Family Fun
A Camping we will go
Thursday, August 26, 2010
A Camping We Will Go
Looking for a nearby, inexpensive adventure to round out your summer? Try camping at Jellystone Park (www.campjellystone.com).
It’s the perfect introduction to camping for those (like myself) smitten by the romance of camping but intimidated by the reality of “roughing it” with the kids in the great outdoors.
Camping has been on our “to do” list for years since all three kids have been out of diapers but we somehow never get around to it. We have friends who stay in a cabin at Jellystone at least one weekend every summer, and they are clearly happy campers. So I decided this was going to be the summer and Jellystone was going to be the place. I wasn’t sure my husband would be able to join us, so a cabin seemed like the perfect way to ease in, especially if I had to be the solo parent.
As it turned out, first-time-camper friends of ours told us they were also Jellystone-bound asked us to take the plunge and “tent it” with them. My husband freed up his schedule¸ we borrowed the gear from my outdoorsy in-laws and we were off.
We pitched our tent in a nice, flat campsite with woods behind us but not surrounding us. We were just far enough from our neighbors to have our own space¸ yet we were everything but isolated (think of it as the suburban version of camping). I was also relieved to find a clean, well-lit bathroom in sight just in case anyone needed it in the wee hours of the night.
We opted for a site with running water and electricity, which were nice amenities. We brought a Coleman stove, but our friends whipped up some great meals by simply plugging in an electric hotplate.
Each site has a picnic table, which quickly became our dining table away from home as we gathered round it for a bacon-and-egg breakfast and fire-cooked hot dogs under the stars. And, of course, each evening ended with roasting marshmallows and making S’mores around the fire.
We packed our cooler to the brim, but forgot some essentials and were relieved to find the store onsite was well stocked with everything from milk, bread and marshmallows to firewood and bags of ice. There’s also a snack bar with a menu of crowd-pleasing favorites, including chicken tenders, pizza and burgers.
Beyond the pure fun of camping, Jellystone has a great pool, complete with a kiddie area with sprinkler. There are also tons of activities, the majority of which are included in the campsite fee. We went fishing and paddleboating, played bingo, sang karaoke by the pool and rode through the campground on a firetruck. The kids are still talking about their favorite Jellystone event -- slip-and-sliding down a hill on Jello cubes!
Adding to the festivities at Jellystone is a weekly theme; it was Christmas in July when we camped. Santa paid a visit and gave out presents, campers decorated their sites with holiday lights and the kids went on a treasure hunt and scored handfuls of green and red lollipops.
Yogi, Boo Boo and Cindy Bear made appearances, which was fun for the little ones. One suggestion: show your kids a few Yogi Bear clips on YouTube beforehand. My kids enjoyed high-fiving and hugging the characters, but they had never seen the cartoon classic of our youth, so the theme was a bit lost on them!
We went to the campground in Woodridge, NY, in the Catskill mountains, just over an hour from exit 15A on the Thruway. There’s another site even a bit closer, in Gardiner, NY.
Happy camping!
Looking for a nearby, inexpensive adventure to round out your summer? Try camping at Jellystone Park (www.campjellystone.com).
It’s the perfect introduction to camping for those (like myself) smitten by the romance of camping but intimidated by the reality of “roughing it” with the kids in the great outdoors.
Camping has been on our “to do” list for years since all three kids have been out of diapers but we somehow never get around to it. We have friends who stay in a cabin at Jellystone at least one weekend every summer, and they are clearly happy campers. So I decided this was going to be the summer and Jellystone was going to be the place. I wasn’t sure my husband would be able to join us, so a cabin seemed like the perfect way to ease in, especially if I had to be the solo parent.
As it turned out, first-time-camper friends of ours told us they were also Jellystone-bound asked us to take the plunge and “tent it” with them. My husband freed up his schedule¸ we borrowed the gear from my outdoorsy in-laws and we were off.
We pitched our tent in a nice, flat campsite with woods behind us but not surrounding us. We were just far enough from our neighbors to have our own space¸ yet we were everything but isolated (think of it as the suburban version of camping). I was also relieved to find a clean, well-lit bathroom in sight just in case anyone needed it in the wee hours of the night.
We opted for a site with running water and electricity, which were nice amenities. We brought a Coleman stove, but our friends whipped up some great meals by simply plugging in an electric hotplate.
Each site has a picnic table, which quickly became our dining table away from home as we gathered round it for a bacon-and-egg breakfast and fire-cooked hot dogs under the stars. And, of course, each evening ended with roasting marshmallows and making S’mores around the fire.
We packed our cooler to the brim, but forgot some essentials and were relieved to find the store onsite was well stocked with everything from milk, bread and marshmallows to firewood and bags of ice. There’s also a snack bar with a menu of crowd-pleasing favorites, including chicken tenders, pizza and burgers.
Beyond the pure fun of camping, Jellystone has a great pool, complete with a kiddie area with sprinkler. There are also tons of activities, the majority of which are included in the campsite fee. We went fishing and paddleboating, played bingo, sang karaoke by the pool and rode through the campground on a firetruck. The kids are still talking about their favorite Jellystone event -- slip-and-sliding down a hill on Jello cubes!
Adding to the festivities at Jellystone is a weekly theme; it was Christmas in July when we camped. Santa paid a visit and gave out presents, campers decorated their sites with holiday lights and the kids went on a treasure hunt and scored handfuls of green and red lollipops.
Yogi, Boo Boo and Cindy Bear made appearances, which was fun for the little ones. One suggestion: show your kids a few Yogi Bear clips on YouTube beforehand. My kids enjoyed high-fiving and hugging the characters, but they had never seen the cartoon classic of our youth, so the theme was a bit lost on them!
We went to the campground in Woodridge, NY, in the Catskill mountains, just over an hour from exit 15A on the Thruway. There’s another site even a bit closer, in Gardiner, NY.
Happy camping!
