Popup Trailer | Camping Adventures

It’s about to be a full year that we’ve been popup owners. Since owning one, we’ve taken it out four times. Camping in the past was only a once a year maybe twice a year thing, before the little ones, so if we could take the camper out on more trips in the future, that would be totally awesome.

Do I still love the popup? Yes. Definitely yes. Have I considered owning a travel trailer that’s completely all hard-sided without having to do any major “setting up”? Yes, yes I have lol. But that’s just wishful thinking. When we first got the popup, we already decided we would keep this thing for a good five years, if we maintain it well. I mean, we purchased this popup from a second owner who had it for over 20 years so I consider him the original owner and that family took such good care of it, I’d like to hope and also do the same.

In regards to setting up, after several camping trips we have managed to cut our set up time down to 25 minutes. However, we also realized it doesn’t matter if it takes 45 minutes because we rather set it up properly than to rush and do damage to the popup (referencing our first time out, we did tear the canvas a little).

Our first time out it was hectic especially with baby girl Nova crying and wanting only mama. So having kids slows everything down and that’s just a fact we accepted. Tent camping took us 30-40 minutes for setup but if we spend that same amount of time setting up the popup but with way more conveniences and comfort, I still would pick the popup camper over tent any time.

I never liked tent camping but I liked being out in nature and unplugging so the number one reason I love being a popup owner is that I sleep way better and I’m off the floor.

We are still customizing our popup and making adjustments with each new trip. I’d love it if we could spend an entire weekend just doing everything all at once but the hubby is a busy man and I’m a wife with a million other projects waiting to happen. We’ve switch out the faucet and added a fold down shelf to help with staying more organized and clutter free but it seems with toddlers there’s no such thing as clutter free!

This weekend we plan to work on one portion of the counter, the sink area. We don’t use the stove inside our popup. We’ll keep it for resale value but for our family, it’s just a waste of counter space so we plan on installing a new top without the stove. We also plan on putting in a slide out partition. So a thin wall that will slide in and out on top of the counter next to one of the bunk ends. This will serve as a closet. We’re always throwing clothes and towels around and I saw another popup owner have the same rig and figured that’s genius so we’re tackling that! It will have a short pole that will attach and detach. On the wall side I look forward to installing hooks for random things and to finally be able to hang a framed photo.

I like to think I’m a minimalist when packing and it’s usually the case in most of our traveling adventures but not so much with a popup. The idea of being able to store more things means I get to take more decorative items right? Well after our second trip I was like, forget trying to be Instagram worthy. I pick up after the kids all day at home and I don’t want to have to keep telling the kids “don’t play with that don’t touch that” when inside the camper. So by our 4th trip I took a bunch of unnecessary things out and condensed our cooking gear to two items. One large pot and one small pot. I had a frying pan and a cast iron pan also but we never used them. I normally would but it takes so much time cleaning and I rather have that time to enjoy with my kids. I love a good campfire cookout but we also realized quickly that our toddlers will not let us sit around the campfire and “slow cook” meals lol. So for now our camp routine includes picking up burgers on day one so we don’t have to cook after setting up and by day two, we use our toaster oven for everything else. The kids are happy with a broil steak and roasted veggies on top of their instant noodles. And that means mama and dada get to enjoy and actually finish our beer while it’s still cold. We have now added a miniature fridge to our outdoor kitchen and that means we now bring prepped meals and just reheat it up.

I always prep our meals even when we just had a cooler but at least with a mini fridge if we bring frozen food it thaws nicely in the fridge without getting squished. And we also don’t have to worry about replenishing the ice.

We try not to make too many trips to the main office at our state parks, even better when not having to drive back out to the nearest Walmart or gas station.

Just recently my three year old asked if we could go camping and I asked him what he enjoyed the most about camping. My brutally honest toddler said, the phone.

When we setup camp we give our kids the phone so they can watch YouTube so Brayden now thinks camping means phone time and of course, a time to find and catch bugs lol.

