The Fourteen Minute Camping Experience



 

We went camping this weekend. 

Well, kind of.  I was so thrilled with myself.  Not only did I pack the entire camper, all the food and clothes, but I even cleaned the house before we left.   It was great.  I packed food for the less than two hour drive to Cayuga Lake State Park.

When we arrived, upon check in, we learned of a massive rain storm the park got earlier that morning that flooded many sites.  As we drove to ours, we were happy to find mostly dry land and a very wooded site...our favorites.

The boys were anxious to get to crafting and setting up and getting the fire going.  Tom and I unfurled the canopy and Tom cranked open the pop up camper.

Then...it fell.  Well, more like crashed.  The whole roof fell straight down.

What a disappointment.  The boys weren't very happy.

Frustration was high. 

But, we looked on the bright side...we weren't in the Adirondacks or somewhere far away and mostly, we weren't inside the camper when the roof fell.

245/366: Pintember - Fire Starters

These are not the prettiest craft I've ever made, but I thought it was a good start to Pintember.

Here is the original idea from Pinterest:

Source: intuitionphysician.com via Carrie on Pinterest

I opted to use an egg carton as my vessel.  I put wads of dryer lint into each section.

Taking some old candles, I melted them in the microwave in my pyrex bowl.  After I fished out the wicks and metal ends of the wick, I poured them over the lint in the egg carton.

They really do look gross.  After my initial wax was used up, I poured bits of wax from a candle I had lit.  Although it took much longer, it was cleaner.  No dried up wax to clean.

And no Pintember would be a success without testing out the sample, right?

See it?  If the brown dried pine needles are the middle of the clock, the fire starter is at 5:00.

See it burn, baby, burn?  Okay, I'm not sure that bright fire is exactly from the fire starter, but the fire master, Dave, thought it definitely got the fire started easier and quicker.  Not much blowing before it lit.

The other great part of this craft, not only did we use items that would be thrown away, but since I used scented candles, the camper smelled pretty good.  Less smelly feet like.

This one, is a keeper. 



244/366: Lake Eaton - Part 3

I was pretty excited for this day trip to the Natural Stone Bridge and Caves.

From their website:  During the latest ice age, an unusual East/West fault exposed this ancient rock to ferocious waters from retreating glaciers. Recent mapping and surveying by the National Speleological Society determined that the resulting Stone Bridge appears to be the largest natural marble cave entrance in the East. It measures up to 180' wide and 62' high.  A self-guided trail winds around waterfalls, potholes and deep pools. Trout Brook emerges into a gorge through several caves, some accessible on foot, others only with spelunking (cave exploring) gear.

Echo Cave

One of the more peculiar names, turns out, Peter Pan's Peephole looks like a girlie part...wink wink.

This is turtle rock, center of the photo, just below the upper railing is the head of the turtle jutting out of his shell.

They offer fun exploration for the little kids, too.

It was a great day, if you are in the area, give it a shot.  Discounted tickets if you are a AAA member.

243/366: Lake Eaton-Part 2

My Little Man found a secluded reading spot

Our second day camping was spent on a quick trip to Buttermilk Falls.  As we were approaching, my eldest nephew said, "I haven't been in it, but just looking at this place, I give it a 10 for awesome!"



 It was beautiful, but sometimes looks can be deceiving.  It was treacherous.  The rocks below were very slippery.  It was hard to navigate through.  The water was really cold.  We made the best of it, finding some sandy spots down stream that were enjoyable.

 We also ventured above.  There were great places to sit and have the rush of the water massage ones back.  We enjoyed that, until, my sister in law proclaimed, "LEECHES!"  The scene from Stand By Me invaded my thoughts as I checked my Little Man and we cleaned these off each other.  I must say they were not the size of the movie leeches.  These were small, cute, baby leeches.  Right?  Leeches can be cute.

Um, no.  They were disgusting.  And they were all over.  And so was Buttermilk Falls.

The final night, we had Meat Fest.  These flank steaks had been marinating in a Cilantro Lime sauce for a full week before they saw the heat of the grill.  My brother in law said, "Once you think you have eaten enough, go back and have seconds.  And then after your seconds, have more."  I obliged.

