camping with kids – Life Off Headset

Shenandoah Camping – Day 1

We just got back from a camping trip to Shenandoah National Park. Originally we were all going to go for three nights, but then at the last minute the Husband wanted to work. The ten year old declared that she wasn’t going if daddy wasn’t going… so I said fine. Camping with two young kids is a lot easier than camping with two young kids and one grumpy kid.

Camping is never as simple as I want it to be. In my head, camping is an exercise in acetic living- nature, shelter and food. But the simplicity of nature, shelter, and food is certainly complicated for me to pull off- it requires lists and supplies and plans and gear. Maybe if I were the type of person who camped every weekend, prepping for a camping trip would be down to a very efficient routine. But as it is, I feel like every time I go, I’m figuring things out again.

Take food, for example- Running out of food while camping is one of my worst fears. So I draw up a detailed meal plan and make a list of snacks to bring. I juxtapose the fun of cooking over the campfire with the ease of just making curry ramen on the camp stove. I try to figure out what is simple but highly flavorful. Also what can pack efficiently. I think of snacks that are nutritionally dense and tasty, but hopefully not so tasty that the kids blow through it all in one day. Also fun treats that can be used to bribe the kids when they just can’t anymore while hiking.

Then I spent two and a half hours grocery shopping the night before I was to leave. Much of the time I was having an internal debate with myself as to whether or not something would be good to bring camping. There is a balance I’m still trying to find between camping being an excuse to buy all the fun snack food and also realizing that being out in the woods and being active actually requires healthy, dense food choices. I was at Trader Joe’s and I can’t tell you how many times the dill pickle peanuts went into my cart, then back on the shelf, than into my cart. (spoiler: I did take end up buying them).

Then after I came home, I spent a few hours prepping said food- parboil potatoes, making trail mix and meusli and energy balls. Cutting up apples so that I won’t have to deal with the cores at the camp ground. Filling Ziploc bags full of cut and marinated veggies. Freezing meats and water jugs to help keep things in the cooler cold.

Part of me thinks that camp food should not require so much prep. That there should be a simple equation of fire + food+ eating in the open air = tasty meal. But, no… for me, it seems like it takes a lot of prep for easy camping meals. Unless, of course, one does the freeze dried backpacker meals. I’ve done those before and while I think they’re fine, it wasn’t really my favorite thing. (Although I do find the idea of them so fascinating that I spent thirty minutes in REI perusing the freeze dried meal aisle. Everything promised to be so tasty and filling. If it were really so easy to have such varied meals, we should all just be eating dehydrated meals! Ah those packets of gastronomical mystery in their opaque foil pouches!)

At any rate, my goal had been to leave by noon and we left at 3:30pm. (Well, we pulled out of the driveway at 3pm, but my watch had chosen to die on me at 2:30p that day so we made an emergency Target run.) It took four hours to pull all the camping gear out, pull together everything on my camping checklist and pack all the gear, clothes, and food into the car. I’m writing this here for next time, when I wonder how long it will take me to pack the car for camping… let the record show- 4 hours. <gavel strike> (I did pack the clothes the night before, so if I were starting from scratch, I would say 5 hours).

The 3 hour drive itself was fine save for the two kids in the back who fought constantly, about who knows what. From what I could decipher through the screaming and whining and tears, it involved grapes being thrown, and sunglasses being stolen and possession of the Vox books. (Vox books are these amazing books with an audio book feature built in so the kid can follow along. Kind of like those books when I was growing up that came with a cassette tape and there was a chime when it was time to turn the page.) The only time they were quiet was when I agreed to play two episodes of Laurie Berkner’s Song and Story Kitchen. Steep price to pay, perhaps. Otherwise we listened to the audiobook of Roald Dahl’s The BFG and the perennial favorite, Hamilton.

The kid’s squabbling was starting to really get to me, when I turned onto route… and I could see Shenandoah mountain- silhouetted against the late afternoon sky. Then I started to get so excited that I was going to get to spend the next couple of days in those mountains.

