Saturday, September 17, 2011

Fantastic Fall Weekend at the Campsite

We FINALLY found a time on the calendar that we could get away for a couple of nights (Thursday morning through Saturday morning), traveling the short distance (1.5 hours) to our annual campsite in the Mark Twain Lake area. We actually got to “camp” this time, as opposed to the previous trips we have made there, to work on setting up everything. We got to choose our lot last fall, before it was even finished. We love it. It is adjacent to Corps of Engineers property, so it feels like we have our own woods.

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This little “flower bed” that we put out at the entrance to our lot makes me feel “at home.” we just added some mums. I love mums. I love fall.

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The little white sign says “Waterfowl Refuge.” From our lot, we can hike down to the lake, not too far away (we haven’t had a chance to actually do that yet).

Campsite from low part

Supper at the Camper

potato fixins

Ready to slice the potatoes (Russets this time, with skins on) and onion, to fry in the handy electric skillet, outside on the picnic table (we’ve moved on from the old days of cooking them on the fire). This is my job, while Russell grills the meat.

onions

I like to start first with just the Vidalia onion in the hot shortening. Why? For the pure joy of the aroma of onions cooking outside!

potatoes start to cook

Potatoes sliced on top of onion, salted and peppered. Mmmmmm…..starting to smell like camping supper!

corn and tenderloin

Grilled pork tenderloin and sweet corn. Yum!

potatoes almost done

Potatoes almost done, too. Perfect timing!

campfire

After supper and dishes done, the perfect campfire, thanks to my man!

Next morning….

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Coffee and breakfast cooked inside the camper. Russell felt compelled to take a picture of my personality (Type A?)….some of my favorite “things” handy—camera, iPhone, coffee, iPad with wireless keyboard, notebook/planner.

Rainy Day—not a problem for us!

russ in rain

After sitting under the awning, snuggled under a blanket, for a couple of hours listening to the rain, we moved out to the fire, which continued to burn in spite of the constant drizzle.

barb in rain

Sassi cares not where we are, as long as she can be on one of our laps!

marshmallows nicd

While sitting in the drizzle, we got a hankerin’ for something sweet, so we roasted marshmallows right in the middle of the day. Because we could.

Evening Time

After several hours in the rain, we went indoors, enjoyed a wonderful supper of Cheddar Chicken Chowder, prepared at home (click on “Featured Recipes” link at top) and cornbread muffins.

Later that evening, we listened to the Cardinals game on the radio system in the camper.

Cocoa

Little snackaroo while listening to the game and reading our books (I was finishing the Albert Pujols book, and Russell was reading the Tim Tebow book).

sassi book and cocoa

It feels GREAT to need heat in the camper, as it seems only a couple of weeks ago that we were in the middle of a miserable heat wave!

Next morning, up and at ‘em, breaking camp and heading home. Great time!

Did I mention I love fall?

3 comments:

ROC REV said...

I feel like I was there! Awesome!!!

paperscissorsink said...

What a wonderful weekend, thanks for sharing!

Kathy said...

Gosh, I haven't truly camped since I was a kid.. you made me miss it so much! Thanks for sharing :)