What Glamping REALLY Is + Giveaway!
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I always thought I was “glamping” when I brought my hair straightener to camp and plugged it into my parents generator (because I wasn’t about to look like a cavewoman if I didn’t have to), or that we bring our posturepedic pad and throw it over our inflatable mattresses so I don’t roll onto my husband’s side because he’s the heavier half #campstruggles. I’ve always called that glamping. Nope! I’ve come to find out glamping is a real thing!
Last weekend we were invited by Camp Chef to go glamping in Utah with a small group of food bloggers (all expenses paid). I hesitated because I had just barely finished washing everyones clothes and shoes from our previous camping trip and I wasn’t sure I was ready to pack the farm again (you know how camping is – major planning/ packing followed by a mountain of laundry because everything smells like campfire), but then I learned that I had it all wrong. We weren’t invited to go camping – it was glamping!! I’m sharing our experience in photos and DON’T MISS the awesome giveaway from Camp Chef at the end of this post!!!
What is Glamping?
Glamping is a form of glamorous camping where you enjoy all of the niceties of the outdoors but you pack like you would for a hotel. I’m talkin’ real beds, wood floors, a full bathroom with shower (what, say what?!) and there was even a restaurant on site so no need to pack food! Camp Chef hosted and sponsored the trip so the eating was really really good. See more on that below.
This was our “Tent:”
Glamping at Conestoga Ranch in Utah is a fun vacation idea with children. Also the wagons and teepees seemed pretty romantic and sweet for couples. Although the smaller tents and wagons didn’t have running water, there were plenty of nice restrooms/showers a short walk away in the main lodge. Here’s a perk just for our readers: get 25% off a midweek stay (Sun-Thurs, excluding labor day) with this code “Latesummerdeal.”
The glamping resort is situated next to Bear lake which is truly beautiful. The water was clean, warm and teal blue in the sunshine. This was a lookout point over the lake – doesn’t the water almost look tropical?
My wonderful husband kept the kids entertained while I helped (wo)man the grill ;).
Her expression ?
And for that, I made him a big juicy Philly Cheesesteak sandwich on one of Camp Chef’s flat top griddles. Did I mention how completely obsessed I am with those flat tops? They’re so exciting to cook on and no pans to clean afterwards!
Pizza at the Lake:
The Camp Chef team took us to the North side of Bear Lake where they set up their pizza ovens and we enjoyed endless pizza on the beach while the kids played. It was so nice getting to know the other bloggers: Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, Favorite Family Recipes, Dessert Now Dinner Later and of course, our hosts from Camp Chef.
I loved that my son had a chance to make the cheesiest pizza I’ve ever seen in my life. The pizza chef from Conestoga Ranch gave us some pointers and my son was so proud of his pizza 🙂
Camp Chef really rolled out the red carpet for us and the food was crazy good. They cooked pretty much everything on their awesome cooktops, ovens and grills using their impressive line of outdoor cookware and tools. P.S. One of their best cooktops (the same one we have) can be all yours! Enter the giveaway below :).
Dining alfresco for every meal was amazing. Food somehow tastes better when it’s enjoyed outdoors!
I love picking up great tips like this one:
Q: How do I slice cinnamon rolls without squishing them
A: With (unflavored) dental floss! Maybe it’s ok if it’s cinnamon flavored – ha!
Here is the banana chocolate chip pancake how-to that I shared on Instagram. I asked the chef for the recipe following a whole bunch of requests from you all and he spilled the beans that it was this pre-made mix. P.S. the texture and flavor were similar to our favorite easy buttermilk pancakes if you want homemade 😉
Exploring Idaho/Utah:
It was so nice of our hosts to plan this cave hike adventure on the Idaho/Utah border just for us to enjoy. It was a memorable experience and there were 888 steps total (to and fro) and I will always remember those steps because baby D didn’t like the cave at all and wanted to be in my arms for most of those 888 steps :-O.
The day we left, the Camp Chef crew took us up to a fabulous private gated location – the vacation yurt (a large and beautiful, teepee-like cabin up in the woods on a mountainside), owned by the founder of CampChef. The views were breathtaking and it was the perfect way to finish up our trip. I’m still working on getting the recipe for that stir-fry because it was A-MAZING!!
So now you know what glamping is and if you don’t have a Camp Chef grill yet, you should put it on your wish list and then enter the giveaway below. Ooooh and I got a discount code just for you!! Use “NK20” to get 20% off through the end of the year when you shop on their website.
