Camping

[Orange]

Cultural differences in this country are always starker than I think.  I was listening to Howard Stern and he and his staff of NYC natives were talking about camping.  The consensus was that it was essentially a hellish nightmare that only crazy people undertake.  None of them had camped since they were children (Howard's 63).  Hell, I cannot remember a single summer in my living memory in which I did not spend at least one full weekend camping.  And I enjoyed almost every single trip.

[row Z]

I am 48 and just spent the night in a tent, on a tent platform with a thin foam mattress. I do not recommend it. Worst night of sleep I have had in a while. I underestimated how much I rely on a good mattress, and how much my body has aged. Everything else was great (kayaked to a small island off the coast of Maine). 

[Quack 12]

From age nine to about 50, I camped at least two or three times every summer, some years five to 10 times. Some of our best family memories are of camping, occasionally for ten days or more - all in tents and sleeping on the ground.

Those days are gone. I'm 59 now, and neither me nor my wife can handle it anymore. We'll probably buy a motor home in a few years, and I'll be that old guy pissing you off on the freeway. But make no mistake - that isn't camping.

[PAC MAN]

Even if I'm several years away from 40, I'm not feeling anywhere close to my 20s.  My physical conditioning definitely has something to do with that and I'm addressing that...perhaps next spring/summer/fall.  Plus I have sleep apena and need something to keep that machine running.

Wife and I was at Cabela's one day and we were looking at cots (we already have one).  Maybe a cot with a mattress might not be a bad idea.

[Nakedmolerat]

I'm 36, and just learned a valuable lesson, and broke one of my rules in the process. The lesson I learned is if you decide to take on feeding 10 children (age ranges 8 months through 13) and 5 adults, except for snacks and s'mores Then you don't have enough food and what you do have/cook at least 6 of them won't like. The adults ate like fucking royalty. I'm not kidding. See below for details. 

The rule i broke, which thus I had adhered to through two nieces, was to NEVER take a child camping while they're in diapers. But, our daughter is only 8 months and she'll be in diapers, she said (the wife). Of course I'm taking my daughter in diapers, I don't give a shit. But a niece- with no parent at camp, only grandma and aunt and uncle and two older sister- it was too comfortable and she was a monster, just like when she is at home. A little bratty picky eating hates diaper changes MONSTER that wants to eat cereal and go play in the river first and only wants strawberries. My daughter was the fourth best behaved one there, and that includes bettering the two other nieces, 7 and 5. 

Dinner the first night was nachos. Brought a gang of fresh toppings and browned some taco meat. Sour cream squeeze pack. Nacho cheese jar warmed in boiling water. (didn't have enough chips) For breakfast i made made a croissant blueberry French toast bake on my traeger. No electricity nearby so I bought a power invertor and car battery and fuck your rules..I think a traeger running for any length of time uses more power, than, say, a sleep,apnea machine, but I'm no elctrcian. Anyway, eggs, milk, cream cheese and vanilla over crumbled croissants and blueberries. Who's better than you? Dinner that night was sweet shoyu chicken made on the Coleman propane crock pot. Yup. Org, or anyone else who has been to Local Boyz... this is that chicken. I ganked the recipe from a buddy who was dating a girl who worked there. Uncle Bens boil in a bag rice and some of that chicken, bam. Ready for the campfire. 

Next morning we made bacon on the griddle to trap the grease and then had pancakes cooked in said grease. They fry up like donuts almost, except crispier edges. Plus bacon. Oh, and the fancy Coleman propane drip coffee maker that amazon sells is dope, but Jesus it is hot. Would be great for an all day thermos of coffee. That night, steak and baked potatoes, both from traeger. Extra bacon from breakfast made in to bits. Sour cream squeeze pack (planning!). Steaks came right off the grill and got a pad of seasoned butter to have melted over them. Should have had asparagus. Maybe the pit toilet's waft would have been pleasanter. More pleasant?

Final morning, saved the best for last. Bacon explosion breakfast sandwiches. Let me unpack that. Before heading out, I make an arm sized log of ground sausage stuffed with bacon and wrapped in bacon. I roast that bitch on the traeger, refrigerate it and slice in the 3/4" slices plus endcaps for extra grease. Each slice is grilled on the griddle. A fried egg in the grease on top of the slice with cheddar between a fire toasted English muffin. Cmon. 

