests and wind up back at camp in time for making dinner, perhaps a campfire; sometimes when the temperatre is right and something we want to see is on TV, we might set up our chairs and TV outside and let the fire burn down so we can watch the stars before turning in to start another relaxing/active/interesting/or whatever camping day!
Sounds boring to some, too much for others, but just right for us.
Wake up too early due to our kids. Eat a bite of breakfast. Break up a fight between our kids. Chase kids around with big stick. Referee and argument between kids. Try to explain to our kids that everybody is supposed to have fun, not just them! Put bandage on skinned knee. Eat a bite of lunch. Break up an argument between our kids. Wonder why our kids can't entertain themselves, blame each other ( DW & I). referee another fight. Try to mend hurt feelings. Grab a snack on the way to the playground. Clean up another wound. Get into an argument (DW & I). Tell kids to get out of the road, again. Maybe kids will take a nap, NOT HAPPENING!!! Cook and eat supper, clean up mess and kids. Put kids down for the night and sit around fire discussing how fun camping is. :thumbup:
Our "typical" day? well....
Up early to shower and dress; make coffee (me) and tea (wife); make and eat breakfast, and wash the dishes; drive to the day's destination; sight-see; drive back to camp, stopping at a food store/roadside stand for dinner items; make and eat dinner, and do the dishes; read/play cribbage or Scrabble/walk leisurely through the campground; hit the sack.
OR
Up a bit later; make coffee and tea; walk the loop; cook and eat breakfast, and do the dishes; shower and dress; walk the loop again; read/play cribbage or Scrabble; make and eat lunch/clean up; begin planning the Dutch oven dinner; prep the dinner items; begin the slow cooking process; read/continue tending the coals and cooking; talk/continue tending the coals and cooking; set the table/open the wine (shhhh: don't tell the Rangers); dish the food and savor dinner; clean up/do the dishes; savor a post-prandial beverage; read/talk/play cribbage or Scrabble; plan for tomorrow; hit the sack.
OR......
Ours consist of getting up with kids early, making a pot of coffee first! Then cooking breakfast, eat and clean up, go fishing or taking grandkids to playground. Comeback and fix some sandwiches/chips for lunch, go to the pool for a while, come back for afternoon snack, maybe a nap, sit around, cook or make supper, eat, clean up. Sit around talk or do a activity like putt-putt, go to arcade for G-kids. Build a campfire, roast some marsh mellows and maybe make some smores. Talk a little, look at stars. Go to bed.
If the weather is bad-Rain, we have some games in the camper, usually some tv. We might get out and go to do a little shopping or walk around some stores to look and dream. The grandkids complain a bunch that they are bored or nothing to do, but we try to teach camping is getting away from the comforts of home. I guess I don't show or make a good example of it by having my satellite dish set up. But I can keep up with weather or big breaking news if something happens. It does help with cartoons to keep the G-kids settled down and quite for a little while for me and DW some relief.
I usually get up early (about 7 or so) and sit outside and watch the campground wake up. Say hello to the early risers out for their walks (or walking their dogs). If I am camping alone then just a lite snack for breakfast but if I am camping with others I am usually the breakfast cook and I will start the bacon to get everyone else moving. After breakfast and clean up I am happy just hanging around the camper reading or just sitting in the sun and napping. If I am camping with others we usually plan some type of excursion depending on who I am camping with and their interests. I am pretty easy going so "whatever" suits me fine. Lunch is usually sandwiches and such and then supper is either grilled or now DO cooking since I am practicing on anyone that is willing to try my recipes. After supper sit around the fire until we can't keep our eyes open.
I am the first one up, as soon as it gets light out. I will head out and get the fire going again from the hot coals from the night before. The rest of the gang will sleep for another hour or so. So I will get breakfast started and the smell will get them all up. After breakfast the boys go for a bike ride and I will head to the lake for some fishing. DW will stay and read a book. We will eat lunch and then go and do some sightseeing. Eat dinner and relax around the fire. The boys crash first followed by DW. I will sit by the fire and watch the sights of the campground and stars before calling it a night.
