15 Miles (Part II)

We finally followed through with the canal camping and made it out to Swain's Lock for an overnight excursion.

It's at least a two hour trip with a fully loaded cargo bike. We don't have much lightweight/small camping gear so there was barely room for Oscar to fall asleep on the way out.

Once we made it to the campsite and got set up, Oscar was in charge of meeting the neighbors. There were two bike-based campers and one hiker.

This is Maurice, a biker who was headed west. The other cyclist was headed back to DC.

We cooked a few hot dogs at the neighbor's fire (he had brought hot dogs for dinner too), while discussing the exploits of Admiral Farragut during the Civil War. We had just gotten one hot dog each before the forecasted rain came on suddenly.

 We played "Captain America" in the tent while waiting it out until a wayward thrown shield forced me to take a break from the action. Afterwards, we made a fire that lasted just long enough to cook two marshmallows before it died due to wet wood. We made the remainder of the hot dogs on the stove.

The next day we stopped at Great Falls on the way back and did some exploring.

We had just enough energy to make it back to Georgetown before we needed to refuel. Luckily, there is a conveniently located coffeeshop, Malmaison, to fulfill your pain au chocolat and macchiato needs.

15 miles on the...

Oscar and I took a ride out the C&O Canal yesterday as a test run before trying to ride all the way out to Swain's Lock to go camping along the Potomac. We made it just past the Chain Bridge before we decided to do some exploring.

By exploring, we mean "getting so wet, he rode home naked."

On the way back we decided to listen to Erie Canal by Bruce Springsteen and Oscar made up appropriate hand gestures for the various parts of the song..."low bridge, we're coming to a town."

Part II
I took my bike on the towpath the next day for a fast-ish ride and explored a little of the other things available near the path. Like a kayak course...

 ...hidden down an innocuous sidepath...

 And some singletrack, which was fine on my bike...

and I had to remember to capture lots of insect specimens for Oscar. Luckily my hairy sunscreened arms were perfect bug transport.

Camp Cooking

Since we like to cook and our camp cooking tends to be a little more involved than some people, I will do my best to explain our method for cooking while camping. The amounts of various ingredients will be intentionally vague. You may have to look at an ingredient list and imagine what it will taste like with various ingredient ratios to figure out what you will like.

First, supplies. We have a small size Rubbermaid container for our cooking utensils. These are things we bring regardless of what we will be cooking. It includes:
Heavy duty aluminum foil (a few 12" squares folded, takes up a lot less room than a roll)
Small plastic cutting board
Chef's knife & paring knife
Spice Mix (we used to make a new spice mix for every camping trip, but now we use Old Bay Blackened Seasoning)
Olive Oil
Soap/Sponge
Sugar/Splenda (for coffee)
Spoons/forks
Percolator for coffee
Large cast aluminum pot with lid (thicker aluminum and iron pots are especially good for camping to distribute heat and avoid hot spots from your propane stove or wood fire, and a lid for keeping ash out of your food)
Tupperware bowls w/ lids (good for eating out of and storing food in)

Breakfast All Day Broccoli Casserole (Broccoli Cheese Casserole w/ Chorizo).
Small amount of Yellow Rice
1-2 Red Potatoes cut into small cubes
plenty of Broccoli cut into small-medium florets.
1/2 c.-ish Chicken Stock (or water)
1/4 lb. Mexican Chorizo
some Cheddar Cheese
little bit of lazy eggs  (that egg product that comes in small cartons)
1/3 c. Milk

Cook Chorizo in pot until cooked through. transfer to plastic bowl, leaving some grease in pot. Add rice, potatoes and chicken stock, cover and bring to boil and remove from heat to let rice cook. Since it is hard to simmer rice while camping you may have to return to heat occasionally to build up more steam. Once rice is cooked and add broccoli and return to heat to steam broccoli. When broccoli is steamed add chorizo, cheese, milk and egg. Stir and let cook until firm.

Since this is a casserole it doesn't matter too much if you overcook the rice and potatoes a little. I like it when the broccoli is a lttle crunchy and everything else is kind of mushy.

Sweet and Sour Stir-fry w/ Chicken
Chicken breast cut into small strips
soy-sauce (we've been using Bragg Liquid Aminos, a soy based sauce without the wheat that most soy sauce has and no added sodium)
honey
vinegar (red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar, or just use a little red wine)
onions
garlic
carrots
other various stir-fry vegetables (ginger, zuch, red peppers, peas, etc.)
Small chunks soft, sweet, fruit (mango and peaches work especially well)
some sort of thickener (corn starch or flour)
Olive oil

Sautee vegetables in olive oil for a few minutes, add chicken. Mix together two parts soy sauce, four parts honey, and one part vinegar, and a tablespoon of thickener, add to chicken and vegetables. Stir in and cook until liquid starts to thicken. Add fruit and cook until just heated through. Serve.