Also, I slept in a tent, on the ground, in a double sleeping bag with my wife, and the baby in the pack and play (AND THE FUCKING NEICES. DID I MENTION SHE HAS NIGHTMARES AND SCREAMS FOR AN HOUR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?) interestingly, I didn't take a shit while I was there either. But a brown caddy was certainly backed out of the garage once I got home. 

[Quack 12]

During the 80s, the wife and I went on an ambitious pack-in hike up the Washington coast, in the Olympic Nat'l Forest, from La Push north.  This is a wilderness beach, one of the last in the continental U.S. 

We used a one-wheeled game cart kind of like this to carry our stuff:

 

The ranger gave us a sideways look when we went in, but he allowed it, telling us he didn't think we'd get very far. We didn't. After about three miles of slogging around rocky headlands and through thick sand, we decided to settle in on the beach. 

For dinner the first night, she had prepared a pot of corned beef and red potatoes in white sauce, which we heated over an open fire. We drank tequila and watched the amazing sunset, then she took the lid off the pot to give it a stir while I made some cheesy foccacia bread. A few minutes later I went to check on the food temp, and I asked her if she had added a bunch of pepper to the dish. She said no. A closer look with the flashlight revealed a mass of bugs in the cream sauce. I'm not sure if they flew in or jumped in, but they were loving it. So we ate cheesy foccacia bread for dinner. The next night we were more careful, and enjoyed an incredible seafood gumbo with halibut, shrimp, crab and lobster. We sat around the fire with full stomachs feeling satisfied, and communing with nature, until we felt something on our feet. We were camped in the middle of the hatching of millions of tiny crabs. They were everywhere. We spent the rest of the night in our tent, and got the fuck out of there the next morning. 

Nature is wonderful, but it can be hard, very hard.

 

[KUGRDON]

26 minutes ago, Quack 12 said:

During the 80s, the wife and I went on an ambitious pack-in hike up the Washington coast, in the Olympic Nat'l Forest, from La Push north.  This is a wilderness beach, one of the last in the continental U.S. 

We used a one-wheeled game cart kind of like this to carry our stuff:

 

The ranger gave us a sideways look when we went in, but he allowed it, telling us he didn't think we'd get very far. We didn't. After about three miles of slogging around rocky headlands and through thick sand, we decided to settle in on the beach. 

For dinner the first night, she had prepared a pot of corned beef and red potatoes in white sauce, which we heated over an open fire. We drank tequila and watched the amazing sunset, then she took the lid off the pot to give it a stir while I made some cheesy foccacia bread. A few minutes later I went to check on the food temp, and I asked her if she had added a bunch of pepper to the dish. She said no. A closer look with the flashlight revealed a mass of bugs in the cream sauce. I'm not sure if they flew in or jumped in, but they were loving it. So we ate cheesy foccacia bread for dinner. The next night we were more careful, and enjoyed an incredible seafood gumbo with halibut, shrimp, crab and lobster. We sat around the fire with full stomachs feeling satisfied, and communing with nature, until we felt something on our feet. We were camped in the middle of the hatching of millions of tiny crabs. They were everywhere. We spent the rest of the night in our tent, and got the fuck out of there the next morning. 

Nature is wonderful, but it can be hard, very hard.

 

 I will never forget a Friday night camping on the beach near Ocean Shores. A wind and rain storm blew in and our tents didn't do very well pitched in the sand. I don't think I've ever been so wet Or so cold.  Was miserable at the time but, amazingly, fond memories

[Quack 12]

Yeah, it's funny how the seemingly disastrous trips are the ones we remember most vividly. We spent a week a few years ago with a large group of family members at Barview County Park near Tillamook. It never stopped raining. That was our last camping trip.

[trickydlck]

2 hours ago, Quack 12 said:

During the 80s, the wife and I went on an ambitious pack-in hike up the Washington coast, in the Olympic Nat'l Forest, from La Push north.  This is a wilderness beach, one of the last in the continental U.S. 

We used a one-wheeled game cart kind of like this to carry our stuff:

 

The ranger gave us a sideways look when we went in, but he allowed it, telling us he didn't think we'd get very far. We didn't. After about three miles of slogging around rocky headlands and through thick sand, we decided to settle in on the beach. 

