Camping

      Here is the crew for the weekend, I'm behind the camera. We all headed down Peace River in Gardner, Fl. This was a celebration for my nephew (middle front). Ok, so it was 7 months late, but better late than never. The weather was great and the company was fabulous! I love being with my family. It's a time where you can be yourself and no one is afraid to have fun. We stayed for three days and two nights.

      The first night we had to hurry and find camp because we were loosing light quickly when we had arrived. The water was shallow so the kids could play and swim. It was perfect. We spent the evening setting up while the kids played. When it got dark we started a fire and had some burgers and dogs for dinner. Afterwards, the kids played in the tent until they fell asleep. The next morning arrived quickly and my brother Jason decided to keep the camp where it was rather than moving further up the river. Everyone agreed quickly to that suggestion. We packed a lunch for the day and headed up river. Peace River is well known for finding fossil shark teeth, so that was part of our plan for the day, along with swimming of course. Personally the water was too cold, but no one else seemed to mind. Time flies by when you are having fun and the kids were getting tired so we headed back for the night. We had a great dinner and went for a long walk through the night filled woods. That was lots of fun. Funny how the kids don't rush to go first at night. LOL Our last day had arrived. Since we weren't far from the dock, we had all day to hang out and play. The day seemed to go by faster than we could blink, but everyone had fun until the last minute. My nephew said it perfectly when our trip ended. He said, "Do you know what I don't like about camping?" We asked, "What?" He replied, "That it has to end." I think he hit the nail on the head.

     The greatest thing about camping is that you can always learn from your experience. We always check out what other paddlers do with their gear and such while going on their trip. This time I had my own idea for this camping trip. Since it was a special trip for a birthday, I wanted to make it awesome! I had planned some really great meals and treats for the whole group. Only I had to make everything fit into coolers. We had only 3 canoes for 8 people so the space was tight. I decided that in order to do this I had to make things compact. I prepared all the meals ready to serve on the grill. This way I didn't have to bring extra condiments and spices to prepare them on the river. This is where the great idea comes into to play. I took the now ready meals and put them in a vacuum sealer to shrink them. Viola! Space issue resolved. I was able to pack great steaks, veggies, tuna salad and even a special pineapple honey treat. It worked awesome. Part two of the idea came from my hubby. Keeping things cold on the river is a chore because you can't just run out for ice. So hubby suggested that we freeze the vacuum sealed meals. Are you kidding, I thought. Wrong I was! It worked so good and everything thawed out perfectly for when I needed it to be. I think it even helped to extend the life of the ice we did have. This is now going to be added to every camping trip. We figured that by doing this not only do we save on space and have more room, but we also bring more ice...sort of.