May Camping: Brunswick Family Campground

We hit the tents a little earlier this year during the first weekend of May. We went to the Brunswick Family Campground in Maryland, just shy of Harpers Ferry, WV. My goal for this outdoor adventure was to be able to camp right next to the water (which is surprisingly difficult to find around here!). You may be able to camp kind of near it , but never where you can touch it from your campsite. There is always Assateague and some other beach campgrounds, but its a little different when you are trying to set up in sand (and the sun becomes a bit of an issue as well). Thats why I think river or lake camping rocks!

It was hard to tell what the campground was really like from their website, but when we arrived, we had an entire section to ourselves all the way at the end. Normally it consists of 2 or 3 campsites but considering the time of year we had quite the space to spread out; just in our campsite alone we had 3 picnic tables and two fire pits. And there was a trail right down to the river, so in just a couple steps we could touch the Potomac! We were elevated a bit, which was probably good to keep the kids away from the water and the scary river creatures away from us.

We went with Tiffany and Ryan again, which is not only great because our offspring LOVE them, but we enjoy their witty banter, bug repellant devices, cool glowing stuff that they always have, ability to sense animals that may be nearby, and of course their barcar. However one of the highlights of our cohabiting in the trees, is our woodsy gourmet concoctions. Unlike last fall, we had all the parts for our propane camping stove this time so it made a few things a little easier, such as making eggs and boiling water for coffee. On the dinner menus were chicken tinga with chipotle veggies and espresso-rubbed pork with delunctious brownies encapsulated in oranges. For breakfast we did smoky cauliflower frittata and chicken sausage hash with eggs on top. Oh and of course we had the french press this time. Now I realize that camping is supposed to bring you closer to nature, and back to a simpler time without smoked paprika, fresh margaritas, and french roast coffee... but, who are we kidding? We don't go camping to eat hot dogs, marshmallows, and tang! And we appreciate that there is a bathhouse nearby (but in this case, was actually not that close, so when nature called, nature received- about 60% of the time we were there).

We do enjoy being in nature, being out of our element, but we still like certain comforts; I prefer to blame having kids on the need to have certain necessities around. Would if they have a major accident and they need a shower pronto? Would if it rains and we can't buy wood from the camp host to keep them warm? Would if we run out of ice for our cocktails?? (camping with kids? Margaritas help!).

We weren't able to actually go out on the river (too early) but we hiked around and had a picnic during our full day on Sunday. The girls enjoyed finding dandelions and were very intrigued by all the bugs we found.

When we left on Monday we went to drive through Harpers Ferry just to see what it looked like, it was a really neat small, historic city- we'll have to try and make it back!