delara, interrupted

It was a GLORIOUS Labor Day weekend in Door County when the four of us (me, Paulie, the Mahsanator and Dalib) drove up to Quietwoods North near Potowatami State Park in Sturgeon Bay, WI. On the way up, we stopped at the Wendy's oasis along 294, ate some burgers, fries, a mint chocolate shake, and watched the cars drive under. It was cool, and Mahsa was happy!

We also marveled at all the Harley-Davidson people - oh, did I mention that it was HD's 100th anniversary and there was a HUGE contingency of bikers on their way to Milwaukee to celebrate? Yes. It was a sight. Although we all commented on how the face of HD owners seems so different from the stereotype. It seemed to us that the typical rider was more Wall Street than Wal-Mart. But I digress...

We arrived at our campsite after dark and quickly set up both tents on our sites and started a fire to warm up dinner. Our tents were easy to get up - it was inflating the air mattresses that was, well, interesting. But we did it, in any case, and then we busted out the leftover tah-chin (a yummy Persian dish with rice and chicken, for those who are unindoctrinated) that my aunt had made the night before and warmed it up for dinner. Did I mention that we were "roughing it"?? Yeah, whatev.

I froze overnight - not enough cover and dropping temperatures. Andalib froze too. Mahsa and Paul were just fine. Go figure. We bought sleeping bags first thing in the morning.

We woke to a beautiful, sunny 65 degrees and all kinds of birds chirping. We cooked breakfast on the griddle - eggs, breakfast potatoes, bacon, sausage, toast - and boiled water for coffee. Ah - my first real campfire meal! It was so good. We should cook like that everyday.

We then went shopping (the aforementioned sleeping bags and other stuff) and then spent the afternoon picnicking at a park on the bay. The boys fished (and caught nada but had loads of fun) and the girls spread out one of the new sleeping bags for reading in the sun, napping, and sun-tanning. O yeah!

God bless Coleman products, by the way.

Then we headed back and cooked dinner. You see, those who have not been camping either, I learned that the bulk of camping time is spent on meals. How cool is that? We grilled vegetables and the kabob that had been marinating for 24+ hours (sinfully yummy!) and baked potatoes.

And the pies de resistance - S'MORES!! Ooey, gooey dark chocolate, marshmallow, graham pieces of sin. Damn good.

We fell into a fabulous slumber while listening to various animal sounds in the distance.

Sunday morning, we made french toast on the griddle (like I've said, gourmet camping) rented a boat and went out on the bay to fish and chill. In that order. Mahsa learned the fine art of filing nails. I read through magazines. We caught various-sized small sturgeon mostly. Paul caught a bass but we lost it before I could take the photo. He was worried no one would believe him without proof, but we believe him, right? And all fish were lovingly released into the water immediately after being caught with minimal damage. We don't keep fish.

We then had fabulous pomodoro sandwiches for lunch (see recipe in upcoming blog entries) and some of us did our nails. Like me. Hee hee.

Sunday night was the double-feature at the DRIVE-IN THEATRE!! I'm telling you - it doesn't get any more Americana than this weekend experience. We set up our chairs in front of the car and snuggled into our sleeping bags to watch the movies while eating popcorn, foot-long hot dogs and candy. The only meal we didn't cook ourselves. We saw Freaky Friday and Pirates of the Caribbean. And it was just SO fun! And I fell asleep with a Mounds bar in my hand in my sleeping bag. Typical. So typical.

After another blissful night of sleep, we awoke, had breakfast (cereal and fruit), took down camp, and started home. We stopped to eat a proper brunch at Perkins - much to Mahsa and Andalib's delight - and stuffed ourselves silly.

We arrived back in Chicago Monday afternoon to learn that the weather here had sucked all weekend. Not to rub it in but... Ha!

And that is the story of my most amazing camping experience! Having not ever gone camping while growing up I just found the whole thing so fun. Novel, and fun. Must do it again soon.