It was six thirty by the time we pulled up to the camp site, and it took another hour and a half to set ip the tent and sleeping arrangements. (Let the record show for future me: it takes 90 minutes for you to set up camp by yourself. <gavel strike>). The two kids were not entirely helpful- at one point the baby got into the toiletries box and I looked up to see half a container of floss unspooled across our camp site. I guess in truth there is very little a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old can do to help in putting up a tent, though they were eager to help by taking things randomly out of the car, and they did fight for the chance to hammer in the stakes for the tent. Some day they maybe can put up the whole tent by themselves

By the time the tent was up and staked, I abandoned my original meal plan to have the leftover ground turkey “chili” heated up and eaten with corn chips. Chili and corn chips had seemed a simple meal when I put it on the meal chart, but at 8:30pm it was not simple enough and I just fed the kids Triscuits, summer sausage, cheese, and apples for dinner- all eaten off the cutting board because I couldn’t even with plates by that point. Of course deviating from my meal plan caused a low level panic in my mind at my carefully crafted and rationed meal plan being blown to bits…

Then we were got out flashlights and headlamps for one last trip to the bathhouse to brush teeth and go to the bathroom. Back to the tent to change into pjs and then snuggled into our sleeping bags by 9:45p, reading another Dahl book, The Enormous Crocodile, by the light of the camp lantern before falling asleep.

So that was the first day. A little chaotic, a little exasperating, but now we were there.

A-camping we go… again – Recap and Menu

I took the children camping again earlier this month. Every time I told someone that I was going camping by myself with the three kids, their eyes would widen with a little horror and disbelief. I’m not quite sure what it is about camping with kids that makes it seem like a feat of bravery. I’m no hero, or a sadist or anything – we weren’t even backpacking (though I admit that sounds like it would be a good time too). We were definitely car camping and there were bathhouses and drinking water and a camp store. I guess I just like being outside and in nature and as far as getaways go, camping is on the inexpensive side, although the Husband makes fun of me every time I buy a piece of camping gear.

The way I see it, the hardest part about car camping with amenities (and good weather) is setting up, taking it down, and making sure no one falls in the fire in between. Once the camp is set up, I just laze in the hammock with a book and watch the kids dig in the dirt and wonder what we’re going to eat for the next meal.

Setting up took a bit longer than I expected because it started to sprinkle when we got to the camp site. I had been constantly checking the weather forecast, which called for sunny weather, so I was rather unprepared for the rain. Luckily the downpour was brief. We hunkered in the car for about thirty minutes and then, when it had slowed to a drizzle, I set up the tent. During all this, the baby figured out how to climb into the car via the trunk and work her way to the front seat and honk the horn repeatedly, much to my mortification. I would pull her our of the driver’s seat, go back to setting up the tent, and she would climb back in the car when I wasn’t looking. Rinse repeat. The couple in the campsite across the way were seated around their fire, facing our site, and I could tell they were quite amused by the baby’s antics.

The next day we walked over to an aviary on the campgrounds. They had several rescued birds there, primarily owls, but also two bald eagles and several hawks. It was so cool to watch the birds, with their haughty unblinking gazes.

Next to the aviary was a newly built nature playspace – logs and tunnels and stumps for kids to play on, each one devoted to a certain aspect of bird behavior.

I believe the prompt for this one was to pretend they were hopping birds.

In the afternoon, we went to the beach on the lake. The water was a nice temperature and the nine year old went swimming while the younger two kids and I waded in the shallower waters and played in the sand. Next to the beach was a playground and we spent time there too.

The second day we went on a hike. There is a trail around the lake. It is about five miles long. I think we made it two. But I think this is the nature of hiking with kids. Pack lots of snacks, take lots of breaks. And spend lots of time with the small moments of nature. It’s not really about the miles you walk, or the destination, or completing the loop. We took our time, ate our picnic snack by the water and tried to skip rocks. I’d say that was a pretty successful hike.

That afternoon was spent lazing in the hammock, followed by ice cream, a visit to a sunflower field and then another trip to visit the birds at the aviary. It felt like a perfect summer day.

The four year old had the “kiddie” size. Wow.

The Husband surprised us on the morning we were to leave by taking the day off work and showing up at 7am. At my request, he took the kids for a walk while I packed up the camp site. Then we got on the road. We stopped on the way home to visit one of the creameries on the Maryland Ice Cream Trail. I am determined to visit all ten creameries on the list this summer. We shall see. This creamery was nice because in addition to ice cream and a playspace, you could also see cows and calves. There was a storm coming, so we didn’t stay as long as I would have liked, though I suppose it was nice to get home.

Some things to remember:
1) The nine year old convinced me to get walkie talkies. Last trip she was always afraid of going to the bathroom by herself, so when we were at REI stocking up for this trip she asked if we could have walkie talkies. Given that she was somewhat reluctant to go camping in the first place, I said yes. We ended up having a lot of fun with them. The nine year old liked to give me detailed descriptions of her surroundings, which I thought was actually a good exercise. And we had code names – Washington, Hamilton, Phillip and Eliza. We also had great fun with the walkie talkies on the way home since we were in two cars.

