Saturday, July 15, 2017

Camping Part One

On Sunday morning we were up early, and taking off on the highway to Manitoba.  We drove about 4.5 hours until we arrived at Clear Lake (Riding Mountain National Park).  Since it's Canada's 150th birthday, all national parks have free entry for the year, although you still have to pay for your campsites/accommodations, obviously.

We booked an oTENTik for five nights, which is the same awesome structure we stayed in last year.


The oTENTiks are so convenient, as they eliminate the need to set up a tent or blow up an air mattress.  There are three beds inside, two of which are almost (if not definitely) king-sized, and one bunk that's almost a queen.


There is also a full-sized BBQ with propane and all the tools, a picnic table, and a fire pit.


We got to the campground in the afternoon, and pretty soon after we arrived it was hot dog time!  A plate for two:


While those cooked we soaked a cedar plank to use for dinner.  We didn't have a container large enough to soak it, but we made do!


We had an excellent dinner of maple-glazed, pepper-crusted salmon on a cedar plank, Uncle Ben's mushroom rice, and asparagus.


We had marinated the salmon in maple syrup and soy sauce on Saturday, and made sure to keep it really cold in our cooler until Sunday evening, when we crusted it with pepper and grilled it up.  The Uncle Ben's rice was super easy to make camping, as it only took water, and a bit of butter (optional).  We use stainless steel pots at home, but for camping we have a non-stick pot and pan which makes clean up pretty much effortless.


On Monday morning we made a bacon/cheese slice omelet for breakfast, with coffee to drink.


We had a nice morning walk around the town area, and stopped for some ice cream at The Boardwalk.


Our lunch was Deluxe mac and cheese:


For dinner we made pork chops, potatoes, and corn on the cob.  We reserved the fat from the bacon in the morning, and used that to cook our potatoes - mmmmm!


After dinner we played Texas-Hold'em, using pine cones as chips:


It was super fun, haha!  We played this a lot throughout our five day trip.  Christopher wasn't too familiar with the game, but he got into it right away.

And then later on Monday evening we found out that our new nephew was born!  Eeeeeeeeee!!


Welcome to the word Kingsley Joshua!  He is soooooo sweet!  We met him a few days later, once we were home, and he slept cozy and cuddly in my arms the whole time.

Our camping trip was off to an incredible start!

How was your week last week?  What are you up to this weekend?

3 comments:

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

Those camping accommodations look awesome! It reminds me of the yurts that some of our state parks have here. I imagine our national parks have something like that, too. A couple we are friends with has been camping in yurts with their 18 month old and they say it's the way to go! I am sure we will eventually go that route but we are doing our first camping trip in August with tents and sleeping bags and such. I can't wait as it's off a beautiful hiking trail!

Last week was kind of busy so it feels like a bit of a blur but this weekend was really fun. We hosted another couple on Friday night and made burgers, potatoes, and corn on the cob. Saturday we went to a small get together with 2 other couples and I brought a cheesy zucchini rice which was so good and easy to make and a good way to use up some of my zucchini which is growing like crazy!!

Amber said...

Man you guys eat WELL when you are camping! Did the tent have a fridge in it or did you keep all that food cold in your cooler for the 5 days? I struggle with camping for longer than 3 days as I find the ice in my cooler melts and I worry about food going bad!

Jolene - EverydayFoodie said...

@Amber

There was no fridge in the tent, but there are a few stores (groceries, etc.) there, and we bought new ice a couple times. We ate the salmon the day we arrived, as we would be worried about keeping it cold. The pork chops we bought while we were there, and put them directly onto the new ice that we also grabbed.

We try to bring sides that don't need to be kept cold, like the boxed mac and cheese (the one that doesn't need butter or milk, but has the squeeze cheese), and Uncle Bens rice, which just needs water.