And here is my LED headlamp that met all the specifications that I was instructed to meet.
It wasn't until I proudly displayed my new camping gear for Steve that I realized there were other, unspoken rules about purchasing camping gear.
One: Apparently my Coleman sleeping bag was the ProWings of sleeping bags and instead, I should have asked the bum that lives across the street from my apartment if I could borrow his for the weekend.
Two: Apparently I should have known the headlamp I purchased was giant.
Whatever, how is a non-camper suppose to know that? So after much heckling and embarrassment I returned said gear to Target and hit up Brigham to borrow his sweet sleeping bag and head lamp.
We set off on a beautiful Friday afternoon...
We had a bit of a rough start only because everyone else in America was driving north on 101 as well but about three hours later we ended up in Hendy Woods State Park.
Steve was in charge of all the gear and I was in charge of our camping cuisine. See how organized (OCD) I can be when I really set my mind to it?
The highlight of our camping cuisine were these foil dinners we made. Potatoes, carrots, onions, chicken and cream of mushroom soup...
...cooked over an open fire turned out to be one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.
We spent Saturday hiking.
And looking at giant redwood trees.
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, this is the type of headlamp that is acceptable to camping snobs all across the land.
Other highlights of our weekend were s'mores, that my borrowed North Face sleeping bag was called "The Goliath," and the fact that we didn't get attacked by any coastal bears.
After two days of roughing it I felt a little bit like this...
Now that I'm an expert in all things outdoors, I may just try and rally the SF troops for a huge camping expedition sometime this summer. The next thing I plan on becoming an expert in: Dutch oven cooking.
oh yay! Those foil dinners look tastey. yum.
ReplyDeleteI have some good dutch oven recipes, but some are just in my head and not on paper. When you're ready, let me know and I can maybe scribe them.
the caption over the first photo of you and steve technically says "We spent Saturday hiking" but from the looks of the photo, it probably should have said "We spent Saturday hugging."
ReplyDeletecamping = dirty hugging
ReplyDeleteand i don't mean dirty sexy, i mean dirty dirt.
juder that would be awesome! currently i'm most interested in dutch oven recipes that include canned fruit and white box cake mix.
what about yellow cake? much tastier than white. I think yellow is my favorite flavor.
ReplyDeleteright! yellow is what i was thinking in my head...yes, yellow it is! let the recipes begin!
ReplyDeletebetsy, you can't let your peers convince you that having a bigger headlamp than everybody else is some kind of abnormality. instead, you need to embrace it as a blessing, and realize that in reality they are jealous of your huge headlamp and how much brighter it shines than theirs.
ReplyDeleteNext step in your hippie conversion... Protesting
ReplyDeletei don't know if it was so much jealousy, seeing as betsy's headlamp was so big that it was throwing off her balance, and she kept falling headfirst into things.
ReplyDeleteUhh. . . .for a proper dutch oven you need start by having the sleeping bags that zip together. . . . .
ReplyDeleteI love love love foil dinners. I love them so much I have made them in my own oven.
ReplyDeleteone lemon cake mix (or yellow)
ReplyDeleteone can of sprite
one can of peaches
mix in dutch oven
let sit till golden brown
then eat