Tomorrow I'll show you Stone Bridge and Caves and prep you for Pintember!  Yes, Pintember starts on Saturday.

236/366: My New Space?

Source: theblackworkshop.tumblr.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Talk about a trailer with "your name all over it"!

I Love this.  So.  Much.

Mine.

228/366: Dutch Oven

I found a great deal on a Dutch Oven on eBay last month.  I've always wanted to try.  Have you seen those cool cowboy men cooking shows on PBS?  They do amazing things in those dutch ovens.

Always up for a challenge, I tried.

 The first night, I tried to heat our taco shells in the dutch oven.  I really didn't know what the heck I was doing.  I was impatient, didn't wait for hot coals and didn't wait long enough for the shells to heat.  That was a 'fail'.  The next night, only a 'half-fail'.

 I got two turkey legs and a turkey breast.  Added some season salt and orange juice to the meat and froze it.  When the meat had partially thawed in the cooler, I dumped it in the dutch oven with carrots, potatoes and celery. 

The turkey breast was way overdone.  Without the skin and bone, it didn't really have a chance.  The legs were great.  The potatoes were great.  The carrots pretty much stuck to the burnt orange juice on the bottom. 

Next time...much more liquid.  It was a good experiment, though.  I really was expecting raw turkey in the pot after I took off the lid.

This is a very heavy pot, but it is really fun to tinker with.  I think I'm going to try Cowboy Stew with cornbread next.  And maybe peach cobbler....

227/366: Beach Break

Tom had three days off in a row, so we (I) ran around making food, buying supplies and doing laundry for a quick two night camping trip.  We headed off to Hamlin Beach State Park on Lake Ontario.  It was lovely.  It may become our 'go-to' campground when we only have a little time.  We can get there in an hour and 20 minutes and get home all on one tank of gas.  



 The beach was very clean (I'm comparing to Beaver Island State Park, so perhaps not a fair comparison), had some big rocks for climbing and lots of rocks to find.

We didn't swim this trip, but there will definitely be a next time!

Chenango Valley

 This place seems different every time we visit.

 New weeds to appreciate.

 New rock skipping skills to perfect.

 New rocks to find.

And new moments of quiet introspection on my boy's face to capture.

Camping, Again

This is my favorite picture from camping. My two boys, occupying themselves as we set up camp. This isn't just a turtle, though. It's a turtle-dinosaur-shark-whale. Bet you didn't know that! All the rocks had a shape of a different animal, unlike the turtle. I love the imagination of Big Boy. His explanations seem so convoluted, yet end up being so obvious.

I think I took more pictures of weeds this year than I did of my kids.

Our second annual tradition of tie dying was in full force this year with the ingenious mind of my sister in law and great friend, Lisa. She bought soda ash. If you've never used soda ash prior to tie dying...you must. The colors are brilliant and I think we used less dye. Well, except for me, I soaked my yellow and in turn used most of it (sorry, Lisa!). These turned out great and I'm already excited for next year's batch.

As we were mixing the shirts in soda ash with Little Man and my niece, LM's stick flew out of the bucket and soda ash water splashed up. I grabbed him and Lisa turned on the water and we stuck his head under the faucet. Well, first I rammed his forehead into the faucet (my alignment was off) and then we rinsed his eyes out. He was screaming, we were frantic. We set him down to look and found that the stick scratched his face and that was the reason for the scream. It had nothing to do with the soda ash water. Hey, at least we were prepared!

Here are all the cousins with their tie-dye shirts. They all had a great time this year. It was great to see them interact and play together.

Oh, Chenango Valley State Park...I do love you, even if you rain on us EVERY year!

Out of the Woods

Replica of Millard Fillmore's childhood home. It fits right in.

This is Little Man saying, "MOM, enough pictures of our camping trip!"

Okay, no more pictures.

But one video. This is a baby spider nest. Every 10-15 seconds they all move, then become still. It was amazing to watch.

Into the Woods: The Boys

Into the Woods: Gorge and North Rim Trails

The first climb in the Gorge Trail


Massive Rock


The North Rim Trail began with a zig zag path up the gorge.

And that's when we got tired.

And found some great resting places.

Can you feel the peace?