Last weekend we took our annual group camping trip, this time to Manchester State Park. The park is outside of Port Orchard, so Meg and I had to catch a ferry over on Friday night. We thought we had it timed pretty well, but we actually just barely made it (last car on!). We got into camp right at sundown, but thankfully Bob and Katie had arrived quite a bit earlier. Not only did they have some hot dogs for us (foolishly we thought we’d have time to grab some fast food before the ferry), but Bob helped me get the tent up before we lost all daylight. That night we tested out a new s’more innovation of mine: the pre-chocolated graham cracker. Before we headed out on Friday I melted up some gourmet chocolate, spread it on the crackers, and tossed ‘em in the freezer. Delicious! I think the thinner layer of chocolate made for better melting, and they were far fancier than your standard Hershey’s s’more.
The next morning (my birthday) saw some not-quite-done doughnuts from our stove, and some delicious bacon and eggs from the Baker’s stove. After breakfast we decided to head into town to check out the sights; Port Orchard is a quaint coastal town after all, right? Wrong? I was probably more surprised than I should have been by the sheer abundance of pubs, and relative dearth of interesting shopping opportunities. The upshot was that the farmer’s market was in full swing, and while we didn’t buy anything, we did see some interesting characters.
Back at the campsite we had some pie irons for lunch and then a quick afternoon snooze before Dave and the boys showed up. The remainder of the afternoon was spent hanging around, and trying to keep the boys out of, the fire. For dinner I grilled some scrumptious kalbi short ribs over the fire, which we followed up with Megan’s mouth-watering mini birthday cheesecakes for dessert. To round out the night, what better than a rousing game of Settlers of Catan? (Bob and I fought for the lead most of the night, and then Katie came out of nowhere to take the win)
The next morning we woke up bright and early(ish) to clean up camp, eat some more delicious bacon and eggs, and head back to civilization. A pretty good camping trip I must say, I just wish we were able to get out more often.
Meg and Katie ironing pies
Hangin' at the campfire
woodland gnomes?
Mmmm, ribs
Stealth Megan packing up in her tent camo
Posted Aug 7, 11:32 PM.
Taken Aug 2, 07:05 AM.