So we gave in and bought a dvd player. I’m not against technology or modern conveniences while camping but we try our best to unplug when we’re outdoors. But having the dvd player was so helpful and also zero tantrums while setting up and that meant I was able to make the bed look nice and get an updated photo of our camper. Go ahead and laugh. I’m laughing at myself. I love a good aesthetic photo even if just for a minute. Once we make our way inside to actually settle in, it becomes a mess, as expected.

We switched out the faucet to one that didn’t require one hand to remain on the pump while washing dishes. We also removed the attached canopy from the camper. It’s a pain in the butt setting up the attached canopy cause it requires two people. I’ve read other owners unzip and pull out the canopy half way before completely popping up the trailer but even when you do that, you need another person to hold one side of the canvas when installing the poles. We just took off the attached canopy and stuck with our “eaZy” pop up canopy. We have two at home so might as well just take one for the trip. It takes less than 5 minutes and only requires one person. And I actually like that we can move it around. For our cooking station, instead of the camp kitchen table we currently own we decided to just take one of those white folding tables, the smaller version and set that up instead and Vu loved it so much more. While the camp kitchen table has it’s compartments and useful attachments, Vu said it also takes much longer to setup than it should. It packs up nicely but it takes time to unpack and repack. So the folding white table was the better choice. We made room to fit it in the camper by removing a couple camp chairs and the camp kitchen out. We never use all our camp chairs and figured if we have friends that join us, they should just bring their own lol. We had 4 chairs and realized on all our trips we only used the two seater and one single camp chair. Our hammock is a must and we use that too so extra seats as a “just in case” was totally unnecessary.

I stopped packing so much toys. I use to pack several books, a few other favorite toys and 1-2 stuff animals in case Nova wanted to hug up on them but I soon found out, nature is all the kids need. They play with rocks, they take our dishes and fill them up with the rocks and some sand lol. They take the blankets and make a fort inside the camper.

Kids are kids and being imaginative is what they do! I keep to the few books, crayons and paper and other than that, they play with whatever we have inside the camper and they’re fully content. I took out a couple decorative pillows too. Gasp! As much as I love a nice staged look but who are we kidding here? My kids take over the space, we have our two dogs, and mama also doesn’t want to clean up every minute while we’re away from home. Lived in spaces are exactly that, “lived in” so expect the mess, expect the clutter and do away with the fluff and nice décor. Set it up nicely in your drive way, get your photos and then take all that stuff out and never put them back inside the camper lol. You will not use them!

This may sound even more silly but I also sleep much better in the camper. We added the gym mats under the foam mattress and it helps a lot but I sleep better because the kids do not wake up in the middle of the night. They are quite cozy in the sleeping bag and also, after having played outside all day, they’re worn out!!! At home, we try our best to move around but with all the chores and housework, I do use the tv as a babysitter and then when it’s time for free play, I sneak in meal prep and whatever else that needsto be done. At least 3-4 times a week, one of the kids wake up during the night and have a hard time going back to sleep.

So yes, I sleep soundly and longer than 5 hours when we are camping. It’s so nice to get more than 5 hours of sleep. I function off of a 4-5 hour sleep schedule and I still manage to get through the day, every day. Sleep is a luxury when you have toddlers. My kids love camping and I love detaching from the responsibilities of home so it’s a win-win for us. We get the kids outdoors and for the most part, we wake up to a gorgeous sunrise overlooking the lake.

We have only camped at State Parks and ones that have a lake and we love it. We don’t boon-dock and probably won’t, ever. Well, maybe when the kids are older but this mama still prefers modern conveniences such as a a hot shower and flushing toilet.

Above were photos of the camper when we first set it up nicely in 2023. Below is the most recent trip from our camper, our February trip when both kiddos were under the weather. I will update with new photos when we customize our new built in additions.

You can check out before photos on my personal blog ‘here‘.