2) This beautiful piece of floral oil cloth that was in the 50% off remnants bin at Joann Fabrics. It made a great tablecloth – thick, and easy to wipe down. And the cheery pattern made me smile every day.

3) Bringing a chapter book to read out loud. One afternoon, all four of us piled into the hammock and I read from The Midwife’s Apprentice. That was probably the coziest, calmest 30 mins of the entire trip.

4) These construction vehicles from our toy bin got tons of use. They’re really small – each about 4″ long – but the four year old and the baby spent so much time playing in the campsite gravel. We also brought them to the lake beach and had lots of fun digging and building in the sand.

5) This blue jay flew into a tree next to our camp site as I was packing up. It sat on a low branch and chirped as I worked, enchanting me with it’s proximity.

6) I think one of the most memorable moment came our second night. That evening, after dinner, we made a fire, with plans to make smores. There was a little misunderstanding and I accidentally threw the four year old’s marshmallow twig into the fire, thinking it was kindling. Much crying ensued. Much loud yelling as well. I was sitting with a sobbing, heartbroken child in my lap when I looked up and the man from the campsite across the way was coming over with a container of lighter fluid in one hand and some wood in the other.

“I came over to see if I could help,” he said. “Brought some stuff for your fire.”

Then he looked at our tiny little fire that had finally managed to catch.

“But looks like you got it going,” he added. “Everything okay?”

“Well, I accidentally threw his marshmallow stick into the fire,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Do you want a marshmallow stick?” he asked the four year old. “I got one you can borrow. I’ll be right back.”

And in a few minutes he came back with a set of marshmallow forks. “You can keep those,” he said. “They’re extra.”

And then we introduced ourselves. His name was Bill. He looked at the baby and said, “Ah. You’re the car climber.”

We chatted a little more, and then he went back to join his wife at their campsite. When people say that camping by yourself with kids can be hard, I will always remember Mr. Bill and how he made it a little less hard for me.

What we ate:

Dinner #1 – Curry veggie ramen soup. This was probably the favorite meal all trip. And so easy and fast too. Recipe: Sauteed cabbage, carrots, onions and garlic (precut at home). Add curry powder, grated ginger, veggie soup base (prepped at home) and water and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and add noodles and tofu. Cook until noodles are done.

Breakfast: pancakes (Kodiak pancake mix made with eggs and milk though you can make it with just water), fried eggs, fruit.

Lunch: mini bagels with cream cheese. Cucumbers, hummus, carrot sticks.

Dinner #2: Shrimp foil packets. Leeks, yellow squash, peppers, 1/4 corn on the cob, par boiled potato cubes and shrimp. Cajun seasoning. Butter and olive oil. Tasty, but took longer to cook than I thought. Smores made with fancy chocolate.

Breakfast: pancakes and bacon. Fruit.

Lunch: salami, crackers, cheese, cucumbers, hummus, carrots, apple slices.

Dinner #3: freeze dried camping meal – Mushroom stroganoff – and Hungry Jack instant mashed potatoes. I sort of guessed the amount of water to add to these so while the flavour was tasty, the texture was off. Freeze dried mango and sticky rice for dessert. This was odd.

Snacks: Teddy Grahams, Doritos, trail mix, beef sticks, frozen GoGurt. Basically all the junk food that I try to limit at home. But I’m realizing that bribing my children with pre-packaged scientifically calibrated to taste good food is key to getting my kids to come camping.

Weekly recap + what we ate – running away to the woods

View from the hammock. Relaxing for five minutes at a time.

I had a week off work so I took the kids camping for three nights, along with my parents. It was also the first full week of summer break, and I thought a little unplugging would be good for everyone. Also – for some reason, I had thought that the nine year old had camp last week, but nope.

My brother, an avid backpacker and hiker, says that three nights is the minimum for camping because it takes at least two nights to adjust to sleeping outdoors. In the end, I kind of wished that we could have stayed for even more nights.

We went to Swallow Falls State Park. A friend had suggested it as a good hike for kids because it is short (less than two miles) and has three water falls for the kids to play in. Luckily we went mid week so I was able to book campsites. The weekends seem to be booked up all summer.

We drove out on a Tuesday, leaving much later than I had planned. We arrived at the campsite around 7pm. But as the camp site was 170 miles west of home, the sun went down about an hour later, so we had plenty of light by which to pitch our tents and set ourselves up. The campsites themselves were on the small side. I don’t know that I could have safely made a fire on our site since our tent took up most of the camping pad. Luckily I had booked my parents the site next to ours, so we spent most of our time on their site. Also, our site was rather close to the road. Next time, too, I would pick a camp site on the inner loop – those seemed a little farther back from the road.

