For 2015, we have some pretty big camping aspirations. We decided this year to focus on several things related to camping:

1. A 2-week vacation to Acadia National Park, Maine and the White Mountains of New Hampshire. For this trip, we’ve done a lot of planning to visit places we love (like Cadillac Mountain, Jordan Pond House, Franconia Notch and Polly’s Pancakes) and to find new things to explore in and around a couple of our favorite places to camp.
2. A couple of short weekend camp trips to support Tom riding in local biking events and one of these as a way to introduce friends to camping.
3. Going to a Teardrop meet up to see other Teardrop campers and meet other people who camp this way.
4. A few days away before the July 4th holiday to have some relaxing down time.
5. We are planning to try out lots of State campgrounds within 200 miles of our house so that we have a better sense of all of our options for getaways.

As a result, we are planning to camp at least every couple of weekends all summer this year. We got started earlier in the year (mid-April, while it was still down in the 30s at night) and plan to camp through October this year.

We’re to a point with the packing and the gear that we leave the camper and extras pretty ready to go and we don’t need a lot of time to pack the clothes and food necessary to get on the road. We’ve worked out the difference between packing for different activities (biking, hiking, kayaking) and different lengths of time. We’ve even worked out how to plan meals around what is available in the house and making a short list of things besides ice to pick up to fill out the menu. We pack up and leave and stop at the grocery as a first stop out of town.  It’s super convenient and leaves us always looking forward to the next getaway.