Mizz Review Lady

This year for our wedding anniversary we decided to celebrate by doing something special with our kiddos. Being that our four kids had never been on a camping trip, we decided to go camping @ShastaLake. It had been quite a while since me and the hubby went camping so we had to purchase many items to make our camping trip a success. If you plan on taking a camping trip soon, and you are wondering what to take, you may want to take a peek at the list of items below that I have compiled for you from our camping must-have list.

Items to take camping:

Tent
Ice Chest
Canopy
Tarp
Sleeping Bags and Pillows
Inflatable Mattress
Table Cover
Citronella Candles
Bug Repellent
First Aid Kit
Battery Operated Fan
Sunscreen
Camping Chairs + Small Folding Chairs for the Kids
Washcloths
Fire Wood (you can usually buy it at the camp site)
Bottled Water
Toothbrush,Toothpaste, Toiletries,
Aluminum Foil
Seasoning for Cooking
Portable Grill and Charcoals
Spatula
Long Two Prong Forks (for roasting marshmallows)
Clothing for during the day and also at night. It tends to cool way down at night.
Can Opener
And Camping Food

We rented a rental vehicle and headed for ShastaLake, which happened to be about 2 1/2 hours out of town. When we finally arrived, we were quite pleased to find the campground was almost empty, which meant we had our choice of almost any camping spot we wanted. We selected the perfect spot, which was very close to the bathroom, and with four kids, we definitely needed it to be close the the bathrooms. Speaking of which the bathrooms had flushable toilets and a sink to clean up at, so I was glad about that, because I hate using dreaded portapotties. I did however, find a frog in the toilet!

Our camp ground was very private, as we could not see any other campers in site. This is probably due to the fact that there was only three other campers in the entire campgrounds! Never the less, we definitely benefited from the lack of campers. Our camping spot was very spacious and included a picnic table, bear proof food storage, cold drinking water, and a bear proof trash can. The lake was gorgeous, but we soon found out how troubling it would be to try to get down the lake. I would certainly say it is made for boats more than anything. We attempted three times to get to the lake, and never made it to the lake. It was in the hundreds so no swimming, meant one hot mama! Good thing I brought my portable fan because that paired with my cool washcloth is what kept me and the kids from overheating.

At night time it cooled down cool enough to have to put pants and long sleeves on. Nights were fun for the kids because They enjoyed roasting marshmallows over the fire. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit afraid of wild animals while I was there, but snuggling up with my hub did the trick!

All of the nature around us made a perfect back drop for pictures!

Overall the camp ground was very nice; however, there was train tracks near by so any time a train went by it was very loud. Other than that, and the fact that the lake is not easily accessible it was a good camping site. Would I go again...probably not, but we all enjoyed our camping trip, and the boys will have memories from it.