In the morning, we went hiking at Swallow Falls Canyon Trail. We had been here a couple of years ago with my sister-in-law’s family. Back then, though, the kids were younger so we only made it to one waterfall. This time, the kids hiked the whole loop. Well, the baby did about half of it, and then spent the return portion of the loop sleeping in the Ergo.

The trail loops through some woods, and then along streams, rivers and waterfalls. I know some hikers hike the path clockwise, trekking along the stream and then through the woods. I didn’t quite read the map correctly so we hiked through the woods first and then meandered back along the water. I think, though, I kind of preferred this way – the gentler, forest walk first then using the more interesting terrain on the return trip as kind of an incentive for the kids to keep going.

All in all it was a great hike for the kids – there was water to splash in, rocks to climb, and the trail was nice and shady. The hike was quite popular, even on a weekday. I probably would avoid it on a weekend if possible. And at the trailhead, was an ice cream truck!

The rest of the day featured ice cream, lazing in our new hammock – my camping gear splurge for the year, and absolutely worth it! – dinner cooked over the camp fire, and smores. Also a fairly late bedtime what with the late setting sun and all.

Our second day, we went to Herrington Manor State Park. There is a lake beach there and I though it might be a nice way to spend the summer day. Going to the beach on a lake is a little bit of an odd experience – there is sand and water, but for me the absence of wind and waves and sea salt air was conspicuous. It took me a while to realize what was missing from the beach experience, and finally I put my finger on it – it was much too quiet without the constant crash of the surf. Nonetheless, we had a great time. We even rented a canoe and my dad and I took the nine year old and the four year old out for a paddle. It was a little tricky since none of us really knew how to paddle, but we did eventually figure it out. I remember when I was in elementary school, during one swim lesson, our instructors put a canoe in the pool and taught us how to paddle. That was a long time ago, and I’m sorry to say I don’t remember much of what we were taught. Once my father and I figured out how to get the canoe to go (somewhat) the direction we wanted, the nine year old also had a turn at paddling, which I think she really enjoyed.

On the way home, we stopped at Misty Meadow Creamery for lunch and ice cream. Last week, I had put out a call on our local parents’ listserv for favorite frozen treats in the area. A couple parents shared that every summer, our state has an Ice Cream Trail every summer, where they print a map highlighting Maryland dairy farms. The idea is that if you visit all ten dairies, you can be entered in a drawing for prizes.

Misty Meadow Creamery was somewhat between Swallow Falls State Park and home, so of course we stopped. It was actually a really nice pit stop. They had some play structures to climb, farm animals to pet, and some ride-on toys to play with. And of course, ice cream. I had a cone with root beer ice cream on top and black raspberry on top. The root beer is a seasonal flavor, and it was like a root beer float in ice cream form. It was a hot hot day, and our ice cream almost melted faster than we could lick it.

There was also this really neat gazebo with four gliding chairs. I immediately texted the Husband a picture saying that I wanted one. Though, of course, I have no place to put it.

I want this for my new reading nook. Not sure where to put it, but it screams summer to me.

It was a great trip overall. I wish we could have stayed longer, but unfortunately the weekends were all full up. We’ll put it on our list of places to visit again.

What we ate:

Saturday: Can’t remember. Though we got Indian Take Out for lunch.

Sunday: Chinese Take Out for Father’s Day.

Monday: Kale and Tomatoe Saag Paneer from East. Our friend Renee came over for dinner and brought a really delicious blueberry crumble as well.

Tuesday: PB& J Sandwiches, after getting to the camp site kind of late

Wednesday: Breakfast – oatmeal
Lunch – PB & J Sandwiches, hummus wraps, apples, carrots, cucumbers, watermelon
Dinner – Fish foil packets cooked over the campfire. Cod and Salmon over celery, peppers, parboiled potatoes and carrots. S’mores.

Thursday: Breakfast – pancakes (from mix), and bacon (a camping treat!)
Lunch – at the beach, sandwiches,
Dinner – Tried to make hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls over the campfire, but that didn’t work so well. The pastry didn’t really cook all the way through. Also had baked beans and corn. All cooked on the fire.

Friday: Snack dinner, thrown together with minimal prep the night we arrived home. Tuna fish, carrots, cucumbers, cheese, and crackers.