Our family recently went camping at Collins Lake Recreation. We scheduled this camping trip right before back to school for our last summer adventure. We were not scheduled to camp at Collins Lake, we were actually scheduled to camp at Clear Lake, we had our reservation for quite a while but due to the devastating fires we have had here in California, a fire was very near to Clear Lake and they were closed. My heart and prayers go out to all those who were affected by these fires and are still dealing with all the loss. We having to change our camping plans seemed like such a small problem in light of what our local communities were facing.
We were keeping a close eye on the fires and were in communication with the Clear Lake Campsite where we had reservations. At first, they were remaining open but told us there was smoke in the air and ash on the ground in the mornings. They graciously gave us the option to cancel our reservations with a full refund which we did, they eventually announced the day before we were going they indeed were closing that week so I am grateful we planned accordingly.
We started contacting some other campsites which were recommended through our local community Facebook page. I am so grateful for local community pages, I have found a variety of helpful information on them. Most campsites we had contacted were full or had one to two of the four nights we wanted or one night at a spot, then we’d have to move to another spot. Thankfully Collins Lake returned a call to us and had good news. They had a spot for all of the nights we wanted.
Collins Lake was wonderful. The staff at the main office were very friendly and helpful. The main office was also an ice cream shop, coffee shop, convenience store and a cute gift shop. They had anything you might have forgotten. The ice cream was delicious and ONLY $2 for a giant bowl. They had so many flavors, not just your basic flavors. How fun to go camping and have ice cream available. We visited the main office daily to purchase ice for our coolers, it was an added bonus to enjoy their delicious ice cream.
Another added surprise was Collins Lake had movie night on the beach, they do this every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We attended the Thursday showing of Little Rascals, this was so much fun for the boys to watch a movie on the big screen right on the beach. I had brought popped popcorn for a snack, which came in handy for movie night.
There was a sand beach area with a dock the kids could jump off as well as a playground near the beach. This main area is where the showers were located as well. Shower use was available for a small fee ($1 for 4 minutes, $1.75 for 7 minutes). Our campsite was down the road more. Where our campsite was located there was a lake view and lake access, but it was a rocky area, which my boys did not mind, but I preferred the beach area for swimming. For camping, I really like the spot we had. Near the main area, it seemed like there were a lot more campers, therefore more noise and activity. My husband is a light sleeper so I know he would not appreciate camping in that area. They also have group camp site areas, which are great if you are a group or camping with a lot of family or friends. If you are a single family camping and the noise keeps you up, I would recommend not camping near those group sites. No one was out of hand or rowdy in my opinion, they were just up, enjoying music, conversation, laughing, the joys of camping, kids playing flashlight tag, etc. Our boys are early risers, so even though we did not have a set bedtime so to speak, they are ready for bed come 9 p.m. even on vacation. I am a heavy sleeper so the noise does not bother me at all, my head hits the pillow and I am out but if you have a light sleeper that is something to keep in mind. If you can find a campsite off the main road and off the main beach or camp area, although you are farther from the showers and main beach area, it will be much quieter.
Collins Lake offers paddle boat rentals, kayak rentals party boat rentals that come with a slide, these look like so much fun. There were people fishing, off shore and on boats. They have RV hooks ups as well as cabins available. I was really impressed with this location. They were also very near to Sacramento which was nice. I was surprised to see they only had portable bathroom facilities, but I must say they were the cleanest I have ever seen. It seemed as though the staff serviced them daily. I was pleasantly surprised that it seemed as the floors were mopped each morning, I never saw staff doing this, but they smelled like pine-sol and you could tell they were cleaned. I am so grateful for this. Our campsite had a fire/grill pit and we had a water spigot right next to it, some neighboring sites had shared spigots.
If you are looking for a family friendly campsite I highly recommend Collins Lake. Here is the link to their website for more information http://www.collinslake.com/. It is a little over an hour drive from Sacramento, between Marysville and Grass Valley.
One of my best tips for camping with your family is meal preparation ahead of time. This makes cooking so easy and more relaxing. For example, I cooked two packages of bacon and sausage ahead of time at our home, for breakfast we just needed to heat them up. I diced potatoes and fried them with some diced onions at home as well again these steps made breakfast so easy. I cracked and whisked all our eggs and placed them in empty water bottles. This not only helps so you don’t have to travel with delicate eggs, but it saves space in the ice chest as well. I also pre-mixed pancake batter and placed the batter in empty ketchup bottles, these steps make breakfast so easy to prepare.
