Camping, Lessons Learned

• Bring more towels.
• Figure in a half day to set up and another half day to tear down. (Maybe under 3 hours, if you're good at it.)
• Ideal camping trip is three or four nights. Rodrigo says three nights.
• Have an extra sleeping bag or quilt handy in case it gets cold in the middle of the night.
• You really need to find your swiss army knife before the next time.
• Don't forget pillows.
• Rain entertainment should also be packed. (According to Zoe.)
• The more stuff, the more to sort through to find what you need, the more delay in getting anywhere.
• Having one bag for one category of stuff was useful. E.g. the "medicine cabinet" bag, the non-cooler food bag, etc. Do this with the rest of the items, so you won't lose the bottle opener again. (also see, swiss army knife.)
  

Food lessons:

• The Coleman forks that screwed together to be very long were great for hot dogs. I could cook five hot dogs at a time by holding them in the flames of a wood fire. No waiting for coals.
• Don't use the Coleman forks for marshmallows. They stick terribly. Bring disposable wooden skewers for the marshmallows.
• One packet of hot dogs was enough for one night. And next time remember lettuce.
• Bring fruit. Apples, oranges, grapes--all were good.
  
• The propane burner did come in handy. So next time bring something in which to boil water for tea, and some tea.
  
• Freeze a carton or two of lemonade and put them in the cooler to defrost and drink. That would be more useful than the blocks of melted arsenic-contaminated tap water.
• Food takes up a lot of room. Pack enough for the first night cookout and some stuff to nibble on for breakfast. After the first night, eat out. Or go grocery shopping while there.