As if life wasn’t hectic enough right after we moved back into our house, I agreed to go camping last-minute with my girlfriend, Wendy, and her son, Frankie. They had already planned a single night at Jellystone, which is a nearby camping and recreation area, and they invited Maelle and me to join. I hadn’t been camping in years, but I figured this was the perfect occasion to dust off the camping gear and have some fun winging-it when the stakes were (very) low.
I’d heard of Jellystone Park but never been, so this was the perfect opportunity to check it out. It’s a ‘camping resort’ within about 30 miles of us, and has RV and camping spots, cottages, playgrounds, a small water park and even a snack shack. Upon arriving, we realized it was heavily favored by the RV crowd, and fell more into the category of camping ‘lite’ or even ‘glamping.’ The family next us had their Keurig set up on a table inside a screened tent. A great idea for sure, but not roughing it, amiright?
While ‘roughing it’ unnecessarily wasn’t our goal, we were at least trying to make it feel like we were truly ‘camping’ despite the walkability to bathrooms and a camp store. We had tents and a camp stove, but also blow-up air mattresses (hey, a girl’s gotta sleep!) and a fire-starter log. I think my version of camping somewhere between glamping and truly roughing it. I don’t need electricity, but I also cannot sleep on the ground.
I took almost no pictures, Maelle and Frankie loved the playground near our campsite, and we even saw some neighbors there as well. Wendy and I decided Jellystone was worth another trip, even though we aren’t their typical ‘camper.’ Unfortunately, we had some unseasonably cold weather, which kept me awake all night and prevented us from using the water park.
We also didn’t have good firewood, so the fire and s’mores we dreamt of didn’t happen as planned…but marshmallows were still eaten.
All in all, it was a fun and memorable trip, and at the very least inspired me to add a camping trip to our list of activities for next summer.
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