I loved camping as a kid. Camping as an adult though? That was different. First of all, you have to be in charge of everything! The cooking, cleaning, packing, planning. It was like all the stuff I do at home but with fewer conveniences. Second, I had such a hard time getting a good night's rest while sleeping in a tent, in the cold wilderness, on the ground, in a mummy bag. Third, I was constantly worried about losing kids. Kids wandering away at camp. Kids falling down cliffs while hiking. Kids falling into the fire Kids getting eaten by bears or cougars . . . Camping became less fun and more stressful.
But I was determined to have the same fun experiences as an adult as I did when I was a kid. I love being out in the mountains, in the forests, in the wilderness - it's so calming and I wanted to feel calm while camping so we set out to fix the things that made camping hard. The sleeping situation was remedied with new, better camp pads and a doubles sleeping bag that Ethan and I share. Now I stay warm and comfortable all night . . . for the most part anyway.
The worrying about kids problem just fixed itself as the kids got older. No more children wandering away (which really did happen once). The kids are all old enough to know to stay by us and stay away from dangerous things.
Now to fix the problem of all the work! Well, some of that you just can't get away from. Setting up camp takes time. But it's a lot easier now that the kids are older and can help with a lot of it. We are starting to get the packing down. The more we do it, the easier it gets. And the cooking, something that I used to hate is now becoming kind of fun.
My favorite part about camp cooking may sound odd: cast iron. My goodness I love cast iron. Several years ago Ethan bought me some cast iron cookware for my birthday to use at home in our kitchen. I was doubtful that I would like it but gave it a try because Ethan was sure it would be great. And I do love it. So much. I love how well they cook food. I love how they really are non-stick. I love that they will last forever. I even love the way they look.
So for out camping trip I decided to pull out one of our dutch ovens and just cook over the fire. I was a little worried about how that would work out, not being able to control the temperature as much as I can on our little gas camp stove, but it turned out great.
Our first night we made something similar to this Summer Vegetable with Sausage and Potatoes, a favorite recipe, but simplified and without the zucchini. Everything was cut up in advance and thrown in at different times according to how long that particular food took to cook. It was super easy, yet delicious. You see it got a thumbs up from the kids.
The next day we had leftovers from home. Earlier that week I had made this for one of our dinners:
We wrapped it all up in some cook-yourself tortillas with some chopped greens, sour cream, and homemade salsa. It was delicious. And made a lot! So it just bagged it all up and took it camping with us. All we had to do was reheat the pork, beans, and rice together in the dutch oven over the fire, then use the lid to my dutch oven, which upside is a skillet, to cook the tortillas.
It was delicious and exactly what we needed after a day of hiking. Although, some were a little too tuckered out to enjoy theirs.
Later on, after cleaning up, I baked cinnamon rolls in the oven using some briquettes I had thrown into the fire while cooking dinner. I had a moment to just sit and stare at my beautiful dutch oven while the kids and Ethan went down to a stream to play.
They turned out perfectly. Considering how easy it was - I just used pre-made dough from the store - it was definitely worth it and I'm sure the kids will want some every time we go camping.
It was the best camping trip we've had so far. We slept well, ate well, saw beautiful things, had a lot of fun, and the kids got a long so well! No one wanted to go home.
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