We went camping at Mission Tejas and had a great time! We also visited the Caddo Indian Mounds like a good homeschool family. Now some tips for camping as a family to maximize your enjoyment:
- Plan all of your meals, snacks & drinks. Try to be as an exact as possible because so you don't over pack, there is not a lot of room in a tent!
Check the weather - Prepare as much food ahead of time as possible. For instance I put together the baked beans, chili, sugared strawberries & pancake mix at home. I put them in a baggie so I can just pour them out. I read about doing this in some camping for kids magazine or online.
- Plan ahead what you will do and when. Even if its just Saturday-Hike, Saturday- Indian Museum, Park Store & Hike, Monday- Visit local National Park for Hike, Tuesday- Historical Replica hikes . That way you know you'll see & do everything you hoped to do.
- Once you have planned your activities find out how much each activity will cost for your family to do. And most importantly when the attractions are open and closed! We do this on an excel spread sheet. Then we can take out the right amount of money for the trip.
- Pack with a camping check off list. Here's a link to my camping Check-Off list found at my homemaking site.
Mission Tejas Trip Costs:
This is assuming you have already collected the basic camping supplies!
- Campsite for 4 nights $48
- Extra propane for light & stove $2.39
- Caddo Indian Mounds $4 ($2 per adult kids 12 and under free)
- Camp entrance $0 (we bought a $60 1 year state park pass but I think the entry fee is something like $3 per person per entry!)
- Groceries $72 (However, all leftover groceries will enter into our regular meal rotation and we were out of some basics like creamer. I may look at the receipt to provide a more accurate estimate)
Total: $126.39
Now each time we go camping we purchase something to make camping easier and more enjoyable this time we purchased 5 canteens at a cost of $2.89 each and a spatula and cooking fork for .99 each. Total expense of $17.79 with tax.
Some ways to lower our camping costs: I can lower my costs is to make a master shopping list and look for sales and stock up in between trips. Since we hope to make 3 trips a year it should be easy to really maximize savings and cut our grocery costs in half.
BTW we will post our camping pictures soon!
RH
1 comment:
Ah, you were in my backyard! I hope you guys had fun. The Indian Mounds, back when I was in high school in Alto, had an actual hut you could go into. I love Mission Tejas...so many memories. We collected bugs my 5th grade year there for Science class! The good ole days! It's also a great place to go in the spring to see all the Dogwoods in bloom.
Kelly
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