Camping in the County

I have a love-hate relationship with camping.  And I’m sure many other parents out there are with me on this.  

What I love about camping…

1. It’s an inexpensive way to see a lot of different places
2. It really forces you to spend time outside
3. It gives you an excuse to get dirty
4. It’s easy to take the whole family – including the dog

Now, when we camp, we are really camping – like tent camping – no electricity, no running water on site.  Which leads me to what I hate about camping…

1. Packing and unpacking – twice
2. Prepping, cooking, and cleaning outdoors
3. Being dirty 80% of the time
4. When the weather doesn’t cooperate

When I look at the above two lists, I’m not actually sure why we go camping.  But when we look back at the end of each trip – we are always happy for the experience and also even happier to be home!

We try to go on 2-3 trips per summer.  The first trip is always our first of the season, always with mostly the same people and always at the same place.  We have been doing this trip for over 12 years, since before we had kids.  We’ve had people join and leave our group over the years, we’ve been single, dating, pregnant – and seen our kids grow together over the years.  It’s our ritual.

The other one or two trips can change from year to year.  We’ve been to the Laurentians, the Eastern Townships (of Quebec), the U.S, and Ontario.  Sometimes we go to the same places, sometimes we try new ones based on recommendations.

Recently, we visited Sandbanks Provincial Park in Prince Edward County, Ontario with the kids.  It’s not my first time in that area.  I went two years ago on a Girls Trip for a Wine Tour, and then last year we camped there with some friends (sans kids).  This year, we decided to go again, but this time, with the kids (and dog).  

There are some things to know about camping at Sandbanks. 

First, it is awesome – the beach compares with a caribbean destination in terms of sand quality and water temperature.  There are many different areas of the park to camp at and the prices and services are reasonable.  The people there seem to be friendly, and there are lots of families.  There is a dedicated dog beach, which is perfect for us. And on top of that, there are cute little towns/villages close by to explore.

There are some challenges with visiting Sandbanks or Prince Edward County in general. Accomodation outside of camping is not easy to get – it books up pretty fast. The same is true for camping. Getting a good campsite is not always easy.  The best sites are at Outlet Beach – particularly Outlet A – in my opinion.  But its very, very difficult to get a site.  You can book up to 6 months in advance – but once a site opens up, people usually snap them up for longer periods of time.  The best is to have flexibility and then just check daily on the Ontario Parks website to see what is available, and for your preferred dates.  If you find a spot that you like, grab it right away.

Another thing to consider is that the beach is crazy busy on the weekends.  We were there from Wednesday to Saturday, and we were happy to have those days during the week, because once the weekend arrived, the beach was packed.  Finding spots to set up where easy to come by in the morning, but by 1:30, you had no personal space left, and people were literally setting up on top of you.  

So if you can manage the above, it really is a great place to visit. There are many beach and hiking spots to visit. We trekked the sand dunes at the West Beach (even though the aftermath of this year’s flooding made accessing them a little more difficult). We spent some time in Picton, checking out the cute shops and eateries there. They had everything for all my different personalities (click for more info on the spot): The Bean Counter Café for my daily dose of sanity (ie. caffeine fix), Kingston Olive Oil Co. for my inner foodie & Zest Kitchen Shop for both my Interior Designer side. And of course, Kelly’s Shop for some cute clothing.

We also stopped in Bloomfield, where we had ice cream at Slickers (we also stopped at their location in Picton on our way out of town).  But I’ve also eaten at Agrarian Bistro (dinner and brunch on our girls trip) and it was amazing.  Also on our girls trip we ate at Blumen Garden Bistro.

All of this to say a trip to Prince Edward County and particularly camping at Sandbanks, is worth the trip and the hassles of camping. To help manage some of the hassles, we started a new tradition – having the kids prepare one meal during the trip. We’ve also informed them that they are now old enough to all help with the basic tasks so that it no longer falls solely on Tom and I. We’ve already decided we will go back next year – and hopefully bring some of our other camping friends to join us.

Meanwhile, we have a few more weeks before we head out camping again – so it should be enough time to get over the hassle of it all.  Next destination – Meacham Lake in the U.S.