Camping in Canada can be fun.
It also can suck.
After a successful weekend of camping, our family has finally succeeded in mastering the art of camping.
What You Need To Do
1. Simplify
For years I have made multiple lists of what to bring camping. By the time my lists were checked off, I had brought everything but the kitchen stove! It would have been easier to put the house on wheels and move it.
This time, no lists. Just a random walk through of the garage and a few items pulled from the dusty shelves. Repeat in kitchen, bedroom and bathroom and still 99% less stuff than previous camping trips. Already less anxiety and more smiles.
Okay, so when we arrived we didn’t have the fly swatter, the mesh protector for food, the cooler filled with food that we never end up cooking, the zillion ziplock bags but who cares? We had bug spray, a tent, some snacks (that we called dinner) and we could still call ourselves campers.
2. Stay Close To Home
There is no rule that camping means driving long distances. Arriving 10 minutes away from home, we had a campsite, trees, birds, picnic table, and a brook. We were camping within walking distance of our house so even if rule number 1 (simplify) massively failed, we could home and redo it. 🙂
3. Return Home When Redo Is Necessary
So after our first night in our tent without too much padding on the ground (remember we were simplifying) we returned home to grab our couch pillows so that the second night actually involved sleeping!
Camping without sleeping is highly overrated. Camping and sleeping make for happier families!
As we pulled out this morning from our site, both girls thanked us immediately for a terrific weekend of marshmallows, hot dogs, cards, swimming, fires and laughter.
What more could you want from a simple camping trip in Canada?
What kind of camping person are you?
four camels and a coffee to go 
Your camping trip looks fun and relaxed. I am no longer a camper. Spent 6 weeks canoeing the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and up into the Quetico, fighting off mutant black flies and giant mosquitoes. We had to portage with all our food packs and canoes, swatting insects as we went It is beautiful country up there but I never, ever want to camp again. I like my comfy bed too much to willingly go lay on the hard ground. If I could camp during the day and then go home to sleep, I think that would be fine!!!!
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Yes, you said it!!! That is my favourite part.. the day part and the fire part and after that… I want a bed too. 🙂 PS. Those bugs sound bad enough to put anyone off camping forever! 6 weeks is a very loooooooong time to camp. I can’t even imagine that.
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My Mum sent me off on an Aquatic Biology course. We were gone so long, I had forgot how to flush a toilet by the time we came back.
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LOL 🙂 That was some course!
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It was!!!
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It looks like you all had a lot of fun! 🙂 Thank you for sharing! I’m going to try and keep it simple whenever I go with my family. I’m not a camper at all but I’d be willing to do it for a weekend. It’s always good to change it up from time to time.
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I understand not being a camper (my husband isn’t really) but he did survive a weekend!
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Fun photos of your camping trip, and I enjoyed reading your tips. However, i have to admit that I’ve always been a very reluctant camper. 😕 My sister is the complete opposite, and enjoys it immensely. 🙂
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I think camping brings out the extremes in people. You love it or yup…. you kind of hate it!
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Absolutely. 🙂
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I just love your writing style – you always make me laugh. We still have yet to go camping with our kids, but it’s on the list. Need to first get the tent :).
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When our one was younger, tenting involved a massive number of child products and toys and that was a disaster!!! Much easier when “less stuff” is needed and there is a great playground close by.
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I am glad that simplifying also involved bug spray. I am pretty sure every camping trip I have been on in Canada would have been miserable without it!
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I camped once in Namibia and there were hardly any bugs the whole time. I wish I could say the same for Canada which clearly “medals” in mosquitoes etc.
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Your camping trip looks so lovely! 🙂 I’ve always had to simplify my packing as most of the times we go camping we go by kayaks, and it’s quite obvious you can’t take too much stuff in! But it’s good, as it has helped me to learn to pack less on other trips as well. I most often travel with hand luggage only even if flying.
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Hand luggage only! You are a pro! 🙂
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I like your rules. While I never intend on ever going camping again, if I should find myself forced into doing such I’ll insist on your rules. Especially that stay close to home one. 😉
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Ha Ha… it does make it the least painful especially if you are tenting!
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You are correct…great minds think alike! I agree…camping close to home makes all the sense in the world. Your trip looks wonderful, your tent looks familiar. Though putting 4 people in mine would be tight, even though it’s called a 4 person tent.
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Yes, it is a 4 person but our one daughter is very small so that helped a lot!
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wah, this is a fun post! “glamping” they say… so, yes, who says camping has to involve roughing it? 😉
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I agree. The couch cushions definitely took it from camping to glamping!
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My idea of camping is Holiday Inn. I simply don’t see the attraction.
Thankfully when the boys were young, Gilles would go off camping with the boys without me. Everyone was happy 🙂
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Yes, that would be a good compromise. I take it that the cycling venture will not involve camping then? I thought you climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, no?
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One of the big attractions to the cycling trip in Thailand is that we will be staying in high-end resorts on every leg of the trip. I LOVE that kind of rare camping 😉
The one and only time I have ever camped was during the 7-day climb on Kilimanjaro. As you can imagine, it had a bit of a “learning curve”.
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I thought so. Knew you would have had to camp climbing… that would have made it even tougher. And yes, after a hard day of cycling what better way to relax than in a Thai resort! That part of the trip certainly will be amazing as well as the scenery.
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I am a non- camping person trapped in a family full of campers. 🙂
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Ha Ha… that is how my husband feels too.
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The last time anyone here went camping, was when my husband pitched the tent on the trampoline in the back yard and unrolled the extension cord all the way into it so he and the kids could watch a movie on the portable TV. I didn’t even do THAT..but I sat on the back porch enjoying the changing lights that filtered through the tent from the TV.. 👍
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Ha Ha That is too funny 🙂 Might make an interesting post.
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I am usually a very poorly prepared camper! I tend to procrastinate packing so when it’s almost time to leave, I end up grabbing the essentials and going. I often make a list, but many of the things on my list don’t make the cut in my packing frenzy!
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Yup… that can happen as well! I too hate packing for camping so procrastination happens here as well. It always seems like there is so much work involved so this time, decided there wouldn’t be… or at least I told myself that.
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I think I would say I’m a never-again-under-any-circumstances camping kind of person!
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Ha Ha. I believe my husband usually feels that way until he is coerced once again to do it. As he goes off to sleep at 6PM because he says he hasn’t slept in the last 2 nights!
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Poor man!
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I haven’t camped since the Girl Scouts (Guides for you). I’m allergic to mosquitoes. And being in the woods. 😀 But I could do that. In fact, I might like to do that. Sadly, we are kindred list makers.
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Upon returning this morning, I told my family that I was going to google if Canada has the worst insects (read: mosquitoes and black flies) in the world. I have a few whoppers for bites as souvenirs!
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We’ve camped less than half an hour from home too. If there’s a gorgeous park right there, why not? You still totally feel like you’ve gone away for the weekend and it’s really nice not to have to drive forever.
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Absolutely. It is especially nice on the return home when you are tired and dirty and you know that the home comforts are just around the corner.
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