The Benefits of Car Camping VS Dump Camping

Let's be clear, we know we are glamping. We have done our time as dirty kids with a tent. When it got hot, you took off more clothing. When it got cold, you put on more clothing and started a fire. We ate dehydrated crap and fit everything in backpacks. If you haven't heard my story about Eli taking me backpacking, here is a brief summary: uphill into camp, forgot food, hiked uphill out of camp. The photos from that trip show my lack of enthusiasm. That was the weekend we learned to communicate our expectations for our trips. And he agreed to never do that to me again.

A little mood lighting for night reading? Of course!

So, now we glamp! We love to pack up the car, plan a nice dinner, drive to the mountains and dump everything in our camp site (dump camping! I know, I just learned that term too!). Everything we need is in the car. I love to play house in the campsite. I've always been that one who sets up the tent, gets the gear organized and starts on food! It's great to be paired with someone whose first priority is either to run somewhere or sleep somewhere. 

Home sweet home. 

Now we are older and want to enjoy the little perks of extra planning. Although there is not tent, there still a good bit of set up. It took us a couple days to get in a routine of shifting everything out of the back seats and methodically repackaging the front seats to allow full sleep mode. Because of animals in camps, we can't just pull out all our food and play set up. First we set up the big screens on the windows and roll them down to what will best suit us during the night. We do our best to take out what we need for dinner and pack away what we don't need so we can get the bed set up before it's too dark and buggy. By day three we figured out, since Eli is running most mornings while I sleep in, how to pack the front seats to accommodate dinner that evening AND whatever Eli needs for his morning adventure. 

There is definitely more attention to detail with the dirtbag mobile than there is with dump camping. Almost every transition has a plan for what we need to access before the next transition. Snacks for driving, any meals on the road, what we need first thing in the morning, where will the dinner prep gear go once it cools, how much water are we going to drink tonight...

I love it! This is why I camp.