For dinner the first night, she had prepared a pot of corned beef and red potatoes in white sauce, which we heated over an open fire. We drank tequila and watched the amazing sunset, then she took the lid off the pot to give it a stir while I made some cheesy foccacia bread. A few minutes later I went to check on the food temp, and I asked her if she had added a bunch of pepper to the dish. She said no. A closer look with the flashlight revealed a mass of bugs in the cream sauce. I'm not sure if they flew in or jumped in, but they were loving it. So we ate cheesy foccacia bread for dinner. The next night we were more careful, and enjoyed an incredible seafood gumbo with halibut, shrimp, crab and lobster. We sat around the fire with full stomachs feeling satisfied, and communing with nature, until we felt something on our feet. We were camped in the middle of the hatching of millions of tiny crabs. They were everywhere. We spent the rest of the night in our tent, and got the fuck out of there the next morning. 

Nature is wonderful, but it can be hard, very hard.

 

Which one is Mrs. Quack?

[Orange]

20 hours ago, Quack 12 said:

From age nine to about 50, I camped at least two or three times every summer, some years five to 10 times. Some of our best family memories are of camping, occasionally for ten days or more - all in tents and sleeping on the ground.

Those days are gone. I'm 59 now, and neither me nor my wife can handle it anymore. We'll probably buy a motor home in a few years, and I'll be that old guy pissing you off on the freeway. But make no mistake - that isn't camping.

#Glamping

[Orange]

20 hours ago, Nakedmolerat said:

I'm 36, and just learned a valuable lesson, and broke one of my rules in the process. The lesson I learned is if you decide to take on feeding 10 children (age ranges 8 months through 13) and 5 adults, except for snacks and s'mores Then you don't have enough food and what you do have/cook at least 6 of them won't like. The adults ate like fucking royalty. I'm not kidding. See below for details. 

The rule i broke, which thus I had adhered to through two nieces, was to NEVER take a child camping while they're in diapers. But, our daughter is only 8 months and she'll be in diapers, she said (the wife). Of course I'm taking my daughter in diapers, I don't give a shit. But a niece- with no parent at camp, only grandma and aunt and uncle and two older sister- it was too comfortable and she was a monster, just like when she is at home. A little bratty picky eating hates diaper changes MONSTER that wants to eat cereal and go play in the river first and only wants strawberries. My daughter was the fourth best behaved one there, and that includes bettering the two other nieces, 7 and 5. 

Dinner the first night was nachos. Brought a gang of fresh toppings and browned some taco meat. Sour cream squeeze pack. Nacho cheese jar warmed in boiling water. (didn't have enough chips) For breakfast i made made a croissant blueberry French toast bake on my traeger. No electricity nearby so I bought a power invertor and car battery and fuck your rules..I think a traeger running for any length of time uses more power, than, say, a sleep,apnea machine, but I'm no elctrcian. Anyway, eggs, milk, cream cheese and vanilla over crumbled croissants and blueberries. Who's better than you? Dinner that night was sweet shoyu chicken made on the Coleman propane crock pot. Yup. Org, or anyone else who has been to Local Boyz... this is that chicken. I ganked the recipe from a buddy who was dating a girl who worked there. Uncle Bens boil in a bag rice and some of that chicken, bam. Ready for the campfire. 

Next morning we made bacon on the griddle to trap the grease and then had pancakes cooked in said grease. They fry up like donuts almost, except crispier edges. Plus bacon. Oh, and the fancy Coleman propane drip coffee maker that amazon sells is dope, but Jesus it is hot. Would be great for an all day thermos of coffee. That night, steak and baked potatoes, both from traeger. Extra bacon from breakfast made in to bits. Sour cream squeeze pack (planning!). Steaks came right off the grill and got a pad of seasoned butter to have melted over them. Should have had asparagus. Maybe the pit toilet's waft would have been pleasanter. More pleasant?

Final morning, saved the best for last. Bacon explosion breakfast sandwiches. Let me unpack that. Before heading out, I make an arm sized log of ground sausage stuffed with bacon and wrapped in bacon. I roast that bitch on the traeger, refrigerate it and slice in the 3/4" slices plus endcaps for extra grease. Each slice is grilled on the griddle. A fried egg in the grease on top of the slice with cheddar between a fire toasted English muffin. Cmon. 

Also, I slept in a tent, on the ground, in a double sleeping bag with my wife, and the baby in the pack and play (AND THE FUCKING NEICES. DID I MENTION SHE HAS NIGHTMARES AND SCREAMS FOR AN HOUR IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?) interestingly, I didn't take a shit while I was there either. But a brown caddy was certainly backed out of the garage once I got home. 

Jesus Chef Boyardee Christ.  You don't f*** around.

When I camp, people get Hebrew-dogs, burgers, chips, ketchup, mustard, cereal for breakfast w/ eggs and bacon if I remember, and air mattresses.

