I Survived: A Jewish Girl Goes Glamping

Jul 13

When Scott and I were first getting to know each other, he told me he loved hiking and camping.

“OK, well, just so you know, I’m never going to do that with you,” I told him.

Ahh, the perks of dating in your 30s and no longer giving a fuck.

Scott’s a pretty easygoing guy, so he was perfectly fine with that. I have hiked with him since, but I drew the line at anything overnight. I know my preferences, and they generally include plumbing, electricity, and temperature control. I also know my limits, and as it happens, my GI tract has some major boundaries with unfamiliar toilets, much less non-toilets, like the forest floor.

However, this spring, I found myself having an apparent break with reality. Or maybe it’s a sign of the end times we are living through because we booked an Airbnb that is actually a tent.

Scott and I had a limited window for a trip together due to our work schedules, and we wanted to go somewhere we could take our dog, Penny, which meant somewhere within driving distance. As much as I am not a camping girl, Scott is not a beach guy, but we were both craving some outdoor time, and we landed on the Shenandoah Valley.

Only a few hours away from us in Virginia, Shenandoah National Park is home to over 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail through the Blue Ridge Mountains. The valley and the Shenandoah River are to the west of the park, so we figured we’d get in a few hikes on one of the park’s over 200 trails, and spend a day tubing or canoeing on the river. Shenandoah is also surrounding by places like Charlottesville, Monticello, and Luray Caverns, so we figured we had lots of options.

Since we knew we wanted to take Penny, we started our Airbnb search for dog-friendly places to stay. The options were endless, and we opened probably close to 20 tabs to compare. But to my surprise, we kept coming back to the Firefly Luxury Glamping Tent.

If you’re not interested in clicking that link, let me tell you about Firefly. While it is indeed a tent, it also has a fully working kitchen with running water and a stove. There’s an actual bed inside, and a giant ice cooler sits out back for anything that needs to be refrigerated. As far as my plumbing concerns, there’s a beautiful outdoor shower and a compostable toilet. There’s a fire pit outside, as well as a swing set and a patio with cozy chairs and string lights. It is adorable. In a fit of madness, I clicked to book it.

About 30 minutes later, I panicked that we’d made a huge mistake.

When we had dinner with my family on Mother’s Day, Scott good-naturedly told my parents he expected “at least two crying sessions.” Before the deadline to cancel with a full refund, I asked Guest Jetlag Hag Carly, “As the foremost expert on Staci, IS THIS A MISTAKE?”

Ultimately, we kept the booking for three nights in June.

Friends, I am here to tell you—I survived. And I even liked it. Mostly.

The campsite was super clean and comfy. I found it incredibly relaxing to wake up to the birds in the morning and go to sleep listening to the rain on the tent. I loved sipping coffee on the patio in the morning and making s’mores over the fire pit. It was too chilly/rainy to use the stock tank like a mini pool, but I’m sure I would have loved soaking in there too.

Downsides? Bugs. Mostly spiders. I never really felt clean despite the shower because I was dousing myself constantly with bug spray. I didn’t poop the whole time even though the compostable toilet was not terrible. Spiders. When we weren’t there, mice kept stealing Penny’s kibble and stashing it in places like my shoes and suitcase. Did I mention spiders? I almost didn’t shower on the last night at all due to the presence of a spider that looked big enough to bark if you tried to fuck with it. Scott tells me it was a wolf spider, and he heroically flung it into the woods, but I still shudder to think about its mere existence.

Anyway! I’d probably do it again. I definitely wouldn’t go camping, but glamping? Sure. Check out the photos below, and check out our Airbnb superhosts on Instagram at @cozy_in_canvas!