Have Fun this Summer - Go Camping
Posted by admin
Welcome to my series on the joys of family camping. In this series I’ll remember my own camping experiences to help you understand why I think that camping is a terrific family experience. My family discovered camping when I was a young teen and in the 39 years that followed, I’ve had some great family experiences while camping. In the process, I’ll turn you on to some great places to camp and help you make a list of the camping gear you’ll need.
One of my favorite parts of a family camping trip is the chance to experience wildlife in a totally new way. The earliest example of this in my life was on our very first family camping trip. It was June of 1969 and my father decided that we would try camping for that summer’s vacation. Dad decided we were going to visit Ocean City, Maryland and see the wild ponies at Assateague Island National Seashore. Imagine how neat it was for my sister, brother and I (aged 4, 10 and 13 respectively) to see those ponies running around wild. Sure, we could have stayed at a hotel and driven to see the ponies, but it just wouldn’t have been the same as getting up, getting out of our camping tent, packing our picnic basket and then walking to where we could check out the ponies. It felt to me like we were part of the ponies’ environment rather than intruders into their world.
Among the spectacular wildlife I’ve seen while camping are wild moose in Maine, an amazing monarch butterfly migration in Long Island (yes you really can go camping in Long Island), dozens of bald eagles and hawks in Central Pennsylvania, a migration of tiny frogs near Myrtle Beach and hundreds of deer in one evening on the Skyline Drive in Virginia. All of these trips have etched memories for a lifetime into my mind. I only wish that digital cameras were better when I was a kid. That reminds me, don’t forget to take your camera on your next camping trip and when you go, please, please take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints.
Leave a Reply