W.  T.  F.  are you people doing with these roll-up pads, or no mattresses?  No wonder y'all give up on camping in your 40s.  I do a double-level queen size air mattress, re-aired every day if necessary.  If I have coffee and gatorade aside from all that (along with plenty of aleve, tramadol, marijuana and alcohol), I'm golden.

Camping sober is just sitting in the woods.

[MrBug708]

Both times we have schedule camping, the kid kid got sick. First time was hand, food, mouth disease and the other he got strep throat 

[KUGRDON]

https://projects.seattletimes.com/2017/washington-hiking-trails-guide/?utm_content=buffercbd2f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=owned_buffer_tw_m

[Scscsc89]

Family Vacation to Washington State:

Flight to Seattle was easy -- had a nice catch-up with friends at the Cherry Street Public House. Considering the somewhat sketchy surroundings, was very impressed that Occidental Park had a fantastic collection of giant legos, books, sidewalk chalk, foosball & other games to entertain my 6yo.  Great way to kill a 3 hour layover 

Empire Builder Amtrak train up the coast (sound?) & through the Cascades. 4 hours well spent not driving it but looking out the window & drinking beer.

[Scscsc89]

‪The train features national park docents.  One gave a ten-minute speech about the Cascade mountains.  He then asked if there were any questions.‬

‪My son asked him where he could get some potato chips.‬

[Scscsc89]

We arrived in Wenatchee to find they have never heard of Lyft or Uber.  Checked into the SpringHill Suites.

At about 9:30, the front desk called the room to say the previous night's guest had left something in the room & would it be ok to come retrieve it? Uh, sure ok.

The gal came in, grabbed the desk chair & rolled it over to the dresser -- then she stood on it, rummaged above her head and brought down a handgun.  LUCKILY, she had the presence of mind to shield it from the view of my curious son.

She left, apologizing profusely.  My wife & kid went to bed.  At 11:00, she came back for the magazine.

Long  first day

[KUGRDON]

33 minutes ago, Scscsc89 said:

We arrived in Wenatchee to find they have never heard of Lyft or Uber.  Checked into the SpringHill Suites.

At about 9:30, the front desk called the room to say the previous night's guest had left something in the room & would it be ok to come retrieve it? Uh, sure ok.

The gal came in, grabbed the desk chair & rolled it over to the dresser -- then she stood on it, rummaged above her head and brought down a handgun.  LUCKILY, she had the presence of mind to shield it from the view of my curious son.

She left, apologizing profusely.  My wife & kid went to bed.  At 11:00, she came back for the magazine.

Long  first day

If you have a couple of hours to kill in Wenatchee and want to tire out your son

https://www.ohmegardens.com/

[trickydlck]

1 hour ago, Scscsc89 said:

We arrived in Wenatchee to find they have never heard of Lyft or Uber.  Checked into the SpringHill Suites.

At about 9:30, the front desk called the room to say the previous night's guest had left something in the room & would it be ok to come retrieve it? Uh, sure ok.

The gal came in, grabbed the desk chair & rolled it over to the dresser -- then she stood on it, rummaged above her head and brought down a handgun.  LUCKILY, she had the presence of mind to shield it from the view of my curious son.

She left, apologizing profusely.  My wife & kid went to bed.  At 11:00, she came back for the magazine.

Long  first day

Ha, Springhill Suites is probably the nicest place in Wenatchee, wonder why she thought she needed it. Now if she was staying at the Economy Inn further south on Wenatchee avenue or anywhere in East Wenatchee it might make sense. You also want some sort of sandals for the Economy Inn because you don't want your bare feet touching anything there including the showers...

Going to Wenatchee like going to Fresno except much smaller this no surprise on Uber.

[Scscsc89]

Sorry if it wasn't clear -- the vacation was last week.

Day 2:

Rented a car in Wenatchee & drove to Lake Chelon where my wife had found this combo-restaurant & blueberry-picking place for lunch.  Weirdest desert rock mountain landscape but the most amazing fruit.  So odd.

After lunch drove up to Methow Valley -- Twisp & Winthrop. we had three nights at the Patterson Lake Cabins at Sun Mountain Lodge.  Not fancy but very comfortable.

[Scscsc89]

We ended up staying at two different Spring Hill Suites on this trip. Perfect for the traveling family.   Not sure if it's a PNW-only chain but I'd totally stay at one again. (preferably without the gun drama).

For some reason, Wenatchee totally reminded me of Elko, NV.