Dos and Don'ts of Camping at the Beach

Let me start by saying I am clearly no camping expert. My husband kind of is though, and I probably would not have ever done this had it not been for having him. We had some laughs, some eye rolls, some snark and some snips during our trip (what couple doesn't!?) but we had a BLAST. And little Dax had fun too. He is definitely a beach dog and loved every single second of burying his whole head in the sand. He will probably be sneezing sand for a week.

We camped at a campground in Panama City Beach called Camper's Inn. It was a cute little place and had anything we needed- bathhouses, pool, laundry, even a convenience store on site. I will say the only two downsides were that it's right next to one of those slingshot rides, so we heard screaming quite late through the night. The other downside is that it was right across the road behind Club La Vela. (LOL)  We got to hear lots of bumping music through the day and night!

I decided to make a list of Dos and Don'ts of Camping at the Beach when the folks who camped next to us (Hi Danielle and Cody!) had never heard of the baby powder trick. (More on that later.)  Also, I wanted to make a list just so we remember next time we go, because we are DEFINITELY going back!

The List:

1. DO take lots of bug spray. The good old-fashioned-full-of-deet kind. Bugs are everywhere. Citronella candles help too. DON'T try those Pinterest tricks for keeping Mosquitos away. Dryer sheets, baby oil, etc.  Seriously. I'll take my chances with the deet chemicals as opposed to quarter-sized bug bites on my body and West Nile.

2. DO take a pair of rubber boots, tennis shoes- SOMETHING that covers your whole foot so that you can walk around the campsite and not have sand up to your eyeballs. DON'T wear and take only flip flops. (I'm looking at you, mirror.) You get the dreaded spray of sand up your calves and then  you have to wash it off, etc. So. Much. Sand.

3. Speaking of sand, DO take the biggest bottle of baby powder you can find! Put it on any area of your body that has sand on it and literally the sand falls right off. We kept ours next to the door by our tent and it worked perfectly at keeping our tent and sheets sand free. DON'T take a little tub or basin to wash your feet off in. It is useless at getting your feet 100% sand free. Baby powder smells good too!

4. DO take a shower just before you're ready to crawl in bed. It is so refreshing to wash away all the bug spray, sunscreen, and sandy butt crack (y'all know it's true) just before you fall asleep. I sleep better when I feel clean! DON'T bother taking a shower when you first get off the beach. I know it sounds gross, but you still have to put on all that bug spray, eat, sweat,  play with the pup, etc. Just wait. Trust me. I took a ginormous tub of baby wipes.

5. DON'T plan on sleeping late. It is impossible to do with the thin tent walls. You hear stuff, get blinded by sunlight and you will be warmed up as quick as the first ray of sun shines in your face. DO get up early and take advantage of sunrises and cool breezes. #worthit

6. DON'T count on your phone for a flashlight. Sure mine was helpful, but at 2am when you need shoes to go to the bathroom and they're nowhere to be found a phone light just doesn't cut the mustard. DO take Christmas lights, lanterns, etc to keep the area well lit. Tacky? Sure. Better than a pine needle stuck halfway up your toenail? Absolutely.

7.  DON'T take just one cooler. We only had one, and it had all of our food and drinks in it. Who wants to lug a half gallon of milk to the beach every time!? Not these folks. DO take multiple coolers so that you have one for the campsite and one to haul over to the beach. One big cooler and one smaller, portable cooler would have been ideal.

Other tips:
-Get a campsite closest to the bathhouse. Your bladder will thank you for the shorter trek at 2am.
-Take a sand buggy or a wagon to haul crap over to the beach.
-Take an outdoor rug to minimize the sandy feet stuff. SO glad we took ours!
-Take cool showers. The water heater was not working in our bath house but that actually turned out to be awesome. The cold showers were refreshing and didn't leave us feeling sticky.
-Take fans. All the fans.