Warm Adventures: Camping, Swiss style

Unfortunately a common scene on our camping adventure

We went camping. I know, what were we thinking taking two kids tent camping, but we did it and lived to blog about it. We actually had a good time, despite the large amounts of rain encountered.

Having breakfast

We drove south to Ticino, the Italian part of Switzerland and camped just outside of Locarno on beautiful Lake Maggiore. Camping here (or in Europe) is a bit like camping at a KOA in the states, but much, much nicer. There is no get away from it all type of wilderness camping as far as we know. Here you camp in designated camping resorts, i.e. large facilities with lots of people and amenities. The kids slept in one tent, while Erik and I were in another close by. The kids did great, and loved camping. Miles kept saying "I like this place". I think it helped that we kept them super busy during the day, as well as stayed up late most nights so they were quick to pass out when their heads hit their thermarests. Except that first night, as it was such a novelty to be sleeping in a tent and side by side, they couldn't stop talking to one another. They eventually did pass out and amazingly slept in even.

Our campsite (notice all the clothes hanging out to dry)

So this huge camping resort is equipped with multiple playgrounds, a restaurant or two, as well as beach cabana facility for renting any type of water craft for the lake. The bathrooms were roomy and clean, complete with separate dish washing area and they even had little refrigerators you could rent, stacked one on top of the other - brilliant, the Swiss think of everything. The only thing missing was a picnic table. We were accustomed to having one at campsites and this place had none. Since we were tent camping and loaded to the gills in the car with bikes and all matter of stuff - we were at a bit of a loss without a table. We were able to grill out once and make a few camping breakfasts. The kids didn't seem to mind, as they loved feeding the ducks and running around. The other amazing thing was how quiet it was. You would think with that many people camping together it would be noisy, but it wasn't. Everyone was very considerate.

Beautiful

We arrived late on a Friday night after dark of course after an early dinner at a yummy grotto. On Saturday we rode our bikes around the lake and wound up in Ascona, a town we had visited two years prior. It was a beautiful day and the kids were able to play at one of their favorite playgrounds. It rained that evening or the next morning, it is hard to remember as it rained quite often. On Sunday we visited Valle Verzasca which is a beautiful river with huge rock formations running through it. The water was crystal clear and cold. Luckily there were several shallow pools that weren't quite as cold as the deeper ones. Miles entertained himself for hours making his own slide into one of the shallow pools. It was a nice sunny day and we all had a great time.

Valle Verzasca

On Monday morning it started raining early and was a bit overcast most of the day. We drove south into Italy and had a delicious lunch in Cannobio. That evening, Erik took Miles for a bike ride while I took Ali to an amazing indoor outdoor pool. Then the rain started and didn't stop until we left the next day. Ali woke up several times that night, once screaming after having had a nightmare, once to go pee and once to let us know it was raining in her tent. Um time to go home. We cut our trip short by one day thanks to the unpleasant weather. The morning we left, I had Erik drop the kids and I off at the nearby Coop restaurant while he packed up all our wet soggy gear for the long ride back home. We got home in time to unpack the car and start the ten loads of wet soggy laundry that awaited us (me). I'm afraid the car may never smell the same again.

All in all a great trip, would definitely do it again and may even make it a summer tradition. Would prefer a bit less rain next time.