Neighbors At Heart

Our family is thrilled to go camping again for the first time since we had Lil’ C. We decided to make the four and a half hour drive out to West Virginia to the Big Bend Campground. My camping posts are simple, as are my camping trips. Here is a little insight into our Big Bend family camping trip!

Overall the drive to West Virginia was easy until the final hour. The road became constant sharp turns and switch backs making both my husband and I nauseous. Amazingly enough our puppy Beau managed to sit nice for the entire length of the trip. It was only about 20 miles long but took the full hour predicted to drive. This valley campsite was right next to a small river. There are bathrooms and no cell service at all, what more could we ask for?

 We spent time exploring, fishing, playing games and of course roasting marshmallows. We only went for two nights to keep our first trip as a full family easier on everyone. Lil’ A and Lil’ C spent most of their time playing with their sand toys in the dirt and rocks at the campsite. Beau spent most of his time trying to eat sticks and practicing his big boy bark at passing campers. Big A got to sneak away to do some fly fishing and lay in his hammock. I got to take the time to write out a few blog posts in between chasing the kids and naps.

We kept our meals simple; hot dogs, hamburgers, bacon and eggs, with snacks and lots of water in between.

Both nights ended with s’mores; one of the biggest perks of camping according to my daughter.

Since Big A and I are avid coffee drinkers, we decided to purchase pre made Starbucks drinks for this trip. In the future we’d like to explore different brewing methods so we can have fresh warm coffee while camping.

The weather was warm and sunny after the first day. It began to rain less than ten minutes after we got the tent pitched.  Luckily, Big A and I are a pretty good team, so we easily got our supplies, children and puppy inside swiftly.

Surprisingly enough Big A and I didn’t camp before we had kids. We’d talk about it and never actually go. Our first camping trip together wasn’t actually until Lil’ A was about 8 months old. Since then we’ve tried to enjoy a couple of camping trips each year to get the whole family outside and disconnected from the internet for a few days. We went to multiple locations around Central California while we were stationed there. This of course was our first camping trip at Big Bend, and in West Virginia at all. We aren’t sure that we’ll be back. The campground was lovely and well kept, but the four and a half hour drive is rarely worth it while the kids are this young.

We really enjoy roughing it when we camp, so keep an eye out for how to pack light and still be able to accommodate young kids needs!