Here you will find an archived weblog of my food, travel, and creative pursuits which I kept from 2010-2016. Please note both that the travel information contained here may outdated and that these logs were created on a prior version of this website and may not yet be optimized for the current version. If you’re looking for specific content, use the search field below! <3
For weekend camping trips within a few hours of our home base, I believe there's no reason to both overcomplicate and skimp on meals. All you need is a cooler with ice packs and you can bring just about anything, except ice cream I suppose. I'm also a big fan of doing as much prep work as possible at home to make meal preparation at camp much easier. This includes baking any goodies, washing all the produce, and preparing condiments and sauces.
Read MoreOn our last road trip through the Canadian Rockies, we were haunted by some unfortunate weather and terrible private campgrounds - so we ended up making tracks for home a day or so earlier then planned. This decision presented the challenge of finding a nice campsite in the middle of the night in far northeastern Washington without any cell phone reception. At first we drove straight past the Evans Campground in Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area in hopes of finding a spot with hot showers. When we found cell phone reception again and deemed it not practical to drive even further to a different campsite, we made a u-turn and headed back to Evans.
Read MoreWe'll call this the site that almost got away from us - the one we spent the previous night in the cab of the truck in an overflow parking lot hoping to get. The biggest downside with Kicking Horse Campground is that all the sites are first-come first-serve. So if you're planning to arrive on a weekend during the summer high season, you'll have to cross your fingers and hope for the best! There is a small overflow campground just down the road and the parking lot takes over after that.
Read MoreAfter spending five nights in Jasper National Park's Wapiti Campground, I was ready stay another ten. Maybe even more.
It's the first campground I've stayed at where I could see myself sticking around for an extended stay. It all started with our handpicked campsite, RR22, which sits at the very edge of along the Athabasca River. From this rather perfect campsite to the incredibly clean and updated facilities - Wapiti is where I'll be returning to on my next summer camping trip in the Canadian Rockies.
Read MoreThis photo was not taken in Whistler.
We were supposed to spend the first night of our two week camping road trip in Whistler, British Columbia. After a beautiful drive up the Sea to Sky Highway, we rolled into town were excited to learn a downhill mountain bike competition was in full gear and a triathlon was to be held the following day.
Read MoreIf you follow me around the web, you've probably seen mentions of an epic camping road trip that has been in the planning stages for months now. Since that trip is just around the corner, I've been diving into my packing lists for what to bring. To be honest, the thought of packing enough safe gluten free food for two weeks of camping was a bit overwhelming. With a wilderness heavy yet somewhat flexible itinerary - I don't want to be dependent on buying much on the road other than fresh produce.
To remedy my overwhelmed feelings, I put together a quick worksheet to break it down for me. I made a section for each day of our trip, where we would be, if it was a travel day, and included a line each for three meals and a snack. While I don't intend to bring the list with me and cook by it - it did help to get an idea of how much I need to pack. I also opted to repeat each meal at least twice, which I think will make both the purchasing of food and packing much easier.
I should also mention that we (my husband and I) are car camping. We'll have plenty of amenities available to us and packing space is not an issue. In my mind, that means there's no reason to eat freeze dried food for two weeks straight. I've tried to create a menu and packing list that reflects how we eat at home, albeit with less fresh produce (which during these high harvesting days is pretty much what we eat). We do plan to buy plenty along the way and will also keep one cooler filled with ice to keep special treats like cheese, non-dairy milk, and the occasional slice of bacon. Since we're driving over an international boarder, I'll be buying all the fresh produce and animal products after we're across to ensure we don't have any issues at the border.
To share with you, I've broken the list up by meal and also included the types of dishes we plan to make. The entire list is gluten free, there's only one optional dairy item, and with just a few little exceptions it's also mostly vegan.
I hope you've enjoyed the past month of all things camping, I certainly have. It's led me to find so many new wonderful resources and blogs that I probably wouldn't have come across otherwise. Aside from a big two week camping trip to British Columbia & Alberta in August, I'm hoping to get a few more weekend camping trips around Washington State on our summer calendar.
Are you planning any summer camping trips? If I still haven't convinced you to give it a try, here's a few links for inspiration and if it's still not really up your alley you could always try glamping.
Read MoreThat camping trip to Lopez Island seems to have become a catalyst for change in the creative side of my life. Prior to the trip, I was fortunate enough to partner with Bob's Red Mill to produce a series of camping recipes that we shot for while on the island. I also decided to shoot some video with my trusty Canon S100 camera - thinking that this time I would actually get my act together and edit it into my first trip video.
Read MoreAll month I've been sharing favorite camping spots, camping recipes, and other beautiful places to visit. Today, I'm pulling that all together into an itinerary for eight days of camping through two countries, three states, and two provinces.
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