Splurging with a rib dinner at 9,000-feet in the Sierra Mountains

We began looking at camping trailers in 2005. I was the sales manager for a computer manufacturer with a focus on the defense industry, so much of time during the week was spent on the eastern coast of the United States; a work-schedule that was cutting into the time I could spend with my family. Camping would be a way to stay connected with my family, without the distractions of our modern lifestyle getting in the way. Looking back on it now, I wish we would have grabbed a tent and some sleeping bags and just started! As it was, my time as a Paratrooper in the Infantry had soured me on “roughing it,” which is why we were looking at trailers. I figured if we could be warm, dry and have a refrigerator, the rest would take care of itself. We had no idea what we were looking for, though, and we knew even less about what our family vehicle at the time, a 2002 Dodge Durango SUV, was capable of towing. We spent almost a year searching for the perfect trailer, which ended up being a 26-foot model with bunk beds for the kids and a slide-out queen bed for mom and dad. At the same time, we also traded-in the Durango on a vehicle capable of towing our dream trailer. It took nearly a year, but we finally had our camper!

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Plan ahead, to secure the best campsites next year

If you thought the campgrounds were crowded this year, you haven’t seen anything yet! With a slow economy and expensive airfares, more families are planning on camping vacations next year than ever before. Here is how you can get a jump on the competition for those lucrative campsites, or avoid the crowds altogether, while still enjoying some of the best camping around.

Competition for campsites will be fiercest around holidays, so realize that the crowds and noise will be at their worst around Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day.

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Private campgrounds can be crowded

There are thousands of campgrounds across the United States, and they generally breakdown into two major categories, public and private.  Public campgrounds comprise the vast majority of available sites and include the big national parks and forests, individual state lands, and even your local city or county parks. Private campgrounds range from large national chains, like Kampgrounds of America (KOA), to individually owned sites. Some private campgrounds, like Thousand Trails, are open to members only and not the general public.

Public vs. private campgrounds

Making broad generalizations about campgrounds, even those within the same system, is dangerous, but there are some observations that are generally true:

• Public campgrounds tend to offer larger and more secluded campsites than private campgrounds
• Private campgrounds tend of offer more modern conveniences, like electricity, stores and laundry facilities, than public campgrounds

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The kids are back in school, football in underway and there is a certain crispness to the morning air. Summer is over, but that does not mean we have to put away our camping gear for another year and ride out the winter in suburban solitude!

Morro Strand State Beach, California

Camping is a year-round activity for us, due in part to the mild winter climate here in NorCal, but also because camping is just what our family does. We cannot stop being who we are, for six months of the year. For us, winter means beach camping, since our favorite Sierra camping spots are all above 7,000 feet and hopelessly buried in snow.

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