We love our Camp Chef Expedition 3X Stove. Here’s why:
- Self-igniting button. No need for matches or lighters
- Strong, stable on it’s feet and really well made
- The large flat griddle is awesome when you’re cooking for a crowd; make all of your bacon in one batch without being confined to a skillet.
- Even heat distribution.
- Griddle is removable with 3 gas burners below; useful at home as a second outdoor cooktop.
- The towel dispenser on one side and utensil hooks on the other to keep things tidy.
Enter the Giveaway using this rafflecopter widget. If it doesn’t load, please refresh the screen. I wish I had for each of you! These Camp Chef stoves are truly awesome!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
POLL!! So what about you? Are you more of a camper or a glamper? 😉
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I am an old camper and glamper still enjoy the outdoors eating and cooking I would use this flat top daily on my fly fihing trips and at home.
It really is a great grill to have at home as a second stove-top!
We are campers and use our stove every trip. Even cooked up a large batch of Tamale’s on there last outing
Tamales while camping sounds awesome!! I love that camping food generally ends up being major comfort food 🙂
Definitely a glamper! We have a huge 2 room tent, deluxe airbed and I even have a dresser!
This who experience looked amazing. Would love to win it
I would love to win this!! I never win anything 🙄 I would use this as an outdoor cooktop, take it on trips with us and maybe the ocassional real camping trip!
We are not really into true camping, but glamping sounds totally our style 🙂
We love nature and beautiful places, but prefer to stay in an RV or hotel!!
I love your posts Natasha and always look forward to them!
Thank you Alina, I hope you’ll win 😀.
Natasha we actually just bought camp fire flat grill like a week before this post, so I was soooo excited seeing it here and you talking about it! I just love to use the flat grill, so much faster to cook all the food at once, especially breakfast, I used to do it on the skillet and to cook for 7 ppl it took me forever, by the time everything cooks, something will be cold already. So this is for sure awesome flat grill, I wouldn’t mind winning a different one, we can take it camping 🙂 I cant wait till you post the stir fry recipe! Im still learning to cook on it. Love your website, I check it almost daily 🙂
That’s so great Natasha, thank you for sharing that with us. Stir fry recipe will be up on the blog next week so stay tuned 😀.
We are campers for sure, but the thought of glamping sounds nice. My 21 year old son is building a yurt on my parents property, and he is going to have his kitchen outside, I would love to win this for him, he would use it every day!!!!!
Did you know the north side of Bear Lake is in Idaho and part of a State Park?
Minnetonka Cave is actually in Idaho (St. Charles) and not Utah as you suggested under exploring Utah.
David, thank you for pointing that out 😀. I was aware of that, just updated the post.
I never liked camping (I like the comfort of a hotel/resort room), but glamping sounds tempting. I will definitely be looking into it.
camping with my kids ,grandkids and great grand kids,the stove would be realy grate for my family as we cook over a open fire and that a bno no with when we cant light fires most summers
Anetta, it definitely is handy to have a stove, particularly when you are feeding a crowd 😀.
Hi Natasha
I too am Ukrainian & love your posts, pictures & recipes.
You have such adorable little ones, a lovely family.
Am always excited to see your e-mails , wish I could get one every day.
Always love to see what recipes & instructions in making them you post.
I’m always learning & looking for better ways or an easier way of making these recipes. We’re never too old to learn.
Keep up the good work & God Bless
Would love to win the Grill giveaway.
Linda, I’m so happy to hear that my blog is a blessing to you. Thank you so much for sharing that with me and I hope you’ll win 😀.
Omg Natasha food looks delish and the pictures of nature are breathing
Thank you so much! The food was really good and I got hungry again just looking at the pictures.
After reading your article about Camp Chef, I think glamping is the way to go.
Victoria, glamping was totally new to me. Do some research and see if you have anything near by.
Loved the pictures from your glamping adventure. How nice that the whole family was invited. Your recipes are the best. Recently the blueberry pierogi brought back wonderful memories of my dear Polish Babci. We ate them with heavy cream and sprinkled with a little sugar.
Linda, thank you for the compliment 😊. It is awesome that food can bring back some wonderful memories.
I’ve done a lot of camping, but never heard of glamping! Thank you for letting us know about this. I’d love to take my daughter on a trip like this. I loved your pictures and recipes – thank you for sharing you adventure with us!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post :). It really is a fun trip and much easier than real camping, which is nice but I sure do love real, basic camping also 🙂
Wow glamping now that’s something I would definitely do instead of camping looks and sounds like u and your crew had loads of fun Natasha btw ur kids are really getting so very big awesomely amazingly cool pix gotta look into this sometime
Thank you for your sweet comment 🙂
Anytime my pleasure such a gr8 fantastical way to end summer
Wow…..i’ve never heard of glamping……but thats the kind of camping i like. water and toilets is a must.
