trish321

Pre Trip Well after I swore I would never go camping with friends again…I’m going camping with friends again. Go ahead, laugh. It didn’t start out that way. Initially it was just going to be me, my daughter and my husband. But my husband didn’t have such a great time on his first camping trip (ended up sleeping in the truck because he was cold) so he said he wasn’t going. My daughter and I did a secret little happy dance because we knew it would be more relaxing without him…he is high maintenance. Then my daughter let it slip one day to her friend that we were going camping again.

Thank you! That fixed it. Yes, that was mildew...pretty gross. Glad I wasn't sleeping in there. I guess we just figured that was how they were, didn't even think to ask for a new one. It did stay dry, but it didn't have very good ventilation. For the price I felt like the few extra bucks it would have costed to buy a small tent would have made things more comfortable for her.

Just trying to get the pictures in here...

We are going back to the Fort! You may have read about my previous trip here in my trip report titled: Pre and Trip Report: First time tent campers 8/17 - 8/19 If you are the kind of person who likes to watch people repeat mistakes over and over and laugh at them, you might want to go ahead and read that first. After our first tent camping experience at Fort Wilderness in August of 2012 we went back again in August of 2013 but with less people (and less drama). Our 2013 trip was me, my daughter who was 10 and my mother (I know, I know). My mother rented a tent from Fort Wilderness. It

What size hook is best? We have only rented poles in the past and never paid much attention. Now the kids have their own poles and want to fish with those. Thanks!

Hi All If we did a long weekend of camping at the Fort over the 10/5 weekend...would we be too early to see a bunch of Halloween decorations? What about the haunted hayride thing...I hear it might be coming back? Thanks!

I can't use a cover, because of the salt...sheesh...! There are "Rangers" there? I never saw one...I don't think.

I need a golf cart because when I try to ride my bike to the pool, my margarita spills all over me and is pretty much empty by the time I get there.

Ya I agree about the other board. But it was pretty helpful for me and I found some useful info (and pictures!) there when I was deciding if we could pull off tent camping or not...so I wanted to post it there too for the people (lurkers) like me. Plus, this site wasn't easy to find! That's ok....I am old...just ask my kid...or my back! That sounds a lttle scary! Maybe a group...but I am kind of put off by that right now. Thanks for the review! Well we are Florida natives, so I really think the heat isn't such a big deal for us sometimes. I was never uncomfortable (except for being cold

Day 3 We woke up around 7:30 and really wanted to go have a relaxing breakfast at Trail’s End before packing up our site. I knew our camping buddies wouldn’t want to go there due to the prices so we tried to…be…very…quiet as we headed off to the showers. When I got back, DH was back already and the camping buddies were awake. They decided we would be going off property to a cheaper buffet for breakfast. This was really the last straw for me and the moment that I decided we wouldn’t be sharing a site with anyone else in the future. DH felt like since we were there with them…we should do th

Thanks for the picture...that's it!

The pager was good. I wish I knew its range though. When I got it and they said 20 minutes, I drove back tot he pool in the golf cart to get the others. I doubt it would work at that distance. We had just pulled into the little cart lot when it started going off...so I don't know if they just set it off or if I just got back into range.

Ya, actually I think she may consider alcohol a veggie...which is pretty much the only reason we get along...well that and our kids are friends.

Ya I know what you mean...it won't happen again...I was too chicken to say "no", but it's another lesson learned. I had something called a Pomegranate Splash, the picture looked good and it was strong. DH stuck with a Bud Light and the vegetarian ordered a Pina Colada, I think.

Day 2 Day 2 started at about 3am when I noticed DH was no longer in the tent with us. I figured either a bear ate him, he checked into a Holiday Inn Express or was in the truck. Whatever…what this meant for me was an extra blanket! I pulled DD onto the queen bed with me and now we had an extra blanket and slept well for the rest of the night. The real morning started out around 7:30. We woke up to the sun shining and the birds chirping. Yeah! We made it through our first night of camping! We all went to shower and when we got back our camping buddies were up. DH, DD and I decided we wo

Arrival and Day 1 DD and I cut school and work on Friday so we could get an early start. DH was going to come after work with everyone’s bikes. The plan was for DD and I to set up our site, and be chilling by the pool with a cold one waiting for DH when he got there around 4:00. Ahhh…what is the saying…”the best laid plans…”…ya unfortunately that was us. We were packed up and left the house at 10:30, we stopped by our camping buddies house since they had never been there and wanted to follow us. Now DD and I are totally new to camping but we had practiced, plus the family that came with us

Thanks for the welcome everyone! I wish I had more pictures but most of them have all the kids in them and our camping buddies don't want to be on the internet (or maybe they don't want to be seen on the internet with US...who knows).

This whole experiment started in June when my DD(9) told us she is the only kid in her class that has never been camping. The conversation went like this: Me: “Of course you’ve been camping, remember when you had a sleepover on the air mattresses out in the screen room? Oh! And we stayed in the cabins at Fort Wilderness a few times. Rented a golf cart, ate marshmallows…” DD: “That is NOT camping! You have to rough it (you’ll see that “roughing it” is a little different in our family)…in a tent. And ride bikes. And cook on the grill.” Me: “Oh, well, your father’s not going to like that." Well s