Have you had a perfect camping trip?

We have had many over the years, and hopefully many more

Two years ago we spent 10 days in Bar Harbor @ KOA Oceanside. We had a stunning view from our waterfront site. Between trips to Arcadia and the un-ending number of lobsters eaten, it will be a tough trip to beat!!!

We were parked at our favorite camping spot overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The weather was tee shirt and shorts. It was 7PM and we had setup a candle light dinner under the awning. It was dark the stars were out and the campfire was going, no breeze so the smoke went straight up. Just as we finished eating the fireworks from a nearby fairgrounds started up. We watched the fireworks as we sat next to the fire sipping on wine coolers. I rank that as our number one camping experience.

Number two was at the same spot but in a storm. It rained steadily for a couple of days the waves were pounding. We stretched out on the bed and spent most of one day reading, napping and snacking in bed. Eventhough the sky and ocean seemed angry we felt safe and cozy in our RV. That night we watched out the windows as a thunderstorm came in over the ocean. Lightning struck the islands off shore then the ocean and then it was on top of us. We watched a bolt hit the railroad tracks not more than 50 feet from us. Very exciting.

Number three was in Yosemite. At 1am my DW felt ill so we decided to take a drive through the valley in the cold air. It happened to be a full moon. Yosemite valley was lit up by the moonlight. The granite outcroppings like Half Dome and El Capitan had an eerie glow. The waterfalls were lit up and the meadows were covered in a layer of fog. It was the most beautiful and unearthly thing we had ever seen. She felt fine when we got back to the RV. I was glad she needed the drive, we would have slept through all of it.

We had one last week in beautiful Colorado! No neighbors, no contractor's generators, no screaming kids, no loud music, no rain, no mosquitos, nobody walking thru our site!!!

I think you have to work at having good camping trips... It has been that way for us if not much up front planning takes place it usually gets dark on us around 10PM at night when camping off the power grid trips. You can't just show up haha...

Got to have all of those PLAN Bs in place to be anywhere near successful...

Just like the VIAGRA commerical on TV where the cowboy camper and his lady friend are on the beach setting up camp and he tries to start his bonfire only to find his pocket lighter comes apart on him. Then he goes back to the truck and pulls out a flint rock and a big metal knife handle and start his fire in a couple of seconds... Its all the PLAN Bs for us...

We was camping at CAMP DORIS around a hugh lake inside the Wichita Mtns Wildlife Refuge (OKLA) one time and around dusk bunches and bunches of ducks came flying in at very low level over our tent setup and splashing into the lake... You could almost reach up and touch them as they came in... It was loud too... This didn't stop until around 9-10PM at night... Great wildlife memories...

Out West the big skies are always great. You can look straight out and see stars on the horizon. Sure can't do that here in northern Virginia...

Roy Ken

We've had a lot of "perfect" camping trips, but the best recently other than being hot was just a few weeks ago when we saw the Northern Lights.

No such thing as a "perfect camping trip" but we have had several that have been AWESOME! The most recent was our trip last summer up to Williamsburg/Jamestown/Yorktown Va. The weather was too dammed hot and limited how long we could be outside and how much we could "explore" but we just can't wait to go back! Everything else about this adventure was even better than we had hoped it would be.