heaven forbid we should hear the crickets

Well, we're back from our long weekend in the woods.  I'm freckled, my hips have sore spots from trying to sleep on my side on the ground, and I am one step closer to becoming a master of Cooking Meals Wrapped In Foil Over An Open Flame.  You could look at all the food prep in camping as a big obnoxious chore, or as some good clean fun.  I choose good clean fun, and so we eat quite well!  I'm pretty much done with Garden Burgers for the week, though.  But here's a tasty hint for you- wrap your Garden Burger (or Morningstar Farms Chix Patty) with slices of red onion, red bell pepper, and a sprinkle of garlic salt in foil, then grill it up.  So.  Good.  And of course there were S'mores... with Jacob's special touch- spread peanut butter on the graham cracker first.  Trust me on this one- it's almost too good. 

We drove back here early yesterday morning.  The campgrounds we went to are a nice, quick getaway (only about a 1 1/2 hour drive) and the people that work there are all incredibly nice.  But this weekend, it was packed!  Thank goodness our campsite was set away from the crowd, on a hill overlooking the Santa Paula creek.  Our site was quite large, and we were separated from the other sites by lots of bushes, trees, and a road.  It seemed like most of the other sites had groups of people on them- loads of tents and tables and SUV's (one group parked their SUV's around the campground water, blocking it from the other campers- including us! for whom that was the closest water source) and portable screen rooms and... here's the thing... loud stereos. 

Is this a new trend in camping?  What on earth is the point of getting out of the city, into the woods, and blasting music?  I'm not talking about Moontribe or Burning Man or some desert party (those are fun, and the whole point is to dance the night away), I'm talking about a campground- with other people who are there to get away from it all.  Actually, on Sunday night it all became very humorous- well, it was only humorous because we were camping just far enough away, if we were closer, it would have been a nightmare- when the huge Armenian family group started blasting some traditional music after their dinner.  This went on for a while, they finally cut the music off, and then, the huge Mexican family group camped next to them started blasting some music from their own traditions.  Halfway into the song, the Armenians turned on their music again.  Then, the two young couples camped next to the large groups put some techno music on their car stereo and pumped up the volume.  It was a music battle in the woods!  Music from all over the world!  A world music showdown!  In the woods!  Thank goodness we brought plenty of red wine- the whole situation just gave us a major case of the giggles.  While we had a great time, we are also planning on going somewhere far more remote next time. 

We were able to relax quite a bit this weekend- lots of walks by the creek, talks by the campfire, and attempts at backgammon... I tried to get Jacob hooked on the game, which I loved as a kid- but I kept messing up which direction my pieces moved!  Um, again with the "plenty of red wine," I guess.  We spent lots of time listening to The Da Vinci Code on our iPods... neither of us have read the book before.  I'm only on chapter 50 or so... please don't tell me what happens.  It was so nice this weekend to discuss the book with Jacob, guessing what was going to happen (we didn't upload all the CD's onto our iPods... and yes, that was one of the very first things we did when we got back home- start uploading CD's and listening to the story from the computer, like an old radio program).   All weekend long we were talking to each other with French accents in the Bezu Fache and Sophie Neveu voices from the taped Da Vinci Code.  It just occurred to me now that we could have used our FM transmitter to broadcast the book to the entire campground and joined into the cacophony on Sunday night!  Huh.  Maybe next time.

Comments

[Julia]

Sounds wonderfully funny. I've actually heard that there's a trend toward noisy camping. Funny on occasion, but not so fun all the time.

I didn't know you liked Backgammon. I love it! M and I have a travel set. You know this means yet another fun thing to do together.

See you tonight (and yes, with sweater!). xox, J

[Marnie]

Ah, modern day dueling banjos. Way to be at peace with the great outdoors. :)
I think Leo and I are going to try to find a remote spot to camp in San Diego this weekend. Wish us luck

[laurie]

Mary-Heather! That sounds hysterical. I haven't read the DaVinci Code yet, either, and your iPod idea is BRILLIANT. I could listen to that on the bus and still knit!