Postcard: May 8, 2025

Camping fever is upon us.

Last fall, we planned a 5 day canoe camping trip for the spring. Camping on islands in a lake chain, fishing in the early mornings, going to sleep while listening to the loons. It was so many months away that it hardly felt like a real plan, but I had to reserve the campsites in October or they would be booked by the time I would actually get around to planning the trip.

Over the past month I have been cursing my planning prowess because who schedules a trip in the middle of May? We can’t miss the tournament! We can’t miss the last class! And I was stressed about it up until the moment when my doctor told me I can’t go. My hand is mostly recovered, but the bones at not 100% mended and paddling a canoe for 5 days is ill advised.

And then I was SO SAD that I wouldn’t get my time in the woods!

And so, in the last two weeks, my husband and I have become obsessed with our camping plans - we have reconfigured for a laid back backpacking trip (which I thought was an oxymoron, but when you read/watch ultralight backpackers advice and experiences for a while, I feel really chill by comparison).

We are officially going backpacking in a few weeks, but we got so excited that we decided that we needed to have a trial run - just an overnight, and someplace a little closer to home. We wanted to test our food plan and get reacquainted with our packs.

When you paddle your canoe right up to your campsite, its really not that much different than the way we go car camping. We pack a cast iron skillet, a big cooler and camp chairs. But with backpacking, and especially in areas where bears are present, we not only need to pack light, but all our food has to fit in our bear canisters. So, new research was needed - freeze dried backpacking meals gets really spendy for 4 people, but Knorr Rice Sides, homemade oatmeal mixes, and peanut butter packets are all possible with food from the grocery store (and we wanted to spend that money to update a few pieces of camping gear).

So. We couldn’t wait for our trial run… and decided to go camp in the field behind our house this past weekend.

Assume there is more camping photos to come. I haven’t even told you about the gear that we MADE!

Farewell from the rabbit hole, I’m having a great time down here.