Easter Campout - 2011

Our Easter is traditionally spent at family south of Plattsmouth each year, it includes a big Easter Egg hunt and a gathering of all or most of my wife's family.  This year was no exception.  We've kind of made it a tradition to camp over Easter at a park south of Omaha near their home, or at least within 20 minutes of their home.

We camped at Louisville SRA over the Easter weekend this year and really had a nice time.  The weather was a little suspect at times but when the sun did come out it was PERFECT spring camping weather. 

Jodi and Bernie Kupper met us there and it was really good to see them again.  They love to camp just as much as we do and we've really formed a camping "BOND" with them over the last couple of years.

I tried a new recipe in the dutch oven this trip and it really turned out pretty tasty.  Pineapple Dr. Pepper spare ribs.  Usually you never want to run short of "juices" when cooking meat in the dutch oven and I was actually a little "LONG" on juices but it didn't effect the taste of the rips and they were tender, juicy and tasty...  MMMMMM MMMMMM GOOD...

The camper got a projector for Christmas this year and this was the first trip we had the opportunity to check it out.  I was really pleased with it.  You can get a movie big enough that you can sit around the campfire and see it just fine.  This pic doesn't show it well but the picture came out well and we all really liked it.  I do need possibly a new cheapo DVD player to go with it as the one we brought was old and had been used at the kids TV at our house previously.  So I am now looking for the smallest, most lightweight DVD player out there to "Give" to the camper for the next holiday - Actually I think this Friday is "National Arbor Day" sounds like a good holiday to give a gift to the camper to me.  The screen will be adjusted a bit now that we know it works and I wont tape it to the side of the camper next time, will fabricate a screen hanger of some type out of PVC for the next time...

That's it from our neck of the woods...

Until Next Time - Safe Travels - Bc

Spring Camping at its Finest...

FINALLY....  The winter always seems SO long when the one thing you and your family really enjoy doing is camping.  Having a window, and the weather looking okay, and it being the first part of spring break so Alyssa didn't have to miss any school, we decided to get rolling on our 2011 camping adventures.

I picked up the camper at O Dark Thirty on Friday, got it home and spent Saturday morning "unwinterizing", getting it ready for the road, and packing up.  It became very apparent that new tires are much needed on the rig this year, and probably before our next trip, but that's a story for another time.  The Grey Wolf handled the winter with no problems, all pipes, water, furnace, holding tanks and everything worked just as fine as it did when we sent her to hibernation last October, that's ALWAYS a good thing.

Louisville SRA is just over 20 miles down the road from our house and is a nice park and a logical location for our first trip on 2011.  Site 161 was the site we chose and was very nice and BIG, a great yard, 65 to 70 feet in length and flat. 

Saturday was mostly spent getting things organized, we did get a good campfire going as the sun started to set and roasted hot dogs over the fire for our first nights meal.  The high was in the 50ies with the low in the middle 30ies on Saturday.  The campfire wasn't just for looks on Saturday night...  :-)

Saturday night the moon was in what is called a "Supermoon" phase and was as close to the earth as it has been since 1993 - Unfortunately it was cloudy Saturday night but we did snap a few pictures of it on Sunday night, it was pretty impressive to say the least.

SUNDAY WAS SO AWESOME - High in the mid 70ies and Sunny, it was definitely t-shirt weather and the sun actually felt warm at times.  We spend the day outside where Valerie dominated at Yahtzee and fed me drinks throughout the day - What a women, she really rocks...  Alyssa rode her bike and trekked around the park a bit, I think she had a good time, the past few months she made several comments about wanting to get out and camp.  I know she was a little bored at times, next time she'll bring a friend along...  :-)

Sunday I made the "soon to be famous"  Chunky Irish Chicken in the dutch oven.  A concoction of potato, carrot, garlic, onions, cream of chicken soup, chicken gravy, sliced up chicken breasts, cheese and spices.  It turned out pretty good for the first attempt, I'll definitely make it again with some slight cooking modifications. 

Monday was a little cooler and more cloudy but was still in the low 60ies.  Scrabble was the name of the game and it was my day to get revenge for the butt kicking I took yesterday.  YES, I AM the reigning MASTER of the Clements clan at scrabble...  That usually doesn't happen cause Valerie is the spelling master so I have to RUN WITH IT when it does happen.  We may not play again this year, I might not give her a chance to beat me, that way I can reign supreme as the KING for 2011...  :-)   Monday afternoon the girls put in the movie Eclipse so naturally I napped...  LOL  I actually watched it and enjoyed it with them, (or at least watched part of it).  We had burgers on the grill and beans on the campfire and then watched a few shows we like and sat by the campfire a bit more on Monday night.

I got the opportunity to try out the new outdoor camping stove over the weekend and I really, really like it.  The opportunity to be outside cooking (when the stove is needed) is nice, much better than being cooped up in the camper trying to prepare a meal.  I look forward to putting it to good use in the future.

Kind of a leisurely, relaxing first trip of the year and it was just what the doctor ordered.  We look to get out as often as possible this year even if it is just shorter trips, they say $5 gas by mid summer, that would hamper longer trips but would still get us out "close by".

Until Next Time, Happy Camping - Bc