Natasha, glamping sounds so much fun. Thanks for sharing! I tell all my friends about your great and awesome website! You have adorable kids and your recipes are awesome. Keep up the great work!
Dina, thank you for the compliments and for spreading the word about the site, blessings to you and your family 😀.
Glamping looks like alot of fun! That stove would be so awsome if I win the giveaway:)
Oh wow!!! Great pictures Natasha! Yeah I’ve seen those glamping on TV but we haven’t tried it. You’re all lucky to be invited in such a wonderful event at a gorgeous place!!! That lake looks divine! And your accomodations as well. Oh and your food, they look delicious!!!
Thank you Sheila, we made some great memories 😀.
You are right – everything tastes better when enjoyed under the sun or stars 🙂
Thats a really nice stove…and im not a fan of camping, but i could camp like this lol
I’m not a camper either, but this style, maybe.
What a wonderful experience for your family! I had heard about that glampground(;-D) before….totally awesome! So glad your family had a good time. The meals you all created looked mouth-watering! Thanks for the chance to win the campstove, can’t wait for the drawing. Btw, you have a very lovely family!!
Thank you for the compliment Paula 😀.
glamping camper 😉
That looks like it was a lot of fun:)
I love camping especially being able to turn off technology and enjoy my family…..don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t say no to glamping though.
I definitely agree with you there. I stayed away from social media on our real camping trip because there was no internet connection and it was nice! 🙂
How fun! I’m definitely digging this “glamping” concept, like really liking it=). Actually purchased Camp Chef’s Burner Stove last week for a camping trip we went one. We loved it.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful kiddos with us and your adventures.
Thank you Valentina! 🙂 They really do make a great product! We loved all the stuff they let us play with at this event :).
I loved watching all you snapchats from your camping trip! Looked like so much fun!
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed the snap chats 🙂
Glamper for sure! 🙂
Oh wow!!! This is amazing!! I sooo want to win it!! I just entered into the giveaway!! Can this be used as a grill too? We want a grill but maybe this will work or be even better!! Some things are better to be cooked outside. Less oils and smells in the kitchen!! 😁😁👍🏻👍🏻
Hi Olga, I’m definitely planning to use this at home and at camp. The flat top griddle works like a grill. My husband said when he worked at Chilis, they used flat tops like that to grill foods on. But then again, we have a full sized grill also and love the grilling marks and smoky flavors on certain foods which is appealing also.
I haven’t gone camping in so long I’m not sure but I think I may be more of a glamper now! (My phone keeps trying to
correct “glamper” like it’s not a real word or something!) Used a giant flat griddle like that to help out a street food business while I was living in Mexico. Amazing! Fell in love instantly!! Really want to win the giveaway 😁
Ha ha! My phone does the same thing! Aren’t the flat tops awesome?! I just really loved how much cooking surface it provides 🙂 thanks for entering!
Awesome post Natasha! Your kids are so beautiful:) and Those cheese steaks look soooo good please share recipe! ; )
Thank you Nina!! 🙂 You’re so nice 🙂
I’m definitely a camper who can appreciate a bit of glamping. Lol. My husband is into overlanding so I usually don’t have the luxuries glamping would entail. We have a giant campchef stove with two flat griddles we bought a couple years ago. Used it and a grill to cater a 5-day camp for 60 people last year!
I’m the same way; a camper who can appreciate a bit of glamping ;). That’s awesome that you were able to use that stove to cook for 60 people!!
Amazing post to read, I love the teal blue water and tents you had there, Beautiful!! Plus the food looks great!!
Thanks for sharing, you are a beautiful family!!
Thank you so much for your sweet comment! 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed the post 🙂
Glamper definitely!!! I got so exited when I saw this post is about your family glamping in Utah. We are in process of moving to Utah from Oregon so reading anything about Utah is exiting. I would love to win the Camp Chef Expedition 3X Stove as our family goes out camping and glamping alot!!!
Oh that is exciting to be moving to a different state! You HAVE to check out the north side of that lake. You park your car right on the beach so you don’t have to haul your stuff very far at all which is awesome (especially if you have kiddos). That lake is so gorgeous! I just wish there was one like that closer to home 🙂