How to plan for your first camping trip of the year in 48 hours
Welcome to a brand new year! We’re excited for all that camping will bring in 2017. Though we have all our trips booked from now until October, we have less trips planned overall. In February we bought a cabin back in Ontario, so we will be flying back 2-3 times this summer in order to leverage that investment. Unfortunately, that cuts into our trailer glamping time. However, being in a cabin in the woods is still glamping, technically. I think include our Ontario adventures so it doesn't really feel like we’re really not missing out on any glamping fun.
We just got back from our first glamping trip this year. We hadn’t planned to go out – well, sort of. Back in February, we made a reservation at one of our fave sites, Mt. Kidd, with the intention of cancelling if there was still snow on the ground, which is entirely possible in May in Alberta. Then we promptly forgot about it. When I came home from work this past Tuesday, Dave announced that we were indeed going camping this weekend. What does that do to a mega-planning, list-making, Type-A personality like me?! It made my head spin. I had no idea how we would de-winterize the trailer, set it all up inside (linens, supplies), shop for the missing supplies, pack our clothes, meal plan, shop for food and set up the kitchen in just three days. Believe me, I let my frustration be known. Poor Dave. But, we did it. Here’s how you can do it too:
TUESDAY
Husband: Stay up 'til 2am Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning, to hook-up the plumbing for your trailer in an unfamiliar storage place that you just moved into that morning, because you just decided that afternoon that you were going camping. You'll do this alone because you made this decision without your wife's input and she refused to help you in her frustration. Use your iPhone held between your chin and your chest as your only flashlight because you still haven’t found your actual flashlights after your house move from hell four months earlier. Also because the flashlight that you do keep in the trailer has no batteries because someone left it on all winter. Bring something to lie down on so you don’t have to lie down on the dirt and painful rocky ground underneath your trailer, necessitating a shower at 2:30am when you finally get home. Don't wake up your wife in the process, because if you do, she'll throw in a few "I told you so's" and "It wasn't my idea to go camping this weekend," which will make you feel even worse than you already do at 2:30 in the morning.
Wife: Cancel all the plans and appts you made for the weekend.
WEDNESDAY
Husband: Race out on your lunch hour – thankfully you work three mins from home and from your trailer site – and take inventory of everything you left in the trailer over the winter. Race home and take inventory of all the things you packed away at home for the winter – after you have found the boxes still left from your aforementioned moving hell . Cross-reference the two lists and send your wife a list of what is still needed to be purchased. After dinner, schlep the family out to the trailer to unpack clothes and the supplies.
Wife: Double-check the lists that husband provided and make another list of everything he forgot.
THURSDAY
Husband: Race out on your lunch hour to drive to the only place in your small town that sells propane - some dinky place 20 mins away - to fill up your two propane tanks. Wear your running shoes so you can easily stop your truck and run across the highway when the tarp in your flatbed blows away. Race back to work just in time for a meeting and quickly think of a good excuse when your boss asks why you are out of breath.
Wife: Shop for groceries on the way home from work.
Husband: After dinner and before karate, which you can't miss because you have grading in a month, stop by the trailer again to unload and hookup the propane tanks. Test the furnace and the fridge and turn on the fridge.
FRIDAY
Husband: Race out at lunch to: fill the truck up with gas, install the tow mirrors, put the 150lb generator into the truck, take a load of supplies to the trailer (the stuff that your wife "noted" you missed earlier) and then race back to the office and make up another excuse when your boss asks you why you are again out of breath, and this time a bit sweaty.
Wife: grocery shop on the way home for the fresh items. Arrive home, yell at the kids to get all their necessities packed, pack all the food you couldn't take to the trailer before because the fridge wasn't turned on, pack yours and your husbands necessities, make sure the cat has food and water, and close your bedroom door so the cat can't sneak in while you are gone and rub himself all over your bed and pillows (you are allergic to the cat). After getting on your shoes but before you set the alarm and leave the house, run through the "Camping Can't Live Without List" and make sure everyone has everything they can't live without.
Husband: Hook up the trailer. Drive away! Mt Kidd here we come! Drive back home because your son forgot something he can't live without.
But, we did it. Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on Dave on Tuesday.
I asked my family what they were most looking forward to this weekend:
Max: staying up late.
Kira: sleeping in.
Dave: eating ice cream.
Me, I’m looking forward to feeling like I’m away for the weekend while being in my own space. And, relaxing on my hammock with a magazine.
Postscript
We got back around 2pm from a really amazing weekend. We had some crazy weather. Friday was cool and rainy. Saturday was hot and sunny. Today we hitched up and drove away in the snow. We went for a walk at the Kananaskis Lodge and had a dance party in the trailer to The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling." We ate some good food, stayed up late and got caught up on all our shows, and conducted another Survivor challenge that Kira once again won. More about that next post. I'm so glad we went.
