Last June, my wife and I took our first camping trip with our daughter. She and I are both seasoned campers, we have a good setup/takedown system, and usually know how to make a good camp for us and our 2 dogs. Bringing an eight month old baby changed everything. Here are the three biggest changes we faced.
The first major change was the amount of things we needed to bring with. We have a small hybrid travel trailer so we typically pack pretty light. This was not the case on this trip. We needed to bring a pack and play, bottle warmer, toys, food, bottles, and all the other stuff that goes along with a baby. That filled the extra space in the camper and my truck. I used to laugh at the TV dads who were so proud of packing the car just right before a trip, but now I’m that Dad. I felt like I had to use every inch of space and just when I thought I was done, boom, more stuff to load. I fit it all and we actually needed everything that we brought with.
The second big change was the space that was taken up in the camper. We bought our camper years ago with a few requirements. One of which was enough room for the dogs to be able to lay down and have some space to move about. It worked fine for the last 4 years, until we had to add the pack and play. We tried several different placements, but the only way that would work was to put it in the kitchen. This gave the dogs some room at night, but made it almost impossible to get to our bed in the back of the camper. We had to squeeze by and hope that we didn’t wake the baby anytime we went past. It was not ideal, but she was too little to sleep in one of the other beds. The dogs had to spend most of their time on tie outs outside and away from us when we were inside. They didn’t seem to mind that part. We went from being cozy in our camper to feeling confined pretty quickly.
The third and biggest change was how we spent our time. Typically, my wife and I try to enjoy a leisurely weekend of camp. We would go on lots of hikes, take our time having breakfast and sipping our coffee, and generally try to relax. Having the baby made that much more difficult. We found a way to make the most of it by taking shorter walks around the campground instead of long hikes through the woods. We still had our breakfast and coffee, but enjoyed them at a faster pace than we normally would. As for the relaxing part, well anyone who has had a baby knows that relaxation is hard to come by at all, let alone in a new place, with lots new noises, and new things to see.
Even though we were in our relaxing place we still had to do all of the things that go with having a baby. Naps and bottles, diapers and clothes changes, walking and playing with the dogs, all in 1/8 the space of our house. At night we liked to stay up late, have some drinks by the fire, and look at the stars. I think I managed to stay up until 10:00pm and had one drink of whiskey. It was a far cry from my usual end of the day camping routine, but I still found a way to make it happen.
All in all we made it work for that trip, but it was not the experience we were hoping for. I was just too much work and too much of a change for us and our daughter at that age. We only went camping once last year, but we already have a trip booked this spring and are hoping that it will be easier and more fun with an 18 month old.
