One of American favorite summer activities is camping. It's fun, cheap and good family bounding. There are many camping spots in upstate New York. Though there are many but advance booking are advise.
Our initial plan was to find a camping site which allows one night but there was hardly any, which was within an hour drive from our place.. They only allow 3 days in advance booking for one night which is a big no no plus we don't get to choose good camp spot only left overs. No thanks
Most of the camp site have a minimum stay of 2 nights. So we tried camping for 2 nights. Surprisingly it's not too bad for few of our friends who were camping virgins
for camping newbie ( i'm no pro but i would like to share what i know so far)
Basic things to bring ---->
1. tent (duh!)
2. air bed, warm blanket(it will be cold in the evening and morning), pillows, air bed pumps ( make sure to buy one which battery operates)
3. flash light (handy when u go for toilet break in the night), battery
4. bucket (handy for washing, don't have to walk back and forth to the water pipe)
5. mosquito repellent (a must, unless you want to be eaten alive by the bug)
6. folding chairs
7. sun block
8. drinking waters for 3 days
9. portable stove if anyone has it, and other necessary utensil
10. food
11. cooler
12. ropes to hang towels and wet clothes
13. grill racks (sometimes they don't have it or it's really dirty and rusty), dish detergent
14. paper cups and plates
15. heater if you are camping early spring or in autumn
16. Garbage bags( there are no trash can, you bring your own trash out, usually there are dump site at the exit of the camping area)
our camp site. Every camp site can only be occupied 6 person max but there is no restriction on how many tents you can use. The camp site was a little disappointing, it was rather small compare to the one we went last year at Saranac Lake
every camp site, equip with a picnic bench and a brick bbq area. This bbq area was disappointing too, it doesn't come with a bbq metal rack but luckily we brought our own grill rack
one thing i hate about camping is the toilet. Don't get me wrong, it's really clean, well maintain, power outlet for hair dryer and shower with warm water but sometimes it's just far away from one's camp site and i pee alot at night. imagine walking in the forest all by yourself in darkness even with flash light i wonder whats lurking out there in the dark. Luckily i was so darn tired and 'had to go really bad' to be scared
Tip: always booked your campsite near to a bathroom. that is was early booking is crucial
This time ours was about 1 minute walk away, which was not that bad
well not really jungle path they do have tar road :P
There are also few water pipes location for easy access to water rather walking all the way to the toilet
morning and evening time temperature can drop like crazy even during summer time
this year we had 6 family on 3 campsite, it was so much fun
everyone bring they own specialty, we had Malaysian, Singaporean, China, India, Philippines, French, Italian and American food and everything was delicious
everybody helping out, good co operation is really important
at night we would eat, chat and sing....yes everyone has to sing and i sang 'Negaraku' (Malaysia's national anthem) well not because i'm very patriotic but that is the only song i remember the full lyric
the left over food are better to be place is the cooler or in the car not only to prevent it from getting bad but to avoid being eaten by the wild animal, we had raccoon, squirrels and a porcupine mess around with our trash, yup the whole snow white wild animal
there is a no noise after 10pm rule, the ranger will make round
so no hanky panky after 10
during the day time we drive to the lake which is on the other side from the camp site (another point that i don't like) but it's not really far just a 5 minutes drive
there we rented a rowing boat for 2 hours which fit 4 person, cost $20 and a $10 deposit which you get back. One can also rent for 4 hours but the lake is quite small so 2 hours is more then enough to make you tired. oh ya there are also kayaks for rent.
or just lazy around the beach
we move our lunch area to the lake, so we don't have to go back and forth so many time
playing board games after a heavy lunch
then went back to our campsite for a badminton match and dinner
our 2015 camping buddy!!! and we are going to plan for another camping trip next year, i'm pretty sure it's going to be an annual thing ;)
good company + good food + fun activities = awesome camping trip
photos by My friend Iris, Ling and myself
till next adventure
~ bye ~
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