On the subject of bears, we once had our entire food supply confiscated by rangers while camping in King's Canyon 'cause they decided we hadn't secured it well enough. After a loooooong hike, we came back to find everything gone with a note. We had to drag our asses to the ranger station, and I believe they made us pay a fine.

When I was a kid, my family would go camping with the tent, sleeping bag on the ground, "roughing it" method.

That is why I hate camping. If I'm on vacation, I want to relax and be comfortable. Literally sleeping on rocks fits neither of those.

But for those who enjoy that kinda thing, have at it.

I would rather camp than stay in a hotel.

No, when we stayed there in Yosemite it was in a regular hotel room. Wasn't a huge room as I recall. I do recall it was very lovely though, and the restaurant was good too. It's been years since I was there -- I went for a bar mitzvah of all things. And I remember I was four days into quitting smoking. And I was staying with my parents. It was... interesting. ;)

Yeah the whole sleeping on the ground thing I am SO not gonna do. I have enough sleeping troubles. LOL Alex your idea of camping sounds like you have to be as absolutely miserable as possible. Just doing what we did was definitely a LOT of work, but left enough time for the fun stuff. It was camping. It was in a campground, and we slept in tents outside. I washed in a freezing cold creek. That was enough "camp" for me.

Oh yeah GD, the bear thing. We heard of someone doing exactly the same thing, and ended up being fined $150 for leaving and not latching his bear box properly. See, the bears only get aggressive when they know they can get food (i.e. if people intentionally start feeding them, or the bear box isn't latched, etc.) That's when the rangers have to start shooting them. Otherwise they are pretty docile and will get very scared of you very easily if you make noise. Not that I'd go up and try to pet one, of course.

But yeah my next vacation will be in a hotel (at WDW, actually). As I said before, I like MORE amenities, not LESS. But it was a new experience and I am always up for new experiences. There's gotta be SOMETHING about the whole camping thing that people enjoy doing, after all!! It's sort of like a "make your own adventure" or "exploration" sort of thing.

Like any vacation, the most important thing is who you're spending it with.

As a close friend of mine told me, "Teresa, you don't camp. You homestead." And, she's pretty right about that. :cool:

Here's my usual personal gear that I just cannot live without whilst in the woods:

• queen air mattress with automatic built-in pump
• portable queen bed frame
• queen linens - sheets, pillows, comforter
• folding bedside table
• portable table lamp
• inflatable living room set (sofa, chair, table)
• 9-person cabin tent (that only sleeps 2 with all my stuff)
• doormat
• "flock" of six pink lawn flamingos :birdy:
• tiki torches :tiki:
• solar landscape lantern set
• small portable stereo
• portable shower
• hammock
• "prep" box that includes toilet paper, handiwipes, full first-aid kit, assorted gadgets, trash bags, extra batteries, flashlights, etc.
• plus, the usual cooking gear

:D (And Alphabassetgirl knows first-hand that I'm not exaggerating, but probably leaving stuff out even.)

I bring a pretty useful kitchen with me, but camping involved this type of schedule:

Wake up
Make GIANT breakfast of eggs, bacon, coffee, bread, etc.
Do dishes
Prepare picnic lunch
Go on short hike
Eat lunch
Come back to camp
Take nap/fool around
Make GIANT dinner (Seared Ahi, Indian Lamb Skewers, etc)
Do dishes
Make fire
Read/chat
Go to sleep

^^^^ OK next time I go camping, I am going with Not Afraid and Disneyphile. It hath been decided!

(I think I was hooked once you got to the inflatable living room set and the seared Ahi.)

Yes, between the two of them that would be comparable to at least a 2 star...:cool:

I've only walked through the Awahnee but I do searches all of the time and the cabins {which I've snooped around} are pretty nice.

http://www.yosemite.org/vryos/

What is up in Yosemite right now? Is that rain? We went last August and got caught up in a thunderstorm while on the Merced. It was freezing. We were totally surprised, packed for summer. Silly us.

The bears~yes,you can get fined if they break into your car, too. I always wondered what our insurance would say if we were broken into? We always totally clean out the car, wiping down all surfaces. And, someone who works there told us if you smoke a cigarette in the vehicle, it kills the smells. He even kindly volunteered when we said we don't smoke.

I still think it would be totally cool to meet up there and do mild hikes. :D

Unfortuantely, checking availability, it is not what I want when I want.

We got married at the Awanhee! It was lovely.

I'm never miserable while camping. But then discomfort doesn't particularly bother me and even if things are great in a particular moment overall it is always good.

But I do eat well when camping. Providing a quality meal after a week of living out of a cooler is one of the fun challenges of true camping. Nothing like being on day 7 out in the desert and hand making ice cream or something like that.