Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Not Back to School: Camping With Eating Machines

The thing about going camping with two teenage boys is that you begin to realize that there is a thin line between sanity and insanity. Tea Lake campground at Algonquin Provincial park is a quiet place to get away for that last week of summer, just before you don't go back to school. It was there I spent 5 nights with The Kid and his cousin.

It's a 12 hour drive from Cincinnati to Algonquin, and for once I was grateful for
iPods. Not being into the sort of tunage that teenage boys are, I didn't drive them crazy with Jimmy Buffett, and they didn't drive me crazy with the likes of White Stripes.

The funny thing about teens is that they can find stuff to do no matter where they are. My nephew was absolutely sure he was going to catch a fish while we were there and to honor that hope, I brought along three sticks of butter that we were going to use to fry them up over an open fire. Needless to say, the fish eluded us all week.


The first time we went to Algonquin, The Kid bailed on a camping trip that involved paddling. We of course had to take our cousin to show him the wonders of camping from a kayak at the ranger station. It seems kayakers are required to take toilette "kits", not the kind you're thinking about, along on the boats. They were both glad we had vault toilets in the campground. It's the simple things in life.

WARNING: One cooler and
three crates of food is not enough for two teenage boys who have played hard all day. Why do boys eat so much?

With that idea I'll leave you with an eating machine food hit.


Campground Nachos
In the following order place these ingredients on a large square of foil:


  1. A mix of Mild Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, Pepper Jack
  2. Sliced Black Olives
  3. Canned Salsa
  4. Corn Chips, Tostitos work best
  5. Another large square of foil

then

  1. Crimp foil edges together to form a foil package.
  2. Place foil package on the open fire, provided you got the fire started in the first place.
  3. Wait until you hear sizzling.
  4. When you hear sizzling, remove from fire.
  5. Flip foil package over on large platter so the cheese is now on the top.
  6. Peel back foil.
  7. Feed eating machines.
  8. Start next batch.