School just ended and already our lives are getting sneakily too busy for some of the unscripted fun I was hoping to accomplish this summer and we're needing the weekends to take care of some necessary home-centric things. Before the busy-ness takes hold, I decided to take the kids camping this week. It gave them a chance to do something other than sit around and ask when they could watch TV again and it gave me a chance to take the pop-up out on my own and see if I could really handle it (I can!).
We opted for a nearby state park that is about 45 minutes away. The park is pretty new and has miles of hiking trails, a playground, an amazing 18 hole frisbee golf course and horse camping & trails. Right behind our campsite, in between the East and West loops was a small 3 hole frisbee golf course that was very entertaining for the get up and go set I was camping with.
Despite some damp, cool weather and leaving all the non-chocolate ingredients for Trail Mix and S'mores at home, the trip was a great success. The camper really earned its keep as an easy, comfortable place to entertain ourselves during occasional downpours. Since we are raising Oregonians, the kids were less disturbed by the sporadic enthusiastic rainstorms than I would have been at their ages. Our luck turned with the emergence of sunshine in the afternoon and we explored 10 of the 18 holes of frisbee golf (insider tip - there is no basket for hole #7!). We'll be going back to finish the course, that's for sure!
Because I have a penchant for over-preparing for camping meals, I was able to redeem my campfire cred with some wickedly wonderful banana boats (forget the marshmallows, use peanut butter cups and M&Ms!). We also attempted 2 fire-cooked meals - bacon & eggs in paper bag and chicken & veggies in foil pouches. The lack of cured wood and an impatient chef (*ahem*) meant we were cooking bacon over flame instead of coals which went about as well as you'd expect (we broke down and cooked some bacon in a pan). I'm still left with 2 campfire meals that we didn't get to on this trip!
Before we left, Ainsley & I made fire starters out of egg cartons, dryer lint and paraffin wax. I also finally remembered to buy a hatchet so was able to split wood. Because of these important prep steps, the fires were easy to light and fantastic! Making fires and cooking over them is my favorite part of camping.
Unfortunately, my camera battery is dead so pictures will be forthcoming in a post of their own.
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