bust, should had been the topic of our last post…. I grew up camping. Every long holiday and summer, my step-dad would pack us up and we would drive for what seemed liked hours, to some remote place and we would camp. Sometimes friends would join us and sometimes it was just the family. My mother even had this big green trunk full of endless cooking supplies and boxes of hot chocolate and marshmallows. I remember the smell of coffee and bacon in the mornings and hotdogs and burnt marshmallows at night. I remember us kids running around, playing for hours, getting dirty and the adults hanging out, drinking beer. This was camping!

Usually, when we go camping, it is somewhere remote, or at least somewhere hours away from home. There never were kids involved until recently, so now they are running around getting dirty. We usually sit around talking and drinking wine. Otherwise, it is very similar. Until now! This past camping trip, was only an hour away and a mile off the highway – okay, stop laughing! Now, I am not going to say much more than that, except, it was nice to see our friends (the organizers), as well as some friends we have not seen in awhile and we got a chance to meet some new people. The first night was pretty uneventful, but we were hopeful, that the weekend would shape up. At least we, or Lenny, had agreed to keep our mouths shut and not say anything about this “faux” camping spot. We got up there rather late, so we spent the evening grilling sausage over the fire and drinking wine, catching up and getting to know one another. It was FREEZING! There was a BRIGHT street light (the moon I like to think of it) shining above our tent all night! The sound of cars in the very near distance! Kids running by your tent at all hours! And a pretty luxe bathroom, let’s say, just across the street. Was this what camping was going to become for us now that we were in our forties? Had we become old? Or too soft?

Come sunrise, which does not necessarily mean you see the sun, Lenny had made the executive decision, that we were heading home. By that point, everyone had made that same decision for various reasons – at least one person was sick in every family, except ours, they were not prepared weather wise, they were not prepared child wise….. I could go on and on; but, all we knew we were going home.

When we got home, we had a cooler of food, that had to be eaten, so we fired up the grill and had a make-shift camp out on our deck. Mesquite beef ribs and homemade potato salad and a big fat juicy bottle of wine – fantastic!

Dessert, well if you remember, from our past camping post, we usually bring creme brulee. This time we decided to kick it up a notch with smores; but, not your ordinary smores. I found this recipe over at Zoe Bakes, for homemade graham crackers – incredibly easy and really good. We also made banana and Mexican vanilla marshmallows – super easy and so much better than the store bought ones. You can not beat, a hunk of dark chocolate, sandwiched between two homemade graham crackers and hot, gooey marshmallows!

Overall, it was nice to get away from the house for the night, and it was nice to hang out with friends for awhile! Next time … camping will be more than an hour away, we promise!