Hanna Park Camping – Paradise in Our Backyard

Can You Reserve Paradise?

I'd tried to book a reservation for Memorial Day weekend for YEARS. It was so cheap, around 20 bucks a night. The park reservations would book up early. Finally, this April we were able to book a one-night stay, a kind of starter camping trial. We wanted to see if we could handle the outdoors.

With it being a holiday weekend, the place was packed to the gills. It wasn't a secluded trip in the mountains where you are away from society. But it was the outdoors.

There were giant campers with mosquito tent pergolas, pop-up gates surrounding lounge chairs, and people of all ages. It says that 14 days is the limit for a stay, but some people looked set to stay for a month or two. We had enough activities packed for a month and food for maybe 4 days.

Our Prius was crammed with food, supplies, and the whole family. We overpacked, stuffing a beach tent, an old pup tent, and a new 4-man tent in the car. There’s space to park at each site. And again, the bathrooms aren’t too far away.

We're Going Camping Now...

We set up our 4-man tent in the light of day when we arrived. While getting settled, we took in our surroundings. The plants and landscape scenery were breathtaking. The place was alive.

With mosquitoes. We brought the bug spray and religiously kept the tent flap zipped. It wasn't yet warm out, and we had the perfect weather to not get full on devoured by bugs.

The campsites have fire pits with a grill on half the circle. We forgot to get firewood, so we were stuck with charcoal, which worked for the burgers and hot dogs. However, it doesn't offer the best light.

You will see bikers everywhere and lots of dogs. Bringing our chihuahuas with us was risky. Our sweet critters yap at anything that moves. But being able to cuddle them in tent, and let them hang in the wagon worked out.

Let's Unpack This

Our daughter was game for the whole adventure. Falling asleep, as expected, was a bit tough. Between flashlight shadow games and the stack of books we brought, we had plenty to entertain us.

The next day, we tried to get the Turkish coffee press hot enough on the charcoal. It was slow going. After some hard-boiled eggs and a jaunt to the bathrooms, we started packing up. It was time to take the beach tent for a spin in the sand.

Suffice to say, the beach was a fun sweaty time of Lucy and the pups get absolutely covered with sand. And once again we packed up. Then headed home to unpack. There's a lot of packing in camping.