He has risen!

He has risen indeed!  Happy Easter!

Our Easter weekend was filled with, well, Easter stuff.  Also camping stuff.  As we were getting ready to head to the Easter Egg Hunt at our church yesterday, it hit me that Halloween camping trips (click HERE for our 2014 trip) will start booking soon.  Some texts with my best friend, conversations with others, and we've got our plans all set in hopes that we can get our preferred sites on the day booking opens up.

Today was beautiful out.  Husband took advantage of the good weather and climbed up on the roof of the camper to wash and protect it.  I didn't think to take a picture until after he'd climbed down, and there's the obvious window screen.  If I'd gotten a pic of Husband up there, I'd have said something about him rising, too.  The moment passed, the double meaning lost, picture isn't great quality.  Anyway... Husband also got the rest of the camper washed and waxed with some help from Oldest Kid.

Camping season is approaching, prep is starting!  We'll make our first trip next month, and I'm ready to get out there!

Not yet

Is it camping season yet?  Is it camping season yet?

No, not yet.

The snow has melted.  There's a promise of warmer days, but it's not as warm as I'd like.  I see buds on trees, but no flowers yet.  Crocuses are one of my favorites, they're a sign that spring is really coming.  Like pretty much everyone in Michigan, I'm just tired of winter.  I'm ready for walking barefoot on green grass, kids playing outside for hours, the garden growing.  I am also ready for camping.

It's been a long winter.  We've taken a number of day trips, some sledding but not enough because it was waaaaaaay too cold.  I've worked a lot.  On days I don't work, I try to get caught up around the house.  Today, I spent a thrilling few hours scrubbing the grout on my kitchen floor (really, is there anything vinegar can't do?).  The kids have gotten another year older since I started this blog.

I'm in full-on planning mode at this point.  Planning for camping, planning for family stuff.  I think there are a lot of great things happening for our family this year and I'm really looking forward to it.  Since this is a camping blog, I'll just stick to the camping stuff (yeah, yeah, cleaning my kitchen grout isn't exactly camping).  We've got some great trips planned.  We'll be visiting new places - Mohican State Park, Cottonwood in Quincy, and Wolf Run State Park.  We'll be visiting yearly favorites like Sleepy Hollow State Park and Hoffmaster State Park.  We will also hit up preferred campgrounds that we haven't visited in a while, Tawas Point State Park and Maumee Bay State Park.  I know we've got opportunity to travel more weekends, and those will get planned at some point.

I'm looking forward to each of these trips for different reasons.  Time with friends, time with my in-laws, time with just our family.  New sites to see, favorite sites to see, exploring favorites in new ways.

I'd love to know what you're most looking forward to in Camping Season 2015!

July 4th Planning

Winter is when I think about camping, and plan camping.

Today, I booked our camping trip for July 4th weekend.  This makes our 2nd booked trip for 2015, since I booked Memorial Weekend back in November.  For big holiday weekends, I like to make plans ahead of time, make sure we get a site.  Since we tend to aim for state parks, the booking window starts at 6 months in advance.  Which means today if planning a 3 day weekend.

The friends we're going with have potential obligations of picking up their son from Boy Scout Camp.  Apparently, the Boy Scouts don't work around my 6 month planning window.  Seems pretty selfish to not worry themselves about someone who lives in a different state, without a child enrolled in Boy Scouts, without a child that's a boy.  I mean, really.  C'mon here.

This Boy Scout issue meant we're camping in Ohio.  Much like Michigan DNR revamping their reservation website a year ago, Ohio DNR revamped their website in the month since we booked Memorial Weekend.  Much like the Michigan revamp, the Ohio revamp required recreating your account.  Unlike Michigan, Ohio wasn't completely accurate in rolling over your previous information, like current reservations and reward points.  D'oh.  A phone call fixed the problem, but it was still frustrating to have problems.  And I'm sure the ODNR employees are frustrated with having to fix this problem.  Also, the new website take some getting used to (read: many clicks to figure out the same info you were used to getting in 1 click).  I'm sure, with time, I'll get used to it.  I'm just not there yet.

With planning ahead, we were able to get into a very popular campground on a holiday weekend.  It's a campground we've never been to, though I've been to the area about 20 years ago.

We are looking forward to the trip.  Where do you plan on camping for 4th of July?

Time to think about Memorial weekend!

The brown November that I wrote about turned into a white November.  It's been cold and snowy here in Michigan.  Winter came early.  Oldest kid has suggested that we get the Christmas decorations out and put away the Thanksgiving and fall decor.  I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel yet. I'll wait a few more days, until after we eat our turkey and mashed potatoes.

What better way is there to spend a snowy Saturday morning than by planning a camping trip?

This year, I promised myself to remember to book Memorial weekend 6 months out.  Usually, I don't think about it until sometime in January and I'm left searching for the best of the left over sites across multiple campgrounds.  I smartened up this year, I put a reminder on my calendar on the date 6 months before Memorial weekend starts, which is today!  Husband and I discussed where we wanted to go beforehand and we had 98% of the campground to choose from when I booked at 7 am this morning (my kids' early-bird tendencies do have some benefits).

So, be a cool camper like me, and book your Memorial trip.

Is it camping season yet?