We survived!
Our campsite was booked Friday through Sunday and we made it until 9pm Saturday. This is half a day longer than our trip last Summer so I'm going to clock it as a win. Kalynn cooperated a thousand times better, however the weather did not. We were rained out. But the 24 hours that our hot sun showed it's steaming head, we did some pretty good quality time.
I didn't mean that to sound like we were in jail.
Anyway.
First thing first, we go snoop on everyone else's campsites to see if they have better stuff than we do. It gives us a good idea of all the things we need to buy for next time. In the process of doing this, it's a good time to grab the campground map and go check out the actual campsites. We circle and rate the best sites so that next time we visit, we have notes on which sites to book or not book. Depending on the amount of beer we've consumed, our notes and judgings keep us pretty entertained the next time we bust out the book. It's a very detailed 5-star rating. I keep all the maps in our camping notebook at home. Of course.
To keep the little one busy, I staple her scavenger hunt list to a bag and she's on a mission in her own little world of outdoor adventures and treasure hunts. Binoculars get involved, butterfly nets are a must, and we don't even think about forgetting the magnifying glass. Tiny things are important to see.
Here's the jpg in case anyone wants to use our list:
By now, we're hungry. So in addition to our bacon wrapped hot dogs, I make a side of camp veggies.
*5-6 cups cut up bite size pieces broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, onions, squash, green beans and red bell pepper.
*1/4-1/2 cup butter
*1 envelope dry onion soup mix
*4-6oz grated Kraft Parmesan cheese
Add veggies and butter to dutch oven and place on top of 20(ish) coals for 10-15 minutes. You want veggies to be tender but not over cooked so check often. When veggies are ready, add packet of dry onion soup mix and stir. Remove desired excess liquid and then sprinkle on cheese and mix. The veggie water, onion soup mix, and cheese make a very tasty sauce
We tried to hit the lake but it was short lived and started pouring rain in about 10 minutes so we headed back to camp.
When the storm blew over, we brought out the s'mores and I ended up setting every single marshmallow aflame but whatever.
The following day it rained almost all morning. While Kalynn napped, Jason and I sat under the rain tarp and ate everything in the cooler.
I don't think Guacamole left the front seat of the car more than 3 times the whole trip. Camping isn't her thing. Neither is energy or caring. Clearly.
I don't know if you've seen these mesh pop-up food tents, but you can find them at the Dollar Tree or Target or wherever and they really come in handy when you're trying to keep the flies away.
Our hand washing station:
Jason made a friend.
I learned a couple of great tricks from a lady at work. 1: Buy cheap shower caps to put dirty camping shoes inside of when packing up. This way it keeps the rest of the things in my travel bag relatively clean.
2: Use an old CD stacker case for toilet paper storage. It makes a handy travel case and keeps it from getting wet and dirty from morning dew/ spilt beer/ dog slobber. Genius.
So we'll try again in a couple weeks and until then there's more planning to be done! Does anyone have any great camping recipes for our dutch oven? Leave them in the comments!
