Camping not just pitching a tent anymore

[bijou]

These days, camping isn’t just pitching a tent in the wilderness on a long hike, or stopping at a campground far from home on a road trip.

For many leisure travelers, camping nowadays might involve driving just a few miles from home to spend the night in a cabin with a roof, bathroom, beds and electricity, or taking the kids to a place that offers activities and entertainment like scavenger hunts or sports competitions.

About 25 miles from Columbus, Ohio, the Lazy River at Granville campground offers activities and entertainment ranging from a zip line to magic shows to arts and crafts. For those who bring laptops and TV sets, there’s wireless Internet and cable service. One of the most popular attractions at Lazy River is the “bug lady,” a local woman who takes visitors on nature walks and points out bugs.

“She’s the Pied Piper of bugs,” said Mark Kasper, owner of Lazy River. “She just entrances her audience.”

Kasper said that when he was young, “you’d go to the state park and watch a presentation with a ranger and a movie. Now it’s different. We try to have everything the modern-day person wants, and yet you’re away from the city.”

Jeff Crider, spokesman for the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, said you still can find plenty of campgrounds that offer a natural setting and a nice environment for kayaking, fishing or river tubing. “But what the parks are finding is that more and more families want things to do,” he said. “And fun activities are a way to get kids away from computers and iPods and do something as a family.”

Jolene Baxman organizes an annual two-night trip for a dozen mothers and their kids to a Kampgrounds of America facility in Petaluma, Calif., a mere five miles from where she lives. But they don’t pitch tents. They rent a lodge with a bathroom, indoor shower, kitchenette, barbecue grill and, of course, beds.

“It’s not far from our homes but it feels like we’re camping,” Baxman said. “We’re out in the woods; it’s very beautiful — lush trees and you don’t hear any cars around. We’re not in a tent, but it’s camping to us.”  ...

link

When the apocalypse comes and she has to camp out, she'll be in for a shock. 

[CG6468]

Camping is not "camping" any more. Staying in your RV with A/C, and driving around in a towed vehicle is not camping. It's just a much more economical way of traveling.

No problem with that, but it's not camping.

[Gina]

   and I came here to see a "Pitched Tent"     thought it was Weinergate II

[thundley4]

 and I came here to see a "Pitched Tent"     thought it was Weinergate II

Of course you did. 

[CG6468]

 and I came here to see a "Pitched Tent"     thought it was Weinergate II

Be careful what you hope for!  

[Evil_Conservative]

I was reading one of my magazines yesterday which threw out a new term called "glamping" aka glamorous camping.  Which is basically what was talked about in the original post - laptops, TVs, RV's, etc. 

Whenever my mom tells me my dad & her went camping, I asked if they took the RV.  When she says, "yes", I kindly told her she was not camping.

What I would like to do is actually go camping at Sunset Crater in Arizona.  We just want to wait until Carleigh is old enough to really enjoy it and understand it.

[CG6468]

I was reading one of my magazines yesterday which threw out a new term called "glamping" aka glamorous camping.  Which is basically what was talked about in the original post - laptops, TVs, RV's, etc.  

Whenever my mom tells me my dad & her went camping, I asked if they took the RV.  When she says, "yes", I kindly told her she was not camping.

What I would like to do is actually go camping at Sunset Crater in Arizona.  We just want to wait until Carleigh is old enough to really enjoy it and understand it.

Being among the "elderly" now, with the assorted aches and pains of arthritis, my wife and took our popup and stayed at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon last September. Still crowded that late in the year, though.

And cold. A 30 MPH whistling through the pine trees makes things rather "chilly."

[Celtic Rose]

I enjoy real camping.  In high school I used to go on backpacking trips up in the Sierra's, and my friends and I try to go camping (in a tent) every summer.  We usually have bathrooms nearby, because they are wimps, but it is fun.

[bijou]

Some more luxury camping

Indoor caravan park offers camping experience with a twist
Forget traffic jams, wind swept campsites and a wet march to the shower block – a new indoor caravan park is offering a camping experience with style.



Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/865361-indoor-caravan-park-offers-camping-experience-with-a-twist#ixzz1OWqCaj6W

[Wineslob]

These people need to die in a campfire.   

Actually, if it keeps them out of the real woods, GOOD.

