Camping: cabin style

Things are busy at our house this fall but somehow the stars aligned and all three kids were free on an early fall Saturday. We immediately packed up the car, forced them into the car and then told them we were going camping! Everyone was a bit confused and we made haste for Jenny Jump State Park about an hour north of us.

We camped (one night) with the kids earlier in the summer and developed a streamlined approach to the whole thing. In addition to springing the idea on the kids, we also decided not to cook. In June and again this October, we simply threw snacks into a cooler. Cheese, crackers, apples- you get the idea. Not fancy but good enough. We lit a fire but only for smores.

Our October camping was even easier than before. We rented a little cabin! There were bunk beds in there for all of us, plus a wood burning stove. With our sleeping bags on mattress, and off the ground, it was all pretty easy. So easy in fact that we slept in. We all got up around 9am to find Phil sitting outside with donuts and coffee (yet another easy camping tip for camping with teens).

The added benefit of Jenny Jump State Park is that it has an observatory up there, with a number of different telescopes from various astronomy clubs, including the one we belong to. We had never been up there, though had heard much about it. Another man from our club was there and showed us how to use it, explained the history and made it all seems very do-able. The only problem that night was cloudy skies but the welcome from fellow astronomers made up for it. Waiting and waiting for clear skies this fall…but someday soon we will make a trip back up.