Matt and I went on our very first camping trip together over the fourth of July. Both of us enjoy camping and have gone with friends but have never been responsible for bringing all the gear, setting up a tent and starting a fire. We were quite proud of ourselves when we had a pretty smooth experience. We did have some lessons learned though:

• Book early! The reason “rustic” campsites were all that were available that weekend was because people book WAY in advance and “rustic” means it is really close to the swamp which means there are lots and lots of bugs (notice the Citronella candle front and center in the picture - these were a critical resource for us!).

• The South is not the Pacific Northwest! Camping in South Carolina is very different than camping in the PNW. You DO NOT need sweats and sweatshirts to sleep in, in fact you don’t even need a sleeping bag because it is so bloody hot you can barely sleep.


• Check your equipment before you get there. When Matt says he is “pretty sure” his blow-up mattress is a queen or a full, do not wait until you’re at the campsite to check and see and find out it is only a twin.
  
• Bring plastic bags for the cooler. Our cooler was great for keeping things cold, it was also great for keeping things soggy!

And here are the highlights of the trip:

• An ocean you can enjoying swimming in! The upside to the South being so much warmer than the PNW is that you actually enjoy getting in the ocean and swimming! This was my first time in the Atlantic Ocean since I was too little to remember and I thoroughly enjoyed it!


• Being rebels! Alcohol is prohibited in state parks so we had to sneak it, because you can’t camp without beer, especially when it so bloody hot. So we propped up a log to hide our beer and wine as we sat by the fire and had to sneak our empty bottles to the dumpster. We probably need to hide it as much as we did but it was kind of fun to be act like we were in college again and trying to sneak alcohol in the dorms!


• We did it! And we plan to do it again! Did I mention that we were proud of ourselves? We are and are excited to get even better at camping in the future (which also means planning trips when it isn’t so bloody hot out!).