Win an Olympus® Stylus 1050 SW at CampingBlogger!
Last month we gave away a great little GPS receiver, a Garminâ„¢ eTrex Summit® HC, and this month CampingBlogger is back with the camera that was on of my Top 5 Christmas gift recommendations, in November. I’m a little more frugal with your money than I am with mine, however, so I’m giving away the top-of-the-line, 10.1 Megapixel model 1050!
Skiing the Backcountry – Gotta Get Up to Get Down!
When I was a kid, I learned to ski at the Hoodoo Ski Area and the Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort, in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. Skiing is also a popular family activity here in Silicon Valley, and we have several friends who make the trek to Tahoe or Sierra Summit, east of Fresno, on a regular basis. Skiing the Backcountry covers all things skiing with articles, gear reviews and resources to make your next backcountry skiing adventure safer and more fun.
If you are considering a family camping vacation this summer, you might be wondering how to keep everyone entertained and active, while you are in the middle of the woods. Fear not! There are camping activities to suit the ability and interests of everyone, young and old alike. Here are ten popular camping activities to get you started on planning your next family camping adventure.
Hiking is a great way to get everyone outdoors and into nature.
Hiking is a great outdoor activity that parents and children can enjoy together. It’s also a good way for kids to learn about nature and the environment and maybe some wildlife too, if you can coax the kids into an early start.
Of course, you might have to do a bit of coaxing to get the kids to go hiking, at all! Our three children encompass the entire spectrum of motivation, when it comes to hiking. Our oldest daughter (8) actually bugs us to go hiking, while her younger sister (7) would never go hiking, if it were up to her. It’s too soon to tell which side our son’s (4) motivation will fall on.
Now is a great time to focus on family camping plans and goals for the coming year.
One of our family goals is to go on a camping trip at least once every month. We did not achieve that in 2008, mostly due to my wife Lisa’s commitments in her Master’s program, so it’s a good time to refocus on family time for 2009 and start planning more monthly getaways.
Our typical camping trip is a Friday and Saturday night at some reasonably local location. Luckily, we have a lot of nice places to choose from, here in the San Francisco Bay Area, from beaches to forests in the coastal mountains. For short weekend trips, like these, it does not make much sense to spend a lot of time driving, so we limit ourselves to roughly a 2-hour radius around our home.