[CG6468]

The first thing when we get to a site = campfire! 

[Celtic Rose]

The first thing when we get to a site = campfire! 

Yep, that is best part of camping 

[debk]

My first summer in college, I lived in a tent with 3 other counselors at a Girl Scout camp in central Illinois.

We did have a wood floor, and we slept on metal cots. We had a lantern, and flashlights....and gigantic spiders. For 9 weeks, I slept in that tent. Through heat, humidity, and thunderstorms.

It was quite a hike to the bath house for sinks, showers, and toilets....with concrete floors and more spiders. It was a very dark hike at night, so we had very green grass around our tent. 

It was a longer hike to the dining hall....it had electricity, and screen windows, and more sipders.

The lake - where I worked for 9 hours a day - teaching swimming, canoeing, and lifeguarding - was beyond the dining hall. The lake didn't have spiders in it. It had snakes and cow poop that washed into the lake from the pastures on either side of the camp.



My idea of camping? A hotel without room service.

[catsmtrods]

This is how I roll! I have 2 of these and love them! They have been thru all kinds of weather and kept me warm and dry. Fly in fishing can be a bitch without the right tent!

[LC EFA]

I pretty much refuse to stay at any campground that you can get a RV or campervan into.

All require 4x4 high clearance access and a little bit of offroading ability.

It means you don't have some asshole running a generator to power their TV and sat receiver when they should be relaxing fireside with an adult beverage.

[MrsSmith]

Real camping   

[LC EFA]

Camping in crocodile country.

[Gina]

our setup on the Spring River



and it snowing

[zeitgeist]

I camped in a pup tent in the dead of winter when I was a kid. Nothing like waking up to fresh snow.

I camped in a pick-up camper when I was younger.  I had a great class C.

And today I finished up my second full day of detailing the Class A Motor Home (in the spirit of the unofficial Navy Motto, Work it may, Shine it must.") .  Bells and whistles galore.

I will confess the ice maker is a bit of over kill but I really do enjoy the clean bathroom facilities on the road.

Now diesel is a bit pricey, but hey, I am moving a complete house.

[Wineslob]

3 mile hike to this:

[longview]

I hate camping anymore.

Started chasing cows in the Rockies in my twenties and was over the romance of it all within a few days.  Pretty well avoided outfits that put you in a tent after that.  Freaking bears, wolves, errant cattle stomping all over camp... blech.

Don't mind camps without water, electricity, gas-powered refrigerators or lights.  I can get by without all of it.  But really like having a floor, a roof, doors and windows.  Even if the floor is well-swept dirt that is almost rock hard.  I like it.

Youngest is headed to college this fall.  Is insisting we go camping in the mountains again.  I probably will.  It's gonna take a lot of s'mores to keep mama happy, though!   

[Gina]

Rock Island
East Tennessee



Caney Fork River

[Mr Mannn]

I was reading one of my magazines yesterday which threw out a new term called "glamping" aka glamorous camping.  Which is basically what was talked about in the original post - laptops, TVs, RV's, etc. 

Whenever my mom tells me my dad & her went camping, I asked if they took the RV.  When she says, "yes", I kindly told her she was not camping.

What I would like to do is actually go camping at Sunset Crater in Arizona.  We just want to wait until Carleigh is old enough to really enjoy it and understand it.

Sunset crater outside of Flagstaff? I've been there. loved it. Not a lot of shade, but soft cinders for kids to play in. Just remember the lava flows are very sharp! I cut my finger on one.

One advantage is the cinder bed is very deep, so all the bathrooms have running water and flushing toilets. No open pits for restroom here.

Also the Indian ruins along the main loop road are really fun. they are castle like, and all car accessible. You can climb about in them. Worth taking a kid to see.
(The loop road takes you through Sunset crater and the Watputki Ruins one fee covers both parks)

[CG6468]

I pretty much refuse to stay at any campground that you can get a RV or campervan into.

All require 4x4 high clearance access and a little bit of offroading ability.

It means you don't have some asshole running a generator to power their TV and sat receiver when they should be relaxing fireside with an adult beverage.

KaCHING!!!!!!

[BlueStateSaint]

Did enough "camping" in Uncle Sam's service.  Thing is, my daughter may want to do it (camping) in the future.  My wife sure does.