Camping in the Mountains

After spending time at the beach and the "Little Bavaria" of Michigan we decided to head to the mountains of Western North Carolina. Lake James State Park was one of the best parks we've been to for camping. All the sites require walking 150-300 yards (no loud radios), everything was very well maintained (nice tent pads, picnic tables, nice bathrooms, nearby trash receptacles and water) and afford fantastic views of the lake and nearby hills.

Before we left, we planned out five dinners that all require only one pot. The hardest part of camp cooking is heat control; this is why most internet recipes stick to stews or something similar. For cooking we either use a small gas-powered stove or a fire. The stove doesn't do low heat very well, so then we use a wood fire. Our meals included Broccoli cheese casserole w/ chorizo, sweet and sour stir-fry w/ chicken and peaches, lentils with spinach and veggies, and rice and beans with seasoned chicken.

After we were done camping we ventured the 40 miles to Asheville, NC. The region surrounding Asheville is a hotbead of crafts from painting, furniture making, to glass blowing and ceramics. There are numerous galleries and there was also the Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival while we were there. The streets were packed with people checking out booths selling local crafts and various music venues. There was also some general silliness with bike-jousting and a man trying to set the Guiness Record for riding the tallest bicycle. 

Asheville is full of interesting restaurants and quirky clothing shops. We came home with a few new articles of clothing and many instances of delectably full stomachs.

The last day we were in the area I went on a long bike ride south of Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The segment just south of Asheville rises in elevation from 2,100 feet to 5,000 feet and includes a dozen tunnels, all in the space of 15 miles. Grinding up the hills that seemed to go on forever was taxing both physically and mentally. The views near the top were worth it, and descending at speeds nearing 40 mph was exilerating.

Jefe's a little tired...

Back in Asheville, we found a nice spot for dinner before heading back to Raleigh in order to figure out where our next adventure will lead.

The Wedding

This weekend, my childhood friend, Tom, and his fiance, Jessie, were married in Frankenmuth, Michigan. Yes, that is corn in the background.

The wedding was outside on a very warm and sunny afternoon
We were gathered in the back yard of Jessie's parents' home.

My brother (in the center) was best man

There was a giant bonfire afterwards,
where people inexplicably threw organs and pianos into the flames.
those guys were from the wedding party, so I'm guessing that this was all part of the plan(?)

flaming organ

Jeff and I camped out on the lawn along with many others. A great end to a wonderful day.

The wedding was just outside of Frankenmuth, Michigan. Downtown Frankenmuth is Bavarian-themed and resort-like. Lots of fudge huts, cheese shops, and fried chicken dinners. There were few restaurants--so we went to one of them twice. One of the dishes at the wedding was grilled chicken basted with beer and butter. I am told it was very tasty but (obviously) not gluten-free and probably not very good for you.

My family+Jefe

Also, yesterday was my birthday.

The Beach

There are few things as refreshing as a beautiful saltwater beach. In this case, Wrightsville Beach near Wilmington, North Carolina. We went partly for the beach itself, which is hard to replicate in Illinois, and also because Rebecca has a few friends who reside in Wilmington. Camping, biking, swimming, and sailing are a few of activities we were able to cram into the last week while staying with a friend of Rebecca's from high school.

In order to get our camping fix, we went to Carolina Beach State Park for the first night. It is a nice campground with gravel tent pads that drain well when it rains. We were able to ride to the beach in about 15 minutes from the campsite. At the beach we acquired stage 1 of our beach tans. In my case there was a little bit of a burn.

It rained the next night so we moved indoors to Kyle's apartment in Wilmington. In a mutually beneficial situation that would continue for the rest of our stay, we cooked her dinner (oyster and crab stew) in exchange for a place to stay and a guided tour of the local scene.

Two days later, after acquiring stage 2 of our tans, we were off to Ellen's (another friend of Rebecca's) family's river house for a day of sailing and relaxing on the Pungo River in northeast North Carolina.

They had a sunfish sailboat, so we took that out a few times while we were there. We didn't go to far, venturing out into the main part of the Pungo River only once because the water was a little choppy. Since a sunfish is such a small boat you really have to work together to sail it with two people so you don't get in each others way.

Coming back to Wilmington we had only a few days to hit the local french bistro for dinner, attend a local rock show that was way too loud (but good), and acquire stage 3 of our tans.

Camping!

Got back from our camping trip at Jones Lake yesterday. 

It was a nice place, considering they offered only drive-in (rather than hike-in) camping.  Usually this means that you're going to be kept awake most of the night listening to the folks in the Winnebagos to your left and right adjust the radio, watch television, and fight over the family Wii.  I can say without exaggeration that we have experienced all those things.  Our first night, there was a rowdy group of teenagers chugging beers and guffawing well into the night, but they had mysteriously disappeared by the time I woke up. The second night, the Loudy McLoudLouds camped at the single available electric site a few "doors" down.  But even that didn't bother me so much.  It could have been much worse.

It was actually pretty charming.  The site we picked looked like our own little desert island.

We walked, biked, hiked, swam, read, rested, and ate very well (steamed zucchini the first night, pork chop tacos the second).  It was lovely to spend so much time outside--and to come home with the freckles/burns to show for it.