Camping Vacations Versus Other Vacations – Experience The Difference!

As families plan and begin their vacations this summer, the real question isn’t just about it being a great value; it’s also about making it a great family experience.

Being parents ourselves, we took our children on many family vacations and a wide array of trips of all kinds. We went to visit relatives, amusement parks, history museums, zoos, aquariums, company picnics, beaches, Disney on Ice shows, Disney, and more.

Since our “boys” are now grown young men, we decided to take a survey and ask them what their favorite family vacations and outings were. Much to our amazement, they didn’t pick the trips to the beach, or to Disney, and amusement parks didn’t even make the list. Their top picks were all camping trips! Some of those trips were with other families in our camping club, and the fun stuff we did with the camping club. Others, like our family vacation trip cross county which included Carlsbad Caverns, whitewater rafting the Colorado River, seeing the Grand Canyon, the Grand Tetons, and the animals in Yellowstone, and stopping on the way home to see Devils Tower and Custer State Park and Mt. Rushmore. These were the memories our sons cherished and our bet is that they are the same ones that your children will cherish too!

Family vacations can be as costly as our cross country trip, or as inexpensive as the trip to PA Grand Canyon and some tubing on Pine Creek! It doesn’t have to be expensive, it just has to be a fun and include quality time together as a family.

Family vacations within a one to two hour drive of where you live are the perfect distance to vacation! It’s less than one tank of gas there and back, it‘s fewer hours on the road, and it’s more time having fun! If you are camping at a local family campground, the kids can be doing activities sooner, and you can be relaxing sooner. So think locally if you’re thinking about a camping vacation this summer.

Local campgrounds are often a great dollar value too. Many offer discounts to local amusement parks, historical sites, etc. If you want to know what they offer, check out their websites and ask when you call for reservations. You’ll be surprised by what you find in dollar savings! Many offer mid-week site rate discounts or money savers to promote week-long family vacations!

With all the stressors and strains of life right now, going camping and reconnecting with each other and nature helps people to unwind and enjoy life. Family life is full of running to ball games, ballet classes, and other events around hectic work schedules. Camping vacations provide an opportunity for families to reconnect and spend quality time together while enjoying the atmosphere, events, and activities offered at the campgrounds. Families don’t get the chance to spend that kind of quality time together because of all the distractions there are in our lives when we’re at home.

Make sure you pick a park that fits your family. If your teens want swimming pools, paddle boating, pedal karts, and mini golf, picking a campground that is on a lake and offers only fishing is probably going to be a recipe for disaster! Make sure the campground you choose has lots to do to keep the kids engaged! Otherwise, you’ll spend the whole vacation listening to them whine about being bored.

Reconnect with your kids at the campground events and activities. Crafts is a whole lot more fun if it means time alone with mom or dad, or if you’re playing games together, or are in the tournament together! Those are the memories that the kids are yearning to make! And whether you win or lose, it’s the time and fun you have together that will count the loudest later! Don’t forget the campfire, scary stories, and s’mores! Those are where the funny stories are born that they’ll be telling their friends and their own children talking about! Spend the campfire time recapping the day’s events and the big fish caught, the mini golf game, or the event you attended!

Reconnect with nature! While families are reconnecting with each other, they are reconnecting with nature too. Campers whose children are collecting lightening bugs, fishing, or on a snipe hunt for the first time are not just be entertained, they are also learning. Camping provides kids the opportunity to experience the wonder of nature in new and exciting ways!

When you add up the lower costs, the reduced travel time, the reconnection with the family and nature, it adds up to a winning vacation for everyone. The kids can participate in activities and events, or play and burn off excess energy, and the parents are happy recharging their batteries in their lawn chair drinking iced tea under the awning. Camping offers families’ time together building memories that last a lifetime.

By Robyn Chilson
Tim & Robyn Chilson own and operate Brookdale Family Campground in Meadville, PA. Robyn can be reached at 814-789-3251 or at robyn@brookdalecampground.com