We brought the Camping Castle to Kitsap Memorial State Park last weekend (we are still here, but more on that later!). When we first pulled in, the people 'next door' were just unloading their truck having previously unhitched their trailer. When the 'guy' saw us he apologized for having his truck in the way and I said 'no big deal! We are camping! No rush!'. A little kindness on both parties turned out to go a long way!
So he got their stuff all unpacked from the back of their truck (cannot camp with kids without bikes!) and parked his truck in their parking space so that we could then get our rig settled in. Took the hubs about 2 minutes to get it parked ( we have often commented on how easy it is to park a 37 foot trailer compared to our 18 foot trailer. If you have thoughts, please post!), and then another 10 or so to get us leveled, hooked up to water and electric and ready to go. While I am a very independent woman, I really do play dumb when it comes to unhooking/hooking up the rv. I'd just rather not, instead saving my energy for the cooking and relaxing part of rv'ing, which for me is one and the same thing.
It didn't take long once we were all set up to meet the neighbors. They had three children, two of whom were almost the identical ages of our two, which was great...and uhhh....maybe not great? Their son was a year older than our 14 year old daughter (YIKES!) and their daughter was the same age as our 11 year old son - oh dear lord, this could be a looooong weekend! Mom and dad were so very friendly and we all hit it off right away. We talked for an hour or so, and I realized at some point that I hadn't got the hubs to light the grill. No fear! My new found friend had made a lasagna the night before (smart ass!) and kindly invited us to dinner. While she provided a lasagna and salad, I provided raw veggies and dip and chips and our families feasted.
While we were here for pure relaxation, they were here for a softball tournament for their youngest. That meant that on Saturday while we lazed around (ok, hubs worked overtime Saturday...I lazed around) they spent the day in the hot sun watching game after game. I had a few errands to run, so I ran home quickly and grabbed some salmon and prawns out of our freezer (all caught by our family this past season) to spoil them a bit when they got home.
Dinner that night consisted of grilled salmon, peri peri prawns - a traditional South African marinade I learned to make when I was there years ago - caesar salad, garlic pull apart bread, and a lovely salad that the neighbor brought over, along with delicious steaks they grilled. Just before we served dinner she came over a little sheepishly and said quietly to me "I am SO sorry. Some of the other baseball families have shown up. I am SO sorry. What should we do?". Not a problem for a foodie AND a 'who gives a care' person like me! I said 'No problem! We have a ton of food, and if we run out? I have bread and peanut butter! Bring it on!". It turned out to be an amazing evening full of fantastic food, amazing new friends, and expensive tequila.
Lessons learned? Always be patient when you are rv'ing. If someone is blocking your way, sit back and have a drink or peruse the camp site. Make friends. Don't be afraid to cook something beyond burgers, and ALWAYS have the ingredients for filling standbys! Below you will find a recipe for the garlic pull apart bread that I always have the ingredients on hand for in the rv - it is easy and feeds a crowd! If this isn't something you would make or your family would like, that is ok! Just find SOMETHING that is easy and feeds a crowd that you can always have on hand. It really can make a difference on those 'company just popped over for the campfire' evenings.
Garlic Pull Apart Bread
one can of biscuits ( doesn't matter the brand, just NOT 'flaky')
fresh chopped garlic (we are garlic whores! I use 6 or 7 cloves. Adjust to your families tastes!)
some sort of Italian spice (oregano, basil...whatever you enjoy)
Parmesan cheese (about a 1/4 cup)
another type of cheese (I usually use cheddar or monterrey jack, about 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup butter.
Bundt cake pan.
Heat your oven to 350.
Melt the butter in the pan.
In the meantime, cut each biscuit into fourths, add chopped garlic, grated cheeses, and spices in a bowl and mix till all biscuit pieces are coated with all the good things....
take pan out of oven and add the biscuit/spicy/cheesy mix to pan.
Bake till golden.
Take out of oven and turn upside down on a plate. Serve. I will guarantee you this will be DEVOURED by anyone who tries it.
As you have noticed, I cook with 'as you like' or 'adjust to families taste' measurements. This is how my Grandmother Reva cooked. This is how I have always cooked. If you ever need 'true' measurements, just comment or email me and I shall 'try' to oblige! :) And if you want the recipe for peri peri, also leave a comment. Always happy to share good food finds!
As stated earlier, when you rv you need one or two 'go to' recipes with ingredients you always have on hand. The rv life is just simply the kind of life where you will make friends. Some for the duration of your trip. Some for a long while. Just feed them. Feed them well. And most importantly, always be gracious.
Kitsap Memorial State Park overview:
Gorgeous state park on the sea. Sites are quite close together but we have found after being here for almost ten days in a row that this park is not busy or full to capacity. This time of year (end of June, beginning of July) it is extremely hard to find a site anywhere in WA state. So this is our go to spot for several reasons....it is usually always open for a site or two and it is local ( so we can camp AND go to work).
