I never went camping as a child. I have discovered that I enjoy day hiking, though, and would like to give camping a try.

For various reason, I will be starting out "car camping." That is, driving to a campsite at a national park, and setting up a tent and so forth. Not hiking to a campsite, carrying a tent, sleeping bag, etc., in a pack.

The other day, I mentioned my interest in camping to my cousin. While he has absolutely zero interest in the outdoors, he did win (at work, there was some sort of contest last year) what online reviews suggest is a very nice tent. He's offered it to me, rather than letting it sit unused in his storage closet for the next thousand years.

Thing is, while the reviewers all praise the tent, it is 10' x 9' in size. So nominally, a 6 person tent. Sure, in practice it's more like a comfortable 3 or 4 person tent, but whatever.

Question #1: Am I going to immediately identify myself as a dufus for setting up this 90 sq. ft. tent, just for myself? Yeah, eventually I'd like to talk my girlfriend into going camping with me, but at least initially, I'll be doing this solo.

Is there some sort of unwritten rule, that if you're camping by yourself, and you put up a tent which could shelter a family, that you just don't get it?

Again, I'll be transporting my gear by car, so the weight of the tent isn't really a big issue. Naturally, if I had to carry it in via backpack, I'd never even consider taking the thing.

Question #2: I'm a tall guy. The tent's roomy enough, but not so tall that I can stand upright. I won't have to crawl around on my hands and knees, but I'll miss being able to stand up straight by nearly half a foot. Is this all that important?

I get that, ideally, it'd be nice to be able to stand up in my tent. Several tent reviews talk about how that's a real plus. But given my height, the only tents which are likely to permit me to do this are huge things. And going out and buying a tent larger than the average $2.4 million Manhattan condo just seems... wrong.

I'd appreciate your input.