Perhaps we campers are too busy focusing on why non-campers don’t like to camp, rather than simply extolling the unspoken virtues of camping. The real key isn’t about the gear. It’s about the people you take with you. If you get a good group of people together, comfort and fun is what it’s all about.

For 2-3 days we do nothing but sit in front of a fire, talking, drinking and being lazy while enjoying fresh air and the joys of nature. When we get bored, we play some bocce ball, go on a relaxing hike or find a paddle boat. Active, but not strenuous. When we drink too much we go into the tent, sleep it off and wake up with our spouses for an afternoon delight. When we get hungry we either wrap up a tater in foil and throw in on the fire, crack open a can of Chef Boyardee or open the bag of Cheetos. There’s always someone in the group that has a bit of pyro in ‘em so you probably don’t ever have to worry about the fire.

Yes, it takes a bit of effort to set up the tent, air up the mattress and cook a few meals but it’s worth it. For two or three whole days there are no cell phones, no distractions and no responsibilities.

As to snakes and serial killers and such, the worst that has ever happened to me while camping is bad weather. My biggest complaint is people with big rigs, and I wouldn’t even see them except that I want showers and toilets. Otherwise I could just beat it back into the bush and set up there. In Minnesota there are at least two state parks where cars must be left outside the camping area in a parking lot. You take your equipment in with a two wheeled cart, and everyone around you will be in a tent only. They also restrict the lake to non-powered boats.

Over the years I have tent camped in Alaska, BC, Alberta, Ontario, Montana, Colorado, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and probably others that I’ve forgotten.

It’s nice to have a big group of friends along, but I also enjoy going alone (or with a dog) and just hiking with my internal entertainment running.

I have an eight year old grandson who is a bit of a handful, but when it’s just the two of us in the wilderness he’s a model kid. He is absolutely fascinated with learning about the animals and plants and edible berries and such. If I could keep him out there for six months he might become a human being.

Pillow: When I’m alone I just roll up my trousers and wrap my towel around them.

Food: Adjacent to the campground at Cascade River State Park in Minnesota there is a restaurant – actually within short walking distance. But a cup of coffee while sitting on a rock next to Lake Superior beats the heck out of that!

Gooseberry Falls: Check out Temperance River.

I practice “leave no trace” camping as best as I can. I take a campstove, and I let my boyfriend have a fire one night (it’s a big thing for him). I don’t even need a cooler, as we cook a lot of soup and veggie meals while camping. We do put all our food back into the car whenever we’re not cooking. We’ve got all gear in two big rubbermaid boxes — cooking, cleaning, etc — so we just have to throw those in the car and then go camp for a weekend. We’ve been known to camp at the state park 30 minutes away just so we can spend the whole weekend hiking.

Last summer, we went all along the North Shore. We spent our first night in a hotel (we drove up after work and don’t like to set up campsites in the dark) and then explored Duluth before heading further up the coast. It was awesome, and we had a really budget vacation despite traveling over the 4th of July in a popular area.

Another great alternative to camping is to look for hostels. There are many family friendly hostels where you can book private rooms, and it is usually cheaper than staying in a hotel (the only place that wasn’t true for me so far was in NYC). That way, you can stay in a city, reduce travel costs. You don’t have to rent a car so you can stay in a cheap hotel in the boonies.

Personally I love, love, love camping. I have wondeful memories of car camping with my family growing up, and wilderness canoe camping with my boyfriend. For us the perfect vacation is 3 weeks in a provincial park (Canadian) with plenty of canoe routes. You can go almost the entire time withhout seeing a soul, the lakes are your showers and bathrooms are wooden boxes over pits with a hole in the top. Coolers, electricity, cell reception etc. are just not in the picture. It is so freeing to get away from society and just live in the moment – paddling, watching, swimming, moving. The physical aspects are a great departure from days spent sitting at a desk.

Being in a tent during a thunderstorm is totally amazing. But maybe I’m just weird :)

But I wouldn’t consider wilderness camping a cheap activity – for it to be comfortable you need to invest in quality gear. We do it because we love it, not because we save on hotel costs.

Even in Florida, you can still hotel it pretty cheap. We were at a Days inn near the orlando mall, and had a 3 room suite with a kitchen for $49 a night, if you shop careful. It had a pool, and a few Irish families the kids enjoyed hanging out with.

Its 8 degrees here, so it seems funny to be talking about camping…brrr! Send the spring!

We love to camp in tents at camp grounds, but most of them are tent only with pit toilets. We have a giant tent, camp stoves and inflatable mattresses.

We also like to go backpacking, minimalist, much smaller tent, foam pad, much lighter sleeping bag, smaller cooking gear and mostly no other people.

We also like to travel in style, we are going to Amsterdam in 3 weeks and staying in an 19th century hotel down in the old part of the city. Then we are continuing on to Bangalore / Benguluru, India. I didn’t skimp at all here, We booked a 5 star hotel that caters to western travelers. Frugal? maybe not, but I’ve heard lots of horror stories about India.

Then we are returning through Europe and staying in Paris for 3 days. Usually when we travel we like to stay in historic buildings but Paris hotels are very expensive, so we settled for a modern hotel with a view of the Eiffel tower which as far as the map indicates is a good central location for walking to most of the tourist attractions.

I’m really surprised that someone in this day and age would thing striping leaf’s from tree’s was OK.

Still, I’d never camp as a hotel substitute. Many of my (non-camping!) vacations tend to be in urban areas. I just don’t see camping as a realistic substitute for a hotel in most situations. Camping has to be the goal, otherwise it isn’t fun, even for me.

PS – Sleeping without an air pad is absolutely awful, and I’m not a wuss. I don’t think a sleeping bag rated to zero (have one!) provides enough padding. But I’m kind of bony, not sure if that matters.