There is fishing from a nice dock/beach area. Check your fishing regulations for what you can catch and when. There is good fishing on the north side of the hood canal bridge which is but a 5 minute drive from this park.
There is a gorgeous park with play-site for kids. This park is unique in that it specializes as a wedding venue! It has an AMAZING lodge for receptions. The lodge will cost you $856 Friday to Sunday (total fee, registration etc) and the beach, park, or spacious cleared forest area is fantastic for a ceremony. This makes it not only a very affordable wedding but a really gorgeous place for pictures. If you are looking for a really nice feel for a wedding, this is a great spot!
Fair winds....
Jaye
Friday, June 28, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Start small!
Our first RV was an 18 foot Jayco. Two bunks, a small kitchen, bathroom with small (think small elf infant!) bathtub and shower, and a living/dining area - the kitchen table folded down, the seat cushions spread out and VIOLA - our bed! We were quite smitten with our little travel home and thought we were quite bad ass! Yup, we had given up the tent and gone over to the dark side...a very small dark side, but it was all ours!
At this point in our lives we are a family of four (down from seven!) but even so, doing anything in this RV was a bit of a dance. If I was in the kitchen area cooking, I had to stop and move so the kids could get out of their bunks and get into the bathroom. If the kids woke up early and we wanted to sleep in, we ended up with kids eating at the table aka our bed.
But it was a good first time RV. It allowed us to experience the RV lifestyle without having to make a big commitment. And it allowed us to learn what worked and what didn't on a smaller scale.
Having a smaller RV allowed the hubby to get used to pulling a trailer and learn all the ins and outs of how to hook it up to the truck (a jeep at the time!) and how to back it up and park it in a site.
We also were able to make the transition from tent to RV'ing in an easy manner - it wasn't such a huge shock and truly felt decadent.
Until we had a long weekend trip where it rained most of the time. And we were on top of each other for three days. Three. Days. Three. Long. Days.
Yup, we had learned how to tow a trailer, back it up, park it, pack it. Now we realized we needed something bigger so that we could all enjoy our weekend getaways without feeling like we were sitting on each others laps all weekend.
Hence the RV we have now - all 37 glorious feet of it! So go ahead and get that smaller RV. You will learn invaluable lessons that will serve you well when you upgrade, and upgrade you will for one reason or another. You may want more room for the kids to be able to bring friends, or you will want more room so that you can bring other family members, or you may even want to sell all your stuff and commit to a full time RV lifestyle. But whatever the reasons, you will eventually upgrade to a bigger RV and when you do, all the things you learned with your first, small, cozy RV will go with you to your bigger RV.
Fair winds!
Jaye
At this point in our lives we are a family of four (down from seven!) but even so, doing anything in this RV was a bit of a dance. If I was in the kitchen area cooking, I had to stop and move so the kids could get out of their bunks and get into the bathroom. If the kids woke up early and we wanted to sleep in, we ended up with kids eating at the table aka our bed.
But it was a good first time RV. It allowed us to experience the RV lifestyle without having to make a big commitment. And it allowed us to learn what worked and what didn't on a smaller scale.
Having a smaller RV allowed the hubby to get used to pulling a trailer and learn all the ins and outs of how to hook it up to the truck (a jeep at the time!) and how to back it up and park it in a site.
We also were able to make the transition from tent to RV'ing in an easy manner - it wasn't such a huge shock and truly felt decadent.
Until we had a long weekend trip where it rained most of the time. And we were on top of each other for three days. Three. Days. Three. Long. Days.
Yup, we had learned how to tow a trailer, back it up, park it, pack it. Now we realized we needed something bigger so that we could all enjoy our weekend getaways without feeling like we were sitting on each others laps all weekend.
Hence the RV we have now - all 37 glorious feet of it! So go ahead and get that smaller RV. You will learn invaluable lessons that will serve you well when you upgrade, and upgrade you will for one reason or another. You may want more room for the kids to be able to bring friends, or you will want more room so that you can bring other family members, or you may even want to sell all your stuff and commit to a full time RV lifestyle. But whatever the reasons, you will eventually upgrade to a bigger RV and when you do, all the things you learned with your first, small, cozy RV will go with you to your bigger RV.
Fair winds!
Jaye
Saturday, June 15, 2013
How it all began......
17 years ago I was a divorcee with two children. I met a wonderful man who was the father of one. We fell in love and got married and proceeded to have two more children together. One of our great loves (besides each other and our blended family!) was the outdoors! We have always hunted, hiked, fished, and camped. Until last year, we were die hard, hard core tent campers. And to be honest, we were tent camping snobs! We would pass RV's in the campground and say 'THAT is NOT camping! Why not just stay in a hotel?!". Yup, we were snobs!
We slept in sleeping bags on the hard ground of the tent floor, we reveled in every meal being cooked over an open flame or a coleman stove, we took pride in our 'extravagant' kitchen - we had a camp table with hooks for pots and a place for a sink - yup, we had it made! And we didn't wimp out in an RV for the love of God!
