As soon as D and I
settled in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, I pretty immediately knew that my
lack of camping experience was going to be something needing a remedy. There
are just so many beautiful places to camp, backpack, and otherwise explore
all year long. I know that a camper is somewhere in our future, and I look
forward to exploring all of the PNW via our own little private home on wheels,
but until that time, I wasn't really feeling the love regarding sleeping on the
ground and really roughing it. So, what's a girl to do --- go glamping!
As I'm sure is the case with many of you out
there, glamping options have been popping up on social media for a while now.
You can really go all out, spending more on a glamping getaway then a luxurious
beach vacation, but there are also some options that fall somewhere between
traditional tent camping and your own tent butler (not that I'm opposed to the
latter). I'd been keeping my eye out, and when a new resort popped up near Bear
Lake in Utah (another destination on our list), my glamping future was
set.
Conestoga Ranch is a new resort destination
near the shores of Bear Lake that offers both deluxe couples tents (basically a
really nice bed in a tent with our own seating and campfire) and grand tents
(that include a bathroom, shower, electricity and even a/c). They also have
some cool wagons, which seem like they would be really fun for families or
large events. After checking it all out, I decided we needed to at least camp a
little bit, so I went for the deluxe tent and booked us for my birthday weekend. Glamping
must be really popular, because a couple of days after I booked, they were sold
out for the summer. Hmmmm, must be on to something.
Bear Lake deserves its own blog entirely,
because it is the most beautiful lake I’ve ever seen. Dubbed the “Caribbean of
the Rockies,” you absolutely feel that you are on the shores of a calm ocean
when you are visiting. Unfortunately for us, August is a bad month for
wildfires, and we dealt with a lot of smoke and haze. But, even with that, the
views were absolutely stunning. Garden City, UT is the home of Conestoga Ranch,
and after our 5 ½ hour drive, we were immediately rewarded with the charm of
the area. Zipz was our first stop in town for some snacks and rest, and it set
the tone for the “beach-ish” vibe of most of the towns surrounding beautiful
Bear Lake.
Once we made our way to
the ranch itself, we were impressed with the quality of their canvas tents,
bedding (hello high thread count sheets and luxurious down comforters), as well
as their “bath house,” which provided really, really nice bathroom and shower
facilities. Their grounds included an outdoor Campfire Grill, a gameroom, the
aforementioned bathhouse, as well as individual firepits and picnic tables at
each campsite. They also had on-site bicycle and water toy rentals. This was
definitely some upscale camping! We ended up having a couple of breakfasts and
a dinner at the Campfire Grill, and their presentation, food and live music was
very, very impressive.
We were able to get firewood each night (props to
boyscout Dave who does the best job ever at building campfires), and they
provided LED lanterns for use in the tent and outside if you needed to walk
around after dark. They had an awesome little General Store on site for snacks
and basic provisions. The town of Garden City also provided some stunning
public beaches and a lovely Mexican food dinner. (This was my bday weekend after
all, and yes, D, you can get good Mexican food in Utah.)
Now that we have a lay
of the land, we are anxious to return next year (before fire season) and bring
a few more camping essentials to make the stay even more fun. Glamping is
officially on my radar, and there are a few places in Montana that are next on
the list too. In the meantime, there’s always an RV show to get us looking forward to the future!
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