by JennM

Created on: July 16, 2009   Last Updated: July 17, 2009

The most common mistake that will be made for first time campers is the thought that everything will go as planned. Wrong! Hardly anything will go as planned. Let's just go through what a camping trip can entail:

Wake up at 5AM to get packed and ready to hit the road by 6AM.

5:30AM: Can't find the sleeping bags. 5:45AM: Find the sleeping bags but one has large hole in it. Ditch the bag and grab some blankets.

5:50AM: Loading the car with all the camping gear.

6:15AM: Car loaded but not enough room for family to sit..

6:20AM: Gear re-arranged to allow for sitting room.

6:30AM: On the road after 10 minutes of searching for car keys.

After three hours of driving you finally reach your camping destination. It should have took two and a half hours but husband wouldn't stop and ask for directions once realizing the power cord for the GPS was left at home and it of course went dead after a couple of hours.

You find your camping spot and begin unloading gear. You set up the tent only to later realize you set it up on an ant bed so you move it after carefully examining the rest of the ground.

You do a little fishing and swimming in the lake and make sandwiches for lunch. After lunch you go on a hike only to return to find ants covering the picnic table because you left bread crumbs on it from lunch.

After cleaning the table off you try to cook the fish you caught while fishing that morning and realize it is much harder to clean and cook a fish out in the wilderness than in the comfort of your own kitchen. The fish turns out okay for the most part, just a little burnt on some parts.

After dinner you put marshmallows on a stick to cook over the fire and spend the rest of the evening sitting by the fire and gazing at the stars. Before turning in for the night you decide you have to use the bathroom but the public bathrooms are too far away to walk to in the dark so you decide to go behind some trees. Realizing you don't have any toilet paper with you you use some leaves laying on the ground. On your way back to camp you trip over the ropes anchoring the tent to the ground. You scrape your knee and need to clean the dirt out of it. You realize you forgot to bring a first aid kit. You then have to boil some water over the fire, let it cool down enough to touch and pour over the scrape.

You're now in the tent ready for some sleep. You toss and turn for the first hour trying to get comfortable and used to sleeping in the heat. You doze off after convincing yourself

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