Sophie's First Camping Trip!

Last week we ventured out for two nights at Mauthe Lake in the Kettle Moraine National Forest.

We had reserved the tepee, which meant that we didn't have to bring a tent, and we stayed nice and dry when it rained the first night.  The tepee was super fun!  It even had cots inside.  

Our sweet little cherub liked it too.  

This is how the inside of a tepee looks when it's inhabited by a family with an infant:

 Papa Bear made Swedish pancakes for us in the morning.  He also snuggled our baby while she woke up.  I think they like each other! 

We interrupt this regularly scheduled camping weekend...

Karl and I finally had a free weekend, so we ventured out for some camping!  It was lovely.  We grilled pizza...

 

We drank beer... 

 

We shopped for bait...

 

We had ice cream several times...

 

And on Saturday morning, I got up early to drive back in to Madison to go to the annual American Girl warehouse sale.  Karl was more than happy to sleep in a little bit in the tent. 

 

American Girl is based just outside of Madison, in the town where I work.  Every year, they sell off their catalog returns and overstocks at a big sale that benefits the local children's museum.  I usually go to shop for out-of-state friends; this year, I was shopping for a couple of friends way out west in Washington state.  

 

The sale is pure craziness, beginning to end.  And I mean that in the best possible way.  I always look for an excuse to go because for whatever reason, I love it.  Shoppers order tickets way in advance, and each ticket is assigned an entry time.  The earlier the better, because selection dwindles as the day goes on.  

 

Arriving at the sale is like diving into a sea of minivans.  Someone should schedule a minivan owners' convention for the same weekend.  Our tiny little Yaris (with a canoe on top) fit right in.  There is a shuttle bus to the warehouse in case you buy so many dolls you can't walk them all to your minvan.  

 

Approaching the warehouse:

 

Vendors set up booths outside the warehouse to sell handmade clothing and other items for American Girl dolls.  It always strikes me as odd that this is allowed, but everyone seems happy about it. 

Ticket holders are corralled into a big tent and lined up by entry time.  The entry times are every 15 minutes, and I think there are 100 ticket holders for each entry time.  Which means that every 15 minutes, 100 additional people enter the sale.  It works, though, because it really doesn't take long to shop. 

 

 Most people go in with lists, and the merchandise is really well organized.  There is a running list by the door that lets shoppers know which dolls are still available; when one of them sells out, her name is removed from the list.  It's a little bit like The Bachelor in reverse, as presumably the least desirable girl is the last one standing. 

 

The check-out area is really impressive.  Volunteers quickly total up your purchases and ring up the sale.  The sale organizers truly have this event running like a well-oiled machine.  A well-oiled machine with tons of minivans and frantic women, that is.  

 

After dropping my American Girl finds off at home, I drove back out to the campsite to join Karl for canoeing, fishing, and more ice cream eating for the rest of the weekend! 



Teeny Tiny Fall Getaway

On Saturday night, we packed up our little car and headed to Devil's Lake for the night.  Of course, we hadn't called ahead... when we drove into the park, the first thing we saw was a sign that said "Campsites Full."  Fortunately, someone had just cancelled, so we got the very last site! 

 

 

My mom lives not too far from Devil's Lake, so she came to our campsite for supper.  We made tried-and-true hobo dinners, wrapped in foil and cooked over the fire.  Karl also made a pineapple upside down cake, which is quickly becoming his signature dish. 

 

After my mom left, Karl and I took the canoe out.  There was a full moon and the lake was empty and quiet, except for a wedding dance in the boathouse.  We could see our moonshadows on the water.   

We may have had a little two-person beach dance party (our headlamps both have flashing modes; they're like mini strobe lights).  I couldn't help it... the DJ played my favorite wedding dance song, Don't Stop Believing by Journey.  Seriously I always request it, but usually I can't remember the name of it so I have to say/sing, "You know that song that goes, 'Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world...'  Can you play that one?" 



The next day we went for a hike and took in the fall colors.  A lot of people like to rock climb at Devil's Lake.  I just like to walk around and eat granola bars.  

On the way home, we stopped at an apple orchard for cider to wrap up our getaway.  

As promised...

After thoroughly enjoying ourselves in Door County, we drove all the way across Wisconsin and up into Northern Minnesota.  I worked as a wilderness canoe guide for 5 summers in the Boundary Waters, and I haven't been back in 11 years.  It was just like I remembered it... only prettier, if that's possible!  We camped near a gorgeous set of falls; we could even hear it from our campsite.   And we fished a LOT.   I caught a smallmouth bass that we ate!  We spent some time at the base I worked out of, and I was thrilled to share this part of my life with Karl.  I think he liked it; he's already talking about going back next year!  

 

 

 

 

 

We're Back!

Did you miss us?  We just got home from a 100 percent wonderful 2-week vacation!  We spent the first week in Door County (Wisconsin), where we...

 camped,

 



 went to a fish boil,

 

 crammed our car onto a ferry,

 

 climbed up dangerously high walls,

 

 visited my namesake bar (Did you know that my college nickname is AC?),

 

 cooked a pork tenderloin from my mom over the fire (best camp meal ever!),

 

 hung out at a cool old boathouse on Rock Island,

 

and basically had the best time ever. 

 

To avoid photo overload, I'll tell you about week #2 tomorrow! 

 



Garage Sale Goodies

Have I ever told you that I love Hallmark pins?  Maybe not, but I've at least hinted at it.  I'm not obsessed enough to be trolling ebay or anything, but they're one of the things I always keep an eye out for at yard sales.  So when I found this little turkey for a dime on Thursday, I snapped it up. 

I also scored this antique Swedish camping stove for $3.00.  We don't need another camping stove, but it's Swedish!  It says "SWEDEN" on it!  So obviously I had to have it.  

I also bought a Kelty child carrier (the backpack/frame kind) for $5.00 for a friend who's been looking for one.  Sweet! 

I hope your garage sale expeditions have been fruitful!

First Camping Trip of the Season!

Karl and I ventured out over the weekend to Kettle Moraine State Park. We had a beautiful campsite up on a hill. Check out the view! Through the trees, you can see Mauthe Lake.

We grilled a pizza for dinner. Why does food always taste so good on camping trips?

The next day, we made a pineapple upside-down cake in Karl's new cast iron dutch oven.

It was amazing. We were too nervous to try flipping it over (maybe next time!).

Can you believe that perfect piece of cake was baked on a campfire? Please don't be grossed out by the dirty plate. It was round two for cake before I remembered to take a picture.

Defensive Camping

Karl and I went camping in Blue Mounds on Friday night, after a very successful (though short- thank goodness!) garage sale. We drove through the state park first, and it was packed. The state park has a pool, by the way. There were a few sites left, but we decided to check out the county park down the road. It was nearly empty... bliss! We grabbed a nice wooded site and set up camp. Knowing that other people would likely be driving through considering an overnight, Karl did some strategic placement of one particular camp item... can you see it?

How 'bout now?

Here's a close-up.

Yep, he conveniently set his guitar so it was visible from the road. Who wants to camp next to the loud, guitar-playing people? No one. And that's why we had no camping neighbors that night. It was lovely.

