There are a lot of places to go camping in Michigan, but my family’s favorite campground is only twenty minutes from our home. Some people think we’re crazy for spending most of our summer camping so close. But we have found major advantages to this set-up, so I thought I would share them with you. This might open your summer up to many more days of camping fun, especially when you choose a local campground.
We can still go to work
We are both teachers, so we don’t actually work at our full-time job during the summer but I have a part-time job at my church and I have to be there every Sunday. If I didn’t camp close, I would either never camp or lose my job. Neither is a good option for me, so we keep our camping local in Michigan and go to work and come back home. This is a great option if you both work or only one of you does. Wouldn’t it be nice to work all day and then go back to camping and relax instead of going back home to laundry and dishes? You can really extend your vacations this way.
Our kids can still be involved in their activities
As our kids get older, sports are weaseling into our summers. We could all sit at home while our kids do their activities or we can run the kids to school and then come back and enjoy the day. This worked great this summer as we had to take my daughter to school for volleyball camp. She still got to do what she loved while the rest of got to enjoy the day as well.
We can invite friends to visit our local campground spot
We find when we are camping, we are much more likely to invite friends over for dinner. I don’t have to worry about a clean house because we are outside most of the time. And no one expects a gourmet meal, hamburgers and hot dogs work just fine. This a great opportunity to spend some time with those friends you haven’t seen for a year.
We can come home and do laundry (or anything else that needs to be done)
We will camp for 12-14 days, so somewhere in there we need to do laundry. We can save money by coming home and doing it. You can also save time if you are running back and forth to drop you kids off or going to work. Throw in a load in the morning put it in the dryer when you come back and wait for it then.
It’s not a big deal if I forget something
Once I forgot hamburger. No big deal. My husband ran home and got it. Yes, he could have gone to the store to buy more, but again, this saved us money because we could just run home and get what I had already bought.
So next summer, if you feel like you just don’t have enough time to camp, consider a closer location and enjoy great times while you are camping in Michigan with family and friends.