Thursday, August 10, 2006

The Top Two

The two best things about going primitive vamping are:

1. Getting away
2. Coming home


Getting away from phones, TV, electronics that beep at you and getting back to nature is so peaceful. It's fun to depend upon your skills to make a camp and get along with a bare minimum of creature comforts. We used a single butane burner, one pot, a skillet, tin foil, the cooler, the tent, air mattress, a battery fan, a Coleman double mantle gas and a Coleman battery lantern. Paper plates make good tinder. We always eat well when camping. I can cook just about anything over a campfire since I cook at home with a gas stove or outside on the grill whenever possible.

Camp Food
Corn roasted in the husks in the coals

Not Beanie Weenies!
No Beanie Weenies for Flaurella

We take a thermometer camping. I like to know if I am hot or cold so I can complain about it. How would I know how long to whine about the weather without a little thermometer? Fortunately, at the higher wooded altitudes where we were, it was in the upper 50's to low 60's at night and in the daytime, the temp would get up to the low to mid eighties in the sunshine. Balmy! We didn't get a drop of rain. W4D insisted on campfires at night but we didn't have one burning 24/7 like we do during fall or spring trips.

Camp Fire
Campfire for cooking and for ambiance

And yes, we did have our usual cocktail hour. We sat our chairs in the creek or straddled and used the cross log for a table. The Flaurella does not give up her late afternoon martini's and nibbles, no matter the location.

Martini's in the Branch
Sipping toonies in the creek


Still, returning to all the creature comforts we take for granted felt good. The electronic toys, computers, the microwave, fridge, soft chairs, cozy bed, air conditioner -- ah, the luxury of it all! I think what I missed most was being able to Google. The Lube says I Google at least 30 - 50 times every day. I've gotten so used to having the largest library in the world at my fingertips and being able to get info or an instant answer to any question with a few key strokes that I really missed my Google. I could have looked up the names of the butterflies and flowers and trees that I didn't know. I could have pulled up satellite maps and more. If W4D can bring his cell, maybe I will bring a laptop next time. In fact, it may be time to start looking at RV's. Getting up from that air mattress in the middle of the night isn't as easy as it used to be. We had great fun but it was good to come home again. So how come today, I wish I was still in the mountains with my feet in that ice cold branch that ran through our camp?

Cold Creek
Cold mountain branch water
.

6 comments:

Flaurella said...

Thank you, Sanne. We would have fun getting all smokey together. I love it when I finally take a good long shower and the whole bath smells like smoke when I wash my hair. ha! Still, everything tastes better with the smell of woodsmoke nearby.

Do Dane's do much camping? Do you have RV's there? Lots of campgrounds and nature preserves?

ChrisMoose said...

Ooooohhhhhhhhh... I miss camping... I need to do one more good campfire at Mom & Dads before they head for Fla-La-Land. S'mores and a campfire. Or I suppose I could rev up the campfire in my backyard and have a reasonable fasimile... although I would need to buy the chocolate and graham crackers... I have the marshmallows....

BB hates camping. Rats.

ChrisMoose said...

facsimilie

jackie said...

missed you while you were gone, but it sure sounds like you had a good time. if i ever decide to brave camping, i am taking you with me to teach me to cook out on the open fire.

glad you're back!!!

Flaurella said...

I didn't even think to take stuff for S'Mores, Chrismoose. I totally forgot. We were surprised by the things we forgot to take, like the fire tongs and the whisk broom, etc. We were out of practice. I love being in the wilderness and creating camp and cooking but I think I want to do it in an RV now. :))

Flaurella said...

Jackie,
Maybe I should write a camping cookbook. I never understood why people eat poorly when they camp. It's just as easy to cook good things as it is to open cans o'suff you wouldn't eat at home. And, if you can cook on a gas range, it's easy to cook on a campfire.

Hmmmm.... maybe in my spare time, I'll start compiling camping recipes. Yeah, that's the ticket, in my SPARE time. LOL