Oooh camping! Nature, fresh air, meals over a fire, hiking, sleeping in a tent, hearing organic sounds, hammocks, and woodland creatures translates to some as a slice of Heaven – for me, it translates to being sticky, potential bug bites, sleeping exposed to animals with razor sharp teeth and more bugs, and deafening silence. Because, honestly – this is what I’ve always thought about camping:

(if you don’t know what this is from, watch this)

In all seriousness, I love the beauty of nature and animals and all that jazz – but in the comfort of my own creature comfort, whether that be civilization or a car.

Alas, I made the mistake of telling a friend of mine I had never been camping so she made it her temporary life’s mission to make me go camping. So, I agreed.

The destination? Cumberland Mountain State Park 

More on that in Chapter 2. This post will be about a very serious question – what does a gal who has never been camping bring to spend a night in the wilderness?

Well, if you’re a little like me and you like your clothes and shoes and to look nice but you don’t want to be the ridiculous woman who wears high heels to go hiking, read on!

Beauty

I decided to spend the weekend sans makeup, so before I left for the camping excursion I prepped my skin with Bare Escentuals’ Blemish Therapy & Mineral Veil

Have you seen Vaseline’s Lip Therapy adorable jelly pots? Love them! I brought along the Rosy Lips one to keep my lips hydrated with a little bit of color. The tortoise case holds a take along BE Mineral Veil.

Before I left, I also ran it’s a 10 leave in conditioner in my hair (a little goes a long way)

And, no beauty post of mine would be complete without a nod to dry shampoo. My holy grail DS is Oscar Blandi’s Pronto Dry Shampoo. It’s perfect and works wonders! However, for 1/4 of the price, Dove has a great aerosol dry shampoo that I have really come to love – and it smells divine! So – that definitely came with me!

Clothes & Comfort

We were only going to be staying one night camping and I like to think I was extremely practical in what I brought to wear.

That was it! Pretty awesome, I think. I brought two, long sleeved Life is Good shirts, a tank top, two pairs of comfy pants, a sweater, a pair of slipper socks, and a ball cap. It all fit into one bag and it felt awesome!

For shoes, I brought one pair. That’s right – ONE! These are my useful, go-to shoes – Chaco Toe Coop Clogs. Chaco doesn’t make them anymore, but you can actually buy them from Sierra Trading Post for less than $40! I get more compliments on these shoes than any stiletto I’ve ever worn. That’s got to mean something.

I have this weird thing I’ve done for years when I go out of town… I always have to take something with me that makes me feel “comfortable.” It’s silly, but it’s always something small and brings me a lot of security.

This time, it was my best friend’s sweater and t-shirt (high fives for guy best friends). I always take a t-shirt to use as a pillowcase when I go on vacation. I read it somewhere many years ago and have done it ever since. Small comforts of home!

Up Next? A City Girl Goes Camping: Chapter 2 – The Location