Friday, October 22, 2010

Retirement camping

Campfire replacement?
Camping sure has changed for husband Walter and me since kids are grown and gone and I am retired. We headed out Saturday, Oct. 9, for the Fort Pickens Campground in the Florida section of Gulf Islands National Seashore. When our sons were small, we occasionally packed up on Friday afternoon and made the three-hour drive to the campground on Santa Rosa Island for a weekend of exploring the fort and the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico and Pensacola Bay.

Grilling hamburgers or roasting hot dogs was likely to be on the Friday night menu, prepared in the twilight after we set up camp. Not so these days.

A non-camping pleasure
About half way to our destination, we stopped by a favorite chain restaurant for pasta, endless salad and breadsticks, all topped off with a shared dessert.

We didn’t entirely abandon campsite cooking, though. Sunday included two of my high-cholesterol favorites: “scrapple”, a one-pot breakfast meal of sausage, eggs and cheese, and hot dogs for supper. Monday morning we relaxed by the campfire with our hot tea and coffee. After a couple cups each, we looked at each other with the same idea percolating in our brains. We packed up and headed out for a fast-food breakfast burrito on the way home.

Certainly not purist camping, but I am enjoying these changes!

3 comments:

  1. your menu sounds PERFECT to me!!!! love all of it and why not? retirment means "do/eat whatever you want when you want and how you want" doesn't it?

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  2. What a delicious desert - makes my mouth water. Enjoy your camping trip.

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  3. Your desert looks wonderful. Hope you enjoy your camping. Food is such an important part of any trip.

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