Starling Travel

With the approach of winter, there are fewer places where camping is pleasant, but with the colder weather, there is much more reason to cuddle up, right? For a how-to on discrete noogie while camping, there is Sex in a Tent: A Wild Couple’s Guide to Getting Naughty in Nature by Michelle Waitzman.

Michelle did an article for Men’s Health with these handy tips:

• Get away. Go off the beaten path to make sure you’re at least somewhat isolated. Getting vocal while getting it on might not go over too well in the middle of a family campground.

• Keep it simple. Movements should be small and controlled. “This is not the time to try out the entire Kama Sutra, because those walls are closer than you think,” says Waitzman.

• Use a condom. This isn’t a safe sex lecture. Even if you don’t normally wear protection, it can make clean-up - of yourselves and the tent - that much easier.

• Bag it up. If you’re shopping for sleeping bags as a couple, invest in a pair designed to zip together. “It gives you added warmth and the convenience of being able to actually touch each other under the covers,” says Waitzman.

• Be obvious. If you want to get laid under the stars, flirt under the sun. Waitzman advises “a little wink-wink behavior during the day to get everybody on the same page.” She says many people don’t even consider sex in the tent, mainly because they’ve never tried it.

Tip # 4, Bag it up, has been the most important one to me, mostly for warmth. When it gets to be November, even camping at Lake Mead in southern Nevada is just a little too cold to be alone in a sleeping bag. I’m so grateful that Mike and I have the kind that can be zipped together.

Via: Two-Heel Drive: “Sex in a Tent” author on tour

Halfway between San Jose and Salinas is Mount Madonna County Park. It is a great place for camping and hiking. If you are planning a trip to California, you can find so much more than the Disneylands and the Sea Worlds. There is an entire state of experiences waiting for you. You can find out more here:

• Two-Heel Drive: Mount Madonna County Park

• Bay Nature: On the Trail: At Home off the Range: A Cattle Baron’s Refuge at Mount Madonna, July-September 2007

This park belonged to a Cattle Baron during the Gold Rush Era. All that is left of his mansion are moss-covered stones. It’s a surprising reminder of how quickly our most cherished possessions can deteriorate into nothing. It also serves as a warning that everything that we do to the planet is merely a scratch and Mother Earth can recover and overgrow your mark within years.

For a different sort of vacation, try camping at Mount Madonna County Park.

Where: Approximately 38 miles north of Salinas off Highway 101 - Google Map

If you have gone camping for more than three days in a row, you can understand the appeal of portable showering devices. The problem with most of them is that the water is COLD. With Hot Jugz, you can heat up the water before putting it into the device.

• Hot Portable Shower Hot Jugz

It’s being advertised as a great alternative to beach showers. It is supposed to keep the water warm for seven hours, so you can fill it up at home, swim, surf or snorkel to your heart’s content and then wash the salt off your body with warm water instead of the cold stuff. They’ve based the name of their product on the fact that it keeps water warm, but that’s not the best asset of it.

The best part is that you don’t have to put the thing above your head to make it work. All you have to do is pump it up (15-20 pumps) and the water will flow from the showerhead. Great idea!

Via: Popgadget: Personal Tech for Women - Hot Jugz: a portable shower

Mike and I don’t camp during the winter. Mike spent too many winter nights shivering in a boy scout tent and I refuse to be cold. That doesn’t mean that it’s not possible and that it can’t be fun. Here are a couple of articles that tell you in detail how to camp during winter AND enjoy it.

• Reach Upward: Having Fun With Winter Camping (part I)

• Reach Upward: Having Fun With Winter Camping (part II)

I love the introductory paragraph:

“Call me crazy, but I actually do camp out in the snow. I didn’t enjoy camping or hiking as a kid, but it has kind of grown on me throughout the years, especially as I work with Scout groups. For the boys, it’s a great adventure. And it doesn’t have to be unpleasant either. All it takes is knowledge and preparation.”

The first time I ever went camping was only two summers ago. I love to camp, and I hate the winter months when we put the camping gear away and stay in hotels. These articles make me curious about how enjoyable winter camping might be.

Via: Gary Thornock’s Weblog » Good information on winter camping

Part of the fun of camping is buying the equipment to go camping with, but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can go camping on the cheap. Here is a list of tips and tricks to help you keep your camping thrifty.

• Get Rich Slowly » 26 Cheap Camping Tips

Next time you’re wishing for an escape, try camping. It’s inexpensive and one day camping feels like a week on vacation.

Mike Moon did a video review of the Darlington Park camping site in Ontario Canada. This is a 8:50 minute video that shows you far more than I could describe. If you are trapped at home wishing you could get out into the wild, watch this and enjoy the birds, flowers and wildlife.