Mt. Kidd, Kananaskis, Alberta
We just got back from our first glamping trip this year. We hadn’t planned to go out – well, sort of. Back in February, we made a reservation at one of our fave sites, Mt. Kidd, with the intention of cancelling if there was still snow on the ground, which is entirely possible in May in Alberta. Then we promptly forgot about it. When I came home from work this past Tuesday, Dave announced that we were indeed going camping this weekend. What does that do to a mega-planning, list-making, Type-A personality like me?! It made my head spin. I had no idea how we would de-winterize the trailer, set it all up inside (linens, supplies), shop for the missing supplies, pack our clothes, meal plan, shop for food and set up the kitchen in just three days. Believe me, I let my frustration be known. Poor Dave. But, we did it. Here’s how you can do it too:
TUESDAY
Husband: Stay up 'til 2am Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning, to hook-up the plumbing for your trailer in an unfamiliar storage place that you just moved into that morning, because you just decided that afternoon that you were going camping. You'll do this alone because you made this decision without your wife's input and she refused to help you in her frustration. Use your iPhone held between your chin and your chest as your only flashlight because you still haven’t found your actual flashlights after your house move from hell four months earlier. Also because the flashlight that you do keep in the trailer has no batteries because someone left it on all winter. Bring something to lie down on so you don’t have to lie down on the dirt and painful rocky ground underneath your trailer, necessitating a shower at 2:30am when you finally get home. Don't wake up your wife in the process, because if you do, she'll throw in a few "I told you so's" and "It wasn't my idea to go camping this weekend," which will make you feel even worse than you already do at 2:30 in the morning.
Wife: Cancel all the plans and appts you made for the weekend.
WEDNESDAY
Husband: Race out on your lunch hour – thankfully you work three mins from home and from your trailer site – and take inventory of everything you left in the trailer over the winter. Race home and take inventory of all the things you packed away at home for the winter – after you have found the boxes still left from your aforementioned moving hell . Cross-reference the two lists and send your wife a list of what is still needed to be purchased. After dinner, schlep the family out to the trailer to unpack clothes and the supplies.
Wife: Double-check the lists that husband provided and make another list of everything he forgot.
THURSDAY
Husband: Race out on your lunch hour to drive to the only place in your small town that sells propane - some dinky place 20 mins away - to fill up your two propane tanks. Wear your running shoes so you can easily stop your truck and run across the highway when the tarp in your flatbed blows away. Race back to work just in time for a meeting and quickly think of a good excuse when your boss asks why you are out of breath.
Wife: Shop for groceries on the way home from work.
Husband: After dinner and before karate, which you can't miss because you have grading in a month, stop by the trailer again to unload and hookup the propane tanks. Test the furnace and the fridge and turn on the fridge.
FRIDAY
Husband: Race out at lunch to: fill the truck up with gas, install the tow mirrors, put the 150lb generator into the truck, take a load of supplies to the trailer (the stuff that your wife "noted" you missed earlier) and then race back to the office and make up another excuse when your boss asks you why you are again out of breath, and this time a bit sweaty.
Wife: grocery shop on the way home for the fresh items. Arrive home, yell at the kids to get all their necessities packed, pack all the food you couldn't take to the trailer before because the fridge wasn't turned on, pack yours and your husbands necessities, make sure the cat has food and water, and close your bedroom door so the cat can't sneak in while you are gone and rub himself all over your bed and pillows (you are allergic to the cat). After getting on your shoes but before you set the alarm and leave the house, run through the "Camping Can't Live Without List" and make sure everyone has everything they can't live without.
Husband: Hook up the trailer. Drive away! Mt Kidd here we come! Drive back home because your son forgot something he can't live without.
But, we did it. Maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on Dave on Tuesday.
I asked my family what they were most looking forward to this weekend:
Max: staying up late.
Kira: sleeping in.
Dave: eating ice cream.
Me, I’m looking forward to feeling like I’m away for the weekend while being in my own space. And, relaxing on my hammock with a magazine.
Postscript
We got back around 2pm from a really amazing weekend. We had some crazy weather. Friday was cool and rainy. Saturday was hot and sunny. Today we hitched up and drove away in the snow. We went for a walk at the Kananaskis Lodge and had a dance party in the trailer to The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling." We ate some good food, stayed up late and got caught up on all our shows, and conducted another Survivor challenge that Kira once again won. More about that next post. I'm so glad we went.
Mt. Kidd, Kananaskis, Alberta
Setting up in the rain
Our campsite
Our Survivor fire-making challenge
Kira won - again
A rousing game of ladder ball.
Max's winning throws
Can't believe you managed to make it to Kananaskis in May. Looks like a lovely trip.
ReplyDeleteAlways glad to stretch out the season. Last year we went out twice in April!
DeleteYou tired me out and I only read about it. Can't imagine how you felt! Will you be at Bethel during the week of August 21st? We'll be there. (Please say yes!)
ReplyDeleteI don't think so! :( We'll be there a few weeks before for Brandon and Lexi's wedding.
Delete