This post is something I should have written last week, but we were busy for some reason that I don't completely remember right now. So apologies out of the way...
For the last last few years we've been working on a family tradition of going camping at least once every summer. This summer was almost over before we realized that we still hadn't gone. The next few weekends were filled with some activity or another so it didn't look like we'd be able to make it. The kids started school and we figured that had killed our chances for this summer. Then last Friday the kids had a half day on Friday so we talked about going. And then (this is where I'm really happy to have the job I do) we finally decided to go on Wednesday night so I told my coworkers on Thursday that I needed a break and wasn't going to come in on Friday but instead go camping with my family. Everyone at work thought it was a good idea and wished my a good time.
We like to try out different places so I picked a spot in central North Carolina in the Uwharrie National Forest at a place called Lake Badin. It took us about 2 hours to get there so the kids enjoyed watching a few videos as we drove down Friday in the early afternoon. Since the kids are small we just do car camping where we can park close to the tents and there are water hookups and bathrooms near by (as the kids get older I think we'll experiment and do some primitive and hiking camping trips as well). Lake Badin is pretty neat because it has lots of different kinds of camping and activities.
They have camping sites with bathrooms nearby that are pretty cheap ($12 a night) but they also have primitive camping (in fact the rule there is unless there's a "No Camping" sign you can camp anywhere you want). They even have horse camping for those who own horses and want to make them rough it for a few nights. They have off-road vehicle trails as well as fishing and a basic beach on the lake. And if we owned a boat I'm sure it would have been even more fun running around the lake and making big waves to scare off all the fish for those unlucky sods trying to catching something from the pier (no, I'm not bitter).
All in all we had a great time. Excellent weather (not too hot not too cold), the kids were really well behaved and for the most didn't do anything stupid. Smores were enjoyed by all (and over indulged by a few... I'm looking at you Erin) and the camping food came out pretty well and mostly unburnt. In fact, it was probably the best camping trip we've had so far as a family. Hopefully this means that as the kids get bigger the camping trips will increase in good-time-having-ness.
