Camping is one of those things that's hard to share via picture, moving or still. It's so much about the experience, the stars overhead, the springy soft ground underfoot, the wind on your face, that first pure hint of morning light, meals cooked by fire and ember.
Sure there are the stories you tell, the ones around the campfire and down at the lake, and the ones you tell after, but it's not the same. Stories can conjure memories and emotions but they can't make the sun shine or moths fall from overhead lights. Okay, maybe the last one, moths are sneaky, but the rest, these personal moments and experiences, they're a lot harder to convey. I'll leave it at I had an absolutely amazing time, despite the lack of nonrock based floors and comfortable chairs, I would have turned right around and done it again. The lack of technology was restful and the presence of that much nature was restorative. We mostly relaxed but I did get to see some amazing sights and spend some time in the water.
While I do have photos down below, I want to take a moment and talk about food so that the next time I go camping I have something to look at for reference. We did end up with a functioning cooler for the whole week, but I had only planned on having ice for a day or two. I had hard boiled eggs before we left so I had those for breakfast with muffins I had made and then switched to buckwheat crackers with sunbutter and a sweet potato, fried in some description with rehydrated onions. Lunch was always quinoa either as a salad or a soup with an assortment of garlic, bell peppers, cucumber (I went with English but had hoped for Persian), Bob's bean soup seasoning mix (the only dry mix/bullion I could find without yeast, gluten, and starch), and canned chicken or fish). Dinner was an assortment of things, basically whatever I had on hand that was at risk of turning bad. I had salad mix for the first couple of days, an extra sweet potato, and a lot of buckwheat groats with chia seeds that I made every night, flavoring it with tea. All and all it was it was a success, although the hamburgers and chicken we had at the end of the week were warmly welcomed and quickly devoured as were the extra dozen eggs.
And now for the photos:
Pictured: A visitor to our campsite (the others included the smallest full grown grey squirrel I've ever seen and a jay), raspberries, sights from the beach, sights from the creek, forest, sights from our walk out of the park including nice cool cement blocks to sit on, campfire cooking
Sure there are the stories you tell, the ones around the campfire and down at the lake, and the ones you tell after, but it's not the same. Stories can conjure memories and emotions but they can't make the sun shine or moths fall from overhead lights. Okay, maybe the last one, moths are sneaky, but the rest, these personal moments and experiences, they're a lot harder to convey. I'll leave it at I had an absolutely amazing time, despite the lack of nonrock based floors and comfortable chairs, I would have turned right around and done it again. The lack of technology was restful and the presence of that much nature was restorative. We mostly relaxed but I did get to see some amazing sights and spend some time in the water.
While I do have photos down below, I want to take a moment and talk about food so that the next time I go camping I have something to look at for reference. We did end up with a functioning cooler for the whole week, but I had only planned on having ice for a day or two. I had hard boiled eggs before we left so I had those for breakfast with muffins I had made and then switched to buckwheat crackers with sunbutter and a sweet potato, fried in some description with rehydrated onions. Lunch was always quinoa either as a salad or a soup with an assortment of garlic, bell peppers, cucumber (I went with English but had hoped for Persian), Bob's bean soup seasoning mix (the only dry mix/bullion I could find without yeast, gluten, and starch), and canned chicken or fish). Dinner was an assortment of things, basically whatever I had on hand that was at risk of turning bad. I had salad mix for the first couple of days, an extra sweet potato, and a lot of buckwheat groats with chia seeds that I made every night, flavoring it with tea. All and all it was it was a success, although the hamburgers and chicken we had at the end of the week were warmly welcomed and quickly devoured as were the extra dozen eggs.
And now for the photos:
Pictured: A visitor to our campsite (the others included the smallest full grown grey squirrel I've ever seen and a jay), raspberries, sights from the beach, sights from the creek, forest, sights from our walk out of the park including nice cool cement blocks to sit on, campfire cooking
*sigh* this makes me want to go camping right now. And also have you make me a meal.
ReplyDeleteCAMPING, YES! DO IT! Also, yes I will cook for you. I can't promise it will be anything amazing but it'll taste like food so *shrugs*
DeleteWell I do like food that tastes like food!
DeleteW don't have any camping trips planned at the moment, but it's a safe bet to say that we'll be camping again in about two months (school holiday time), and that's only if we don't sneak in a mid-term weekend away.