“Let’s go camping,” seems like a simple sentence, but it has a huge range of meanings depending on who you ask.
A friend told me about a young family she knows that purchased an old RV for a bargain rate, fixed it up real cute and took it on one adventure after another. It didn’t matter if the weather was grim, when this family got the urge to head to Kalaloch they hopped in their camper and took off for the Olympic Peninsula. If Mom forgot to pack underwear, no big deal. Nobody complained because everyone had so much fun.
Ever since I heard that story, I have wished that my family could be that carefree and adventurous. But the truth is, if I didn’t have clean underwear for three days, I would flip out.
And wouldn’t an old RV smell? I hate the smell of dank. Plus, what about seatbelts? Older RVs weren’t built for modern passenger safety laws.
I’d love to own an RV, but only if it was well-equipped and relatively new.
My husband has a different ideal when it comes to exploring the outdoors. Give him a backpack, a water filtration system and his tent, and he’s happy trekking into the mountains forever.
Our son loves backpacking too. Nineteen miles in two days is no problem for our 11-year-old. I wish I had half of my son’s energy. I am not a pack animal and now that I am approaching 40, sleeping on the ground turns me into a cranky mess.
So in the interest of finding a camping experience that everyone in the family could enjoy — or at least I would enjoy because I was forcing my vision upon everyone else — we decided to give cabin camping a try.
Washington State Parks have cabins, yurts, and platform tents available with heat and electricity. They come with simple furniture like bunk beds, futons, tables and chairs. Usually there is a fire pit outside with a picnic table and a place to park your car.
In October we spent two nights in a cabin at Dosewallips State Park on the Hood Canal. The weather was chilly and at times it rained, but inside our cabin was cozy warm. We did puzzles, listened to audiobooks, hung out on the front porch and baked brownies in the Dutch oven. When the weather was clear we hiked through fall foliage and explored the wetlands.
At the time we stayed, renting a cabin cost $76 a night. That is considerably more than the cost to tent camp, but a heck of a lot cheaper than a monthly payment on an RV.
But don’t call it “glamping.” One of the great features of Dosewallips State Park is that a herd of Roosevelt elk frequently meanders through the campground. We weren’t lucky enough to witness this, but we did encounter the evidence. My kids now call Dosewallips “the elk poop place.”
See? My family can have crappy adventures too.
Jennifer Bardsley is an Edmonds mom of two, and author of the book “Genesis Girl.” Find her online on Instagram @the_ya_gal, Twitter @jennbardsley or at teachingmybabytoread.com.
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