Camping makes me smile and want s'more!

Last summer we tested the waters with camping by setting up our tent in our backyard. Yes, we are CRAZY. (obviously that is a joke.) We pride ourselves on being fairly realistic parents and that is why we started out with a way out…our own house. And you know what, at 2 am when my then 2 year old couldn't fall asleep, I gave up, walked inside and fell asleep in my warm cozy bed.
But, we have a dream…and that dream is to show our kids the most gorgeous and adventurous parts of our country through our state and national parks. I gotta be honest with you…I want them to love camping as much as I did. Every year, the day school got out I would, literally, run home from the bus stop to hop in the car and drive to Yosemite with my dad, brother and two of our friends. It was my favorite vacation of my childhood. We stayed in pre-built tents on cots….not hard-core camping by any stretch but after a week of hiking, biking, kumbiah and no showers, I was hooked.
So, this past weekend we decided to give it a try. There was actually not as much planning to our night of camping as I had imagined we would need. We didn't make a reservation but called ahead to see if there were spots available. We went to Strawberry Bay at Strawberry Reservoir. We packed up an ice chest with sausages and hotdogs, some pasta salad and as much fruit and veggies as I could fit…oh yeah, and some cold beverages. I used my mental check-list and it worked this time but I have a dream of actually writing it down so I don't get stuck down the road.
Let me sum up our one night in our little campsite with our pop-up camper. It was AWESOME! The kids loved every second of it. I believe they would describe it as magical. The whole idea of it amazes them. And, I have to confess, we barely camped. We pulled up to spot #14 at 5:30pm, we ate dinner, roasted s'mores and went to bed. But in-between those 3 things, we were all smiles and soaking up every second of our adventure….and the two youngest in our group slept until 8:30am. (normal "up time" is 7am) We cleaned up, flew our kites and headed back to Park City to celebrate a friends birthday….still smelling of camp fire. That could be my favorite smell. I am going to boldly claim that we are hooked….so, maybe next time we will go crazy and head out for a whole two days! Bring on Yellowstone and Yosemite!