pop top

At a beautiful campground on Baker Lake in the heart of the Cascades, I lifted the pop-top tent of a Mercedes Metris camper van from Seattle’s Peace Vans, plopped on the soft mattress and thought to myself, “I made it.”

The Vanagon and Metris vans utilize the pop-top tent method for resting, in addition to a secondary bed inside the vehicle, where the back seats convert into a bed.

“This definitely is an animal paradise,” Kaixu exclaimed, observing through the pop-top.

Sleep Ventje vans can theoretically sleep four people: two above in the pop-top and two below when the seating is arranged into a bed.

Still, I was happy to find a pair within easy reach of the pop-top where I slept.