[quote author=camp dad link=topic=2458.msg23574#msg23574 date=1368409923]
Wake up too early due to our kids. Eat a bite of breakfast. Break up a fight between our kids. Chase kids around with big stick. Referee and argument between kids. Try to explain to our kids that everybody is supposed to have fun, not just them! Put bandage on skinned knee. Eat a bite of lunch. Break up an argument between our kids. Wonder why our kids can't entertain themselves, blame each other ( DW & I). referee another fight. Try to mend hurt feelings. Grab a snack on the way to the playground. Clean up another wound. Get into an argument (DW & I). Tell kids to get out of the road, again. Maybe kids will take a nap, NOT HAPPENING!!! Cook and eat supper, clean up mess and kids. Put kids down for the night and sit around fire discussing how fun camping is. :thumbup:
This sounds a lot like my trips. Except we will go do to the lake every now and again and throw a pole in the water.
Usually get up around 8 or 9 because I usually don't go to bed til 2 or 3 in the morning. I hardly make breakfast because one if I did all the work knowone is going to eat it anyways so now I have a mess to clean on my own. So I don't eat kids eat pop tarts or cereal. I will go around picking any trash or organize which feels like never happens. I will fix fishing poles in hopes of going. In between the kids either fighting or getting hurt. Plus you have the two dogs that either want to bark or chew on something the ain't suppose to.. Then try to go for a walk with the kids somewhere or may take a drive somewhere depends on where we are camping and what is in the area. If we are out we will grab a lunch somewhere or I will grill something for lunch or make sandwiches. Sometimes we will take a nap if I can get the kids be civil. Get up from a nap and try to go down to the lake to fish. Came back before dark get a fire going and make something on the grill for dinner. Then hang out by the fire all night. Sometimes I will go fishing down by the water at night. It really has a lot to do with where we are camping.
Honestly? Other than having an idea of meals, so I know amt of prep time and supplies to bring. We wing it. Eat when hungry, shower before bedtime. We may make a plan the night before, but most times out, I just want to relax. Now that kiddo is 12, he wants the same, he needs down time after a busy week too.
Well, maybe we're not so different afterall. I read someone's post (somewhere else) about just staying in camp all day and pidding; maybe DO cooking, maybe tending the fire, what-have-you. When we camp, it can get down-right stressful sometimes. We so often plan an activity until we're rushing to get somewhere or watching the clock to know where we'll be around meal times, or make sure we're at point A by the time the tram leaves, or some other deadline. One trip, we might be climbing Stone Mountain during the day. The next trip, we might be paddling a river somewhere and have to make some amount of progress by some time or other. Another trip, we might be planning to see a Brave's game. There's just very, very little down-time for us. Add to that, DW is still getting into the camping routine, so simple things like cooking tend to be over thought out for her. Since we're so often rushing back to camp to grab a sandwich before the next activity/whatever, we can get stressed out.
I can lay around a campfire all day, but I think I'm the only one in the family. DSs are often bored and can't entertain themselves. DW wants to be doing something all the time. She has orthopedic issues, so she can't hike far or very long (Stone Mountain probably wasn't the best idea, but I couldn't stop her). We love spending time outdoors, but we feel like we always have to have an activity planned. It sure would be nice to go to a campground and just enjoy being outdoors without stressing out over "what are we going to do next".
Maybe it's because camping for us is a social activity, we plan nothing (except what to bring food wise). We wake up when we wake up, have coffee/meals, then see what others might be doing. For us whether we join a group activity, or just have total "veg in a chair time" doesn't make one trip better than another.
For us it is easier as our kids are grown and gone. Once in a while our son will come along, but at 23 its his job to entertain himself.