But as our family grew, so too did our pile of equipment. It became a huge job just gather up our equipment and food and pack it all into our vehicle. Going for a week long trip was a huge undertaking and a weekend trip? Just as much work for two measly days.
Then my hubby was assigned to a different command in the Navy (he is now a retired Submariner) that kept him away from home for very very very long stretches of time so camping was a no go. Then he retired from his 20 year career with and went to work for the Shipyard. Which meant that he was even busier than before and often weekend trips were all that we could take. So camping of any sort of length of time became non existent for many years and this just did not sit well with us. The solution? A very small rv. I am talking a mere 18 feet. It was 'just' enough to make us not quite THOSE kind of rv'ers.....but allowed us to go camping at a moments notice. We found we could still have campfires and make s'mores. We could still sit outside and listen to nature. Showers were in a tiny space with very limited hot water (just like campground showers!). No oven and a small cook top meant we still had meals cooked on a 'camp stove'. Our bed was the dining room table folded down at night and consisted of a very thin mattress so we still woke up with back aches. PERFECT! Camping without being THOSE people! YAY!
Then we had a three day trip with the kids and it rained the entire time. I subtlety hinted that at some point (in the far future) we may want to 'think' about a bigger rv. Now to know my husband is to know that once he gets a bee in his bonnet it is a done deal. He went to the RV sales site and picked out two rv's. He called me up at work and said to come and take a look and make the final choice.
The long and short of this whole story is we are now the proud owners of a 37 foot rv. Yup, we are now THOSE people. And guess what? We LOVE it! I keep the pantry stocked with all the basics. We have all the bedding/towels/toiletries needed. Pots and pans and cutlery. Soap, shampoo. It is all ready to go. And now, when we know we have but two days, we can CAMP! We have discovered the secret that THOSE people have known for years! You can camp in COMFORT!
SO.....I have started this blog at the behest of several friends who have read my posts on social networking sites about the trips we have taken thus far (12 camping trips in a year!!!!) and have said that I need to let the 'secret' out!
So here goes! Hang onto your seats and hats and butts! And join us as I extoll the virtues of rv life...all the tricks I have learned...all the fun we have.
I will thoroughly review each site we camp at, as well as share all my recipes - because yes, you CAN be a gourmand and still camp!
Welcome to the Elegant RV!
Fair winds,
Jaye
We slept in sleeping bags on the hard ground of the tent floor, we reveled in every meal being cooked over an open flame or a coleman stove, we took pride in our 'extravagant' kitchen - we had a camp table with hooks for pots and a place for a sink - yup, we had it made! And we didn't wimp out in an RV for the love of God!
But as our family grew, so too did our pile of equipment. It became a huge job just gather up our equipment and food and pack it all into our vehicle. Going for a week long trip was a huge undertaking and a weekend trip? Just as much work for two measly days.
Then my hubby was assigned to a different command in the Navy (he is now a retired Submariner) that kept him away from home for very very very long stretches of time so camping was a no go. Then he retired from his 20 year career with and went to work for the Shipyard. Which meant that he was even busier than before and often weekend trips were all that we could take. So camping of any sort of length of time became non existent for many years and this just did not sit well with us. The solution? A very small rv. I am talking a mere 18 feet. It was 'just' enough to make us not quite THOSE kind of rv'ers.....but allowed us to go camping at a moments notice. We found we could still have campfires and make s'mores. We could still sit outside and listen to nature. Showers were in a tiny space with very limited hot water (just like campground showers!). No oven and a small cook top meant we still had meals cooked on a 'camp stove'. Our bed was the dining room table folded down at night and consisted of a very thin mattress so we still woke up with back aches. PERFECT! Camping without being THOSE people! YAY!
Then we had a three day trip with the kids and it rained the entire time. I subtlety hinted that at some point (in the far future) we may want to 'think' about a bigger rv. Now to know my husband is to know that once he gets a bee in his bonnet it is a done deal. He went to the RV sales site and picked out two rv's. He called me up at work and said to come and take a look and make the final choice.
The long and short of this whole story is we are now the proud owners of a 37 foot rv. Yup, we are now THOSE people. And guess what? We LOVE it! I keep the pantry stocked with all the basics. We have all the bedding/towels/toiletries needed. Pots and pans and cutlery. Soap, shampoo. It is all ready to go. And now, when we know we have but two days, we can CAMP! We have discovered the secret that THOSE people have known for years! You can camp in COMFORT!
SO.....I have started this blog at the behest of several friends who have read my posts on social networking sites about the trips we have taken thus far (12 camping trips in a year!!!!) and have said that I need to let the 'secret' out!
So here goes! Hang onto your seats and hats and butts! And join us as I extoll the virtues of rv life...all the tricks I have learned...all the fun we have.
I will thoroughly review each site we camp at, as well as share all my recipes - because yes, you CAN be a gourmand and still camp!
Welcome to the Elegant RV!
Fair winds,
Jaye
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