Girl Camping – Wild West Weekend

Recently I went on my very FIRST RV camping trip with my daughter Libby. She helped me become the ultimate “Girl Camper” and find LOVE in this hobby/lifestyle!

We joined the Janine Pettit Camp Like a Girl – Wild West Weekend at Inn Town Campground in Nevada City, California.

Camp Like a Girl

I was fortunate enough to meet Janine a couple of years ago at BlogHer in Los Angeles. Have you ever met a person that you are instantly comfortable with and able to connect with and talk to for hours and hours? Janine is one of those people for me. We just clicked and it really added so much fun and meaning to the whole BlogHer weekend. She is the ultimate ambassador for the Girl Camping movement and is the most encouraging women I think I’ve ever met.

You can find out more about Janine on her blog Girl Camper | Going Places, Doing Things and through her weekly Girl Camper Podcasts. She has thousands of followers across social media where she gives tips and encouragement to women to feel inspired and get out there and DO THINGS & CAMP! I’m so glad she was a part of my first RV camping Trip. I don’t think the trip could have gone any better! We had such a FABULOUS time and Janine definitely added to the joy of it all!

Inn Town Campground

First of all, Inn Town Campground is an absolutely beautiful place!

The air is clean, the grounds are well-kept and gorgeous AND they were all decorated for Halloween – an absolutely perk for a Halloween-lover like me!

We parked our RV in the perfect pull-through RV spot right near a cute, little local train depot.

Don’t worry, you don’t need an RV or tent to stay at Inn Town Campground as they have “Glamping” deluxe canvas tents that include electricity, real beds with linens and heated mattress pads for those chilly nights!

There’s also a fabulous common area where all of us Girl Campers gathered together. This area is a 3,000-square foot building that includes the cutest camp store (with every supply you’ve forgotten), a large and clean community kitchen, an open eating area, a living room with TV, fireplace and reading nook and an outside BBQ area and fire-pit. There’s also a swimming pool on the property, but it was closed for the winter months when we were there. We hung out with Erin, one of the owners, throughout the weekend. If you have any questions about the Campground, you should absolutely call her – she’s so personable and welcoming and can absolutely help you plan your stay there!

Our first evening at the campground, everyone met in the common area where we each brought an appetizer to share.

The spread was amazing and delicious! Over-indulgence was unavoidable but that’s okay because everyone knows when you eat appetizers, there are no calories in them, right?! It was simple to prepare and the perfect environment for all of us to meet and get to know each other.

Nevada City

I haven’t been to Nevada City since my daughter and her family moved from Grass Valley years ago, so it was such a treat to be back visiting this charming and historic town – also named one of Sunset Magazines best places to live in 2017!

Our first morning, we took an easy walk from the Inn Town Campground into town. Needless to say the Fall colors and views on our walk were spectacular.

It was so fortunate we arrived in time to visit the Nevada City Farmer’s Market.

And enjoy some DELISH (vegan – or not) Chai!

The town of Nevada City has such fabulous shops and cafes it was very easy to spend a few hours there on such a gorgeous and crisp Fall day.

Later that afternoon, Libby and I prepared a craft for everyone to enjoy.

Libby had the creative idea to decorate little wooden frames from Michael’s with Washi tape, stickers, paint and whatever else inspired you. I think they all turned out so cute! A perfect souvenir to store a photo from the fun camping weekend! I even brought some of my VELCRO® products for people to use to hang them in their trailers. (Hanging them with VELCRO® helps them not bang around as you’re moving the RV or camper.)

Afterwards, we all gathered together for cocktails and to walk around the campground for a camper tour. Some of these women have the most fabulously decorated vintage trailers! I haven’t seen anything like these in person before and fell instantly in love!

I think I took about a thousand photos actually – so this is just a small sampling! They were all so fabulous and the interior designer in me was feeling so inspired!

When it was time for dinner we had a Janine inspired theme of BYOP – Bring Your Own Protein. We put out the previous night’s appetizer left-overs and then all the “proteins” were bar-b-queued on the Inn Town Campground BBQ’s. Janine’s BYOP worked out perfectly as we all gathered to prepare everything in the common area again.

Of course we all took advantage of story-telling and fun at the fire-pit, too!

Sunday morning, we all gathered for homemade biscuits for breakfast before departing back to the real world. What a special treat it was to meet a group of women all brought together by their love of the outdoors and camping.

Girl Camping

I’m sure I will be seeing all my new Girl-Camper friends again one day and I truly look forward to spending another weekend with this fun group! AND, of course, I’m sure we’ll all be looking forward to another event with Janine!

I am officially a Girl Camper now and cannot wait to go on more adventures.

Stay tuned for the future RV Road Trip Pops and I are going to take – should be…um…..interesting!!

As Janine would say…GO Places and DO Things!!!