Based on that, I can't describe a typical day since we never know what is going to happen.
 |
The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything that they have! |
I think it all depends on where we are. I don't like a schedule, but I do like to do something on Saturday. Hike, go to the lake, visit someplace in the area, etc. Since I have a 3yo I guarantee we will be at the playground at least twice during the weekend.
Matt O 2006 Skyline Nomad 27' travel trailer. Previously owned 1986 Coleman Columbia / 1992 Coleman Senecca / 1989 Born Free Class C RV.
Judy, sorry to hear about your dog.
We do a couple of different types of camping.
On a road trip, we do at most one or two one night stands in a row, arriving at the campground mid afternoon for relaxing time, campground visiting before dinner, followed by a little tv and/or book. When we stop for more than a night, we have learned to plan at least one do nothing day which usually includes shopping. When we're playing tourist we usually have a nice lunch at someplace like the national park lodge and then a light simple supper.
At Key West for the winter we might go out for breakfast or have coffee down by the water & watch the boats go out. The day can be shopping, walking, biking, napping (checking eyelids for leaks) visiting. Chores like laundry and dumping, filling tanks, occassionally rubbing a little on the trailer. Gathering with friends for happy hour at 4, pre-happy hour at 3 and sometimes pre-pre-happy hour. About once a week we will have a group meal at the campground or go downtown for something. Evening generator & tv time.
More often than not, we camp at Delaware's coastal state parks (Cape Henlopen & Delaware Seashore).
I get up early, 6-6:30, make coffee in my French Press, wake DH, we enjoy coffee while wildlife watching (taking a stroll to the marsh & inlet at DSSP; watching our hummingbird feeder and campsite birds at CHSP). Our days always involve beach time; we pack up the Jeep, as we have a surf fishing permit that allows us to drive a vehicle onto the beach. That said, the beach gets really crowded in the summer months by about 11 or so; our boys know that they need to get up early or else we won't get a spot and wind up on the non-vehicle, non-fishing swim-only beach (NOT that that's bad, still a great time as far as I'm concerned!) We wake them after we have our coffee and ask if they want breakfast - the answer is usually no; they ask us to wake them about 15 minutes before we leave so they can put on their bathing suits, go to the bathroom, and brush their teeth. We leave for the beach, taking enough food for their breakfast and everyone's lunch.
We drive onto the beach and find a spot; the boys help set up our EZ-UP canopy. After that, they usually put down blankets/towels and go back to sleep (though they usually argue with us about wearing sunblock before choosing to sleep in the blaring sun). DH and I set up the fishing gear and fish/swim a bit. Boys wake up and are hungry; we cook a lunch on the BBQ. They swim; we swim. After about 4-6 hours, we return to the campsite. Everyone showers. Dinner is made, boys ride bikes or take walks. If at CHSP, we start a fire (no fires allowed at DSSP). Sometimes boys read or use the internet via their phones. Our family always winds up taking a 'walk & gawk' through the campground, stargazing, and having insightful conversations about what we've experienced. After the boys go in to bed, DH and I have a few moments to talk in private.
After looking at this, we sound like really boring people who are stuck in a routine; I'm continually amazed at how something so seemingly simple can continue to be so wonderful and still full of surprises...guess that's the magic of camping!
We mostly wing it. I wake up around 0630 with a walk to the rest room. Return and grab a cold caffeine drink (diet Mt Dew or diet Coke). I sit in the morning sun and wait for the DW to stir (around 0800). We the have breakfast, and plan our day. We either eat lunch or supper, while out enjoying local attractions. The other meal, which wasn't eaten while out, is sandwiches. We read, play games, and/or watch the tube until we're tired and we head to bed. Having a little dog with us, there are a few dog walks and campground walks in here, but again, no planned times, since she has no set times to go.
The important thing for us is not a lot of strict planning. Our lives are crazy with activities, so while relaxing...we relax.
769
44
1 Guest(s)