MOON ECHOES: Tourist in my own town (Darlington Park - Ontario, Canada)

It sounds like you need to be careful which campsite you choose:

“We survived the evening just fine… very noisy. Lots of traffic, trains, whistles, certainly not what I was anticipating when I wanted to get away from it all. I thought that the traffic would ease up, but there was a constant whoosing sound of transports and cars in the distance.”

They got a new campsite further away from the highway to avoid the noise. The campsites look very private and there are lots of trees everywhere. There is a general store nearby where you can pick up supplies.

“I found the prices to be quite reasonable. The firewood was five dollars [Canadian] a pack, which is cheaper than other parks that we’ve been to. And the prices in the store were very reasonable. Good little place. Great guy was in there. He had a good attitude, good sales. Made us feel welcome and at home.”

The park is near Lake Ontario, so you can enjoy the water lapping at the shore.

Where: Darlington Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada - 1600 Darlington Park Rd. Bowmanville, Ontario L1C 3K3 Telephone: 905-436-2036

Ontario Parks - Darlington

ABC News has this video of this $1.4 Million RV and an interview with the owner. The RV has four flat screen televisions and it costs $600 in gasoline to fill it up. What is it like? See here:

My favorite quotes from this interview:

“Our idea of roughing it is when the wine isn’t properly chilled. That’s about as rough as it gets. We have every amenity you can think of. It’s like living in a luxury condo and your backyard is the entire North American continent.”

“My favorite part of my home on wheels are my friends that I’ve acquired through traveling. It has been a great experience.”

A $1.4 Million RV is an extravagance, but it’s possible to live in a motorhome full time and travel the United States without roughing it AND without spending that much money. A good motorcoach can be had for as little as $60K, which is less than a lot of people pay for their homes.

Living in an RV isn’t really camping, but it’s a form of travel that is unique in its own right.

After getting past Elephant Hill in Stacey and Dan’s Hummer, we finally arrived to our campsite at Devil’s Kitchen. When I saw how far back it was from the main thoroughfare and enjoyed its private enclosure away from other campers and nearly surrounded by rock, I KNEW that the ride up was worth it.

As soon as we set up camp, I took a video of what our camp looked like. The campsite marker was by the road and we parked the bright yellow Hummer nearby, but the actual campsite was hidden past a small trail flanked by rock and vegetation. It took a full minute’s walk to get down the trail enough to find our campsite.

There have been so many times when we have camped in huge communal campsites, but this area felt entirely private. Sure, there were three other campsites, but each were separated from us by stone. Mike and I are completely unable to get to this campsite without the Hummer and suddenly the reason that people go off-roading became strikingly clear to me.

Off-roading takes you places that no one else can go.

For more information:

• America’s Byways - Devil’s Kitchen

Last year at this time, we camped at Lake Mead in Nevada. We usually go there several times a year, but last year was the first time we had ever gone there so early in the spring. We were pleasantly surprised at how different the experience was.

The nearly monotone landscape was alive with color. I had never before seen so much pink in Nevada that wasn’t powered by neon. It was too early for bats, but we did enjoy the landscape. The campground was nearly full of snowbirds camping in Nevada for the winter, but they mostly stayed in their huge motorhomes. We were lucky to get a campsite so near Boulder Beach.

There is a little trail that runs along the area. It’s beautiful to see at this time of year and the Nevada sun hasn’t gotten to the raging heat that it does later in the season.

It’s pretty obvious that this trail was made before the lake got to such unprecedented lows. This trail used to be along the lakeshore, now it’s about a half mile from the lake. It’s still worth the walk, though.

This is the perfect time of year for a quick camping trip down at Lake Mead. The plants are bursting with flowers and the campgrounds are full, but quiet and enjoyable.

Where: Lake Mead Boulder Beach Campsite: 420 Lakeshore Rd, Boulder City, NV 89005 Google Map Phone: (702) 293-2540

Lake Mead National Recreation Area - Camping

Camping is far more complicated than just throwing clothes in a suitcase for a trip to Vegas. Mike and I have gotten it down to a science. You can click below to download the MS Word document and edit it to fit your needs.

Click Here To Print Up Full Camping List Using MS Word

Each bag is packed at the END of our camping trip. We leave the items in the bags and don’t take them out when we need something because they end up getting forgotten that way. If the bags are packed correctly, all we need to do when we want to go camping is take them out of the basement and put them into the car.

We found this list originally on the Internet from a site that no longer exists and edited it for our needs. None of the sites have suggested the idea of packing up your gear at the end of your trip and leaving it alone between trips so that you KNOW that you have everything that you need. That was the innovation that has helped streamline our camping experience and has made it quite enjoyable.

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