Monday, August 1, 2016

Camping - Maxin' and Relaxin'

This weekend was a long weekend in Saskatchewan, and we spent it recharging our batteries.  We had been planning this trip to Clear Lake/ Wasagaming campground since last summer while hiding away and "camping" in our backyard.  It's my favourite campground, located in Riding Mountain National Park, Manitoba. 

This past winter when we went to book our campsites, the oTENTiks caught our eyes, and we booked one of those; are we ever glad we did!  This was our home for the past three nights:


It looks tiny, but has two king-sized beds, as well as one double bed.

 
It also has a table, a lantern, and a BBQ (with tools) to use for your stay.


A bunch of friends booked oTENTiks too, some friends shared with each other, some were with their family.  There were about 17 of us out there total!  These are friends that I've camped with a million times, since ... forever ago.  We all love Clear Lake.

On Friday we got packed up and hit the road to Manitoba:


We picked up our yearly fast-food burger and drove for about four hours.


When we arrived, all we had to do was roll out our sleeping bags, and crack a bevvie.  It was so nice to not have to set up a tent.

For dinner we made chicken, Asiago, kale smokies.


On Saturday morning we woke up to wonderful news that our new niece had been born!  She is my brother's first child, and he and Jessie named her Remi.  We love the name and are so excited to meet her.

After texting a bit with family, we made some breakfast.

 
 

These instant coffee packs from Starbucks are perfect for camping.  You just mix them with boiling water, but unlike other instant coffee, these actually taste great. 


After showering and breakfasting, we spent our morning quietly sipping coffee, eating cherries, and reading


It was so peaceful to just sit and read for hours listening to the birds and squirrels.

  
Lunch on Saturday was some Deluxe Mac and Cheese (the kind with the squeeze cheese, not the powdered cheese):


Mmmm, delicious, easy camping food.


After lunch we walked down by the lake where there are a lot of shops, restaurants, cafes etc..  Wasagaming really is a happening place.  We got some grapefruit gelati to share for the walk back.


For the rest of the day we gathered up some tunes, drinks, and snacks, and hauled our chairs a couple sites down to our friends' site where everyone was gathered for a fire, etc..

Supper was ribs and potatoes.  When we made the bacon in the morning, we reserved the fat, and used it along with some butter, herbs, salt and pepper for the most amazing potatoes. 

 

We had Greek ribs, and Korean-marinated ribs:


We stayed up late on Saturday night and then slept in late on Sunday.  Breakfast was eggs and bacon again, and then I napped while Christopher did some reading.


I napped for a long while; I don't think we even had our first coffee of the day until about 3:00 p.m. ... ahhhhh the camping life.

We snacked a bit once I was up ...


And then we grabbed our snacks and coffees and wandered down to the group gathering site.  We had ribs again for dinner on Sunday, along with more of our delicious potatoes, and some portobello mushrooms.


We just sat all evening, which was so nice.  The perfect weather started to take a turn for the worse around 10:00 p.m., so we headed to the washrooms to wash up for the evening.  We had impeccable timing, as the second we were back in our shelter, it started to pour.  We listened to the wild storm for a good part of the night.

Sunday was our gorgeous niece Elizabeth's first birthday!!  We look forward to spoiling her with some gifts soon.

When we woke up this morning, it was beautiful again, and we were packed up in no time (again, we were loving not having to deal with a tent).

Breakfast was at the best little restaurant/ bakery, The White House.


We also picked up a couple of their famous cinnamon buns for the ride home.  We devoured the cream cheese icing one before I snapped the photo.  The one in the picture is maple flavoured.


We were so happy with how this weekend turned out, and how we took the time to sit and read books that we'd both been talking about for years. 


Christopher and I chose books for each other, one that I had read in high school, but he hadn't, and vice versa.   I chose 1984 for Christopher, and he chose The Handmaid's Tale for me.  We both got hooked right away, and are thoroughly enjoying them.  We plan to sit outside a lot in the next week or so to finish our books, and enjoy a roaring fire.

This weekend's birthday girl, and new arrival:


Awwwwwwwe! 

How was your weekend?  What did you do? 
Do you like camping?

1 comment:

Lisa's Yarns said...

Congrats on being an auntie again! I love her name! And your niece who turned one is just adorable!

Sounds like the perfect getaway! I love that so many of your friends were able to gather together for the camping trip. I have never actually camped in a tent so the set up you had sounds great to me. Plus we don't have any camping equipment! All of the food you enjoyed looked great, too. My mom always reserves the fat from when she cooks bacon. She actually has this contraption she keeps it in. I can't remember what it looks like, but I think it skims off any remnants of food? I guess her mom always reserved bacon fat for cooking when she was growing up so now she's doing it, too. It freaks my health conscious younger sister out, but oh well! When we were at the lake in July, they made popcorn one night and instead of oil, they used some of the bacon fat so the popcorn had a slight taste of bacon. It was so good!