Part of Tropical Family Travel’s mission is to share different family vacation ideas and tips. To accomplish this we will be featuring guest bloggers who will share their personal experiences. We are proud to introduce our first guest blogger, Amy from Ohio, who is a mom of three boys. She shares with us a family camping experience! In fact, according to the Travel Industry Association’s Adventure Travel Report, camping is the number one outdoor vacation activity in America with one-third of U.S. adults saying they have gone on a camping vacation in the past five years and nearly 50% of campers have camped with their kids. Welcome Amy!

Our boys were ages four, seven and eight when we took them to the Blue Ridge Mountains for a family camping trip. We stayed at the Bear Den Campground, which in my opinion is one of the best campgrounds in the country that is east of the Mississippi. It is a very CLEAN, family-oriented campground with very private sites. We camped in our new pop-up trailer, which had its own bathroom and shower. This is a great way to camp with kids especially if you don’t like going into buggy, gross campground showers and restrooms. There is a campground pool, game room, a pond stocked with fish and a camp store stocked with just about everything one could ever need when camping. The only thing this campground doesn’t have is cell service.

The highlight of our trip was going white water rafting with the Blue Ridge Outing Company. Unlike most rafting outfitters, this one accepts kids as young as four to take rafting. No worries of course, as the river traveled on is pretty “kid friendly” with only class one and two rapids, just enough to make “Mom” scream. The guides are great with kids and brought all kinds of snacks for us. At first, I was a bit apprehensive as our four-year-old cried when he saw the rapids. The guide was great though, and stayed practically within an arms reach from our boat (in his boat) talking and encouraging our son the entire ride. We couldn’t have asked for a better outfitter. It turned out to be an unforgettable great family experience.

The next day we went to Grandfather Mountain. This is definitely a stop you don’t want to miss if you are ever in this “neck of the woods”. We bravely trekked across the mile high swinging bridge and really enjoyed the spectacular scenery. In addition to this attraction, the kids got a great “kick” out of the bears that beg for food. (They sell special food you can feed the bears at the park.) We spent about a half hour looking at them up close and watching them literally wave for more with their paws! After that, we all enjoyed the small zoo. This is a great attraction that is not outrageously priced for what it is.

--Amy