Filed under: Campgrounds & RV Parks, Family Camping, Family Weekend Trips, Kid-Friendly Trips, RV Campgrounds, State & National Parks, Tent Campgrounds

Camping with Kids I

Camping with kids these days?  Where do you like to go?

Adults with kids living in the home are more likely to go camping than those without kids, according to the 2012 American Camper Report http://www.outdoorfoundation.org/pdf/research.camping.2012.pdf.  This makes complete sense to me since having kids of our own; we try to go camping as much as we can each year.  We have always loved camping, even before kids we would go at least once a year.  But once we had kids, we realized just how important and fun it is to spend time outdoors, camping with our kids.

Some of my very best memories as a kid are from the annual camping trips we took with my extended family.  Most of the families who went in those days had pop-up tent trailers and many came from LA and even further south so they usually wanted to escape the heat, crowds, and come to the beach; we always met up at Leo Carrillo State Beach (on the beach side).  The week we spent camping with the family always ended up being a solid week of fun activities, camping with our cousins.  There is nothing like the seemingly endless summer days of camping out at the beach, swimming and playing in the sand to our hearts’ content!

Nowadays, we aim to do the same thing with our own kids and meet up with family and friends at various campgrounds to enjoy long days of fun in the sun making sweet memories.  This is a trend many adults seem to be in agreement on: time spent outdoors with the family, camping, is so important and makes for some of the best memories of a lifetime.

Although Leo Carillo has since closed their beach-side camping (it is a day-use only area now), our new favorites are Thornhill Broome Beach State Park, in Malibu, and Carpinteria State Beach.  Both still provide camping right on the beach, which is a personal favorite for camping.  Our recent camping trips usually consist of two-three nights of camping and we almost always go with family and/or friends.  The kids spend most of the day in the sand, dirt, and water, playing and getting as dirty as they want.

Some of the things that are so great about camping with kids is they get their fill of exploring the great outdoors while enjoying quality time with us, without the usual distractions from everyday life.  Since camping with kids is so important and popular, I will be focusing on this demographic in more future posts, including information on the fun, family-friendly options that KOA’s as well as other that campgrounds are providing these days.

 

Last 5 posts by Cynthia Baum

• Beach Camping Must-Haves! - May 17th, 2013
• Camping with Kids Part II - April 20th, 2013
• Camping with Kids Part I - April 19th, 2013
• Desert Oasis: Top-Rated RV Resort - April 4th, 2013
• Getting Ready to Head Out? Don't Forget the Final Check on your RV! - March 7th, 2013