Promised Land Homestead

First Camping Trip Planned

We have planned our first camping trip of 2009 already!  DS1 (Dear son #1) wanted to go somewhere neat for his 6th birthday in February, so we started looking around.  Knowing he LOVES animals and is OBSESSED with dinosaurs, we found the perfect place.  We'll be heading to Dinosaur Valley State Park on February 10th.  They have real dinosaur tracks there the kids can look at and two life-sized dinosaur displays.

On the 11th (his birthday) we're headed to another dinosaur park in the area with more exhibits and life-sized displays.  We'll also be visiting a drive-through safari park, with giraffes and antelope and all that good stuff.  Then we head home on the 12th.  It should be fun, and now with our new camper, we can actually make it a camping trip instead of staying in a hotel (as long as the weather isn't bitterly cold).

I've done some research, and asked advice of other pop up owners.  There is something called Pop-Up Gizmos that are simply reflective material you spread over your tenting.  In the summer it reflects the heat from the sun and keeps your pop up cooler and helps your A/C not have to work as hard.  In the winter, you flip them over and they help insulate the inside and hold heat in.  People have said they make a substantial difference and are worth it.  I've also learned that as long as the temps don't dip too low (below 25 degrees) electric space heaters will keep the pop up warm.  This allows you to set the furnace to a low temperature, like 60 degrees, so it only kicks on when the space heaters can't keep up.  Using the campsites electricity first is cheaper than burning up a whole tank of propane keeping the furnace going.  We bought a ceramic heater, which is much safer inside tents as there's no glowing hot element that can catch canvas on fire.

The nights should be warm and toasty and the days should be cool in the 60's...warm enough to hang out outside.

We're excited to try this baby out! (ok, maybe I'm more excited than DW, but she's still excited)