For lunches, we took deli sandwich fixings, since we were eating a big breakfast and a good size dinner, we actually only ate sandwiches for lunch two of the 4 days we were there, between snacks and the ice cream, lunch was pretty light.
For dinner one night we did foil pack dinner with kielbasa, potatoes, beans, onions, and corn. I cooked corn on the cob at home and took the corn kernels in a container. This was delicious and a fun meal since everyone assembles themselves. I set out the foil and the food and everyone made their custom foil pack. You will definitely want name brand heavy duty foil for these, the fire on the grill can be so hot, and as you are flipping the foil packs you do not want them to fall apart.
Another dinner we had was chicken, rice, and veggies. I chopped the chicken breasts and had the pieces marinating in a zip-lock bag with BBQ sauce and my favorite Ginger People Ginger Sesame sauce. I had pre-cooked the rice at home before we left in my rice cooker so we just heated it on our camp stove and then we cooked the chicken and veggies, everything was so good.
We also took the typical hamburgers and hot dogs for the other days. We also brought a box of cereal and milk in empty water bottles to save space. I brought cereal just as another snack idea if the boys were hungry in the evenings, but we really did not even use it. A couple of the boys had cereal the last morning we were there. We also had all the s’more fixings, the Hershey's white chocolate combo was my favorite.
For activities, I took bubbles, glow sticks, coloring books, crayons, and cards (Uno, Phase 10 and regular cards), our favorite game this time camping was spoons, the boys played this daily while camping. This is one of my favorite things about camping and getting outside, the boys get to unplug, unplug from electronics and enjoy exploring the great outdoors and coming up with things to play. We also took a football and badminton set. We swam every day, took some hikes and spent the majority of our time at the beach, but these activities come in handy for the early morning hours and evening hours, they typically played cards, while I cooked and in the evening hours.
I wrote a blog post last year about camping and listed out everything we took, I’m grateful I did that because I referred to that list this year to make sure I had everything. One of my favorite tips is to take one of those 3 drawer containers. This is so helpful so everything is not in a tub or box, where you have to dig to find stuff. One drawer held our paper plates, foil, utensils, etc. In the other drawers, I kept a first aid kit, small flashlights, also a dish towel, sponge and dish soap, things like that. My other favorite item we took was this stand that lifts your air mattress off the floor. I actually picked it up for ONLY $1 at a yard sale the week before we went camping, it was compact and since we don't have a raised mattress was very helpful. Not to mention eased my concern in regards to critters, the boys had to come to my rescue and catch a lizard that got in my tent. In my opinion, this was my best yard sale find ever.
Here is the link to last years camping post:
I have fond memories of camping as a child and a couple of times as a teenager. Camping is a great way to spend time together as a family away from all the hustle and bustle of everyday life. In this day and age we live in with electronics I appreciate having these times where my kids are unplugged and get to enjoy the simple joys of bubbles and tag, it's the simple joys. We were able to take two of our nephews with us and I am so grateful we did, the boys were happy to have their cousins with us and all six boys were great helpers. Setting up camp builds teamwork as they help set up the tents and to load the suburban when it was time to leave. They learned about leaving the area nicer then we found it, by picking up litter I love that my husband had them form a line and link arms to start their mission to leave our mark in a good way on the area. Enjoying evening sunsets, morning sunrises and our morning devotional time together, spending designated quality time together, these are the things that keep me wanting to take my boys camping year after year.
There are so many camping options these days, from basic tent camping sites to glamping. With a little research and asking friends or family, I am sure you can find a campsite that will work for your family. I have friends and family who have camped at sites that have swimming pools and in-door recreation rooms, there really are some neat options out there. With so many great national parks to explore, camping is a great way to enjoy our National Parks, Yosemite is definitely on my camping bucket list. Even if camping is not your thing, I think every child should have the experience. From adults I talk to, I find if they camped as a child they have since been back camping, but the adults I speak to that never went camping still have not camped as an adult. I know that is not everyone, I suppose some people who didn’t get to camp as a kid will venture out and camp as an adult. But my point is if you can experience the fun and enjoyment of camping even if your parents don’t take you every year you will grow up with those fond memories and hopefully want to give that to your kids one day as well.
Feel free to share in the comments if you know of a great campsite. Although I live in California, feel free to leave other camping locations from your neck of the woods. You never know who is reading this or where they are from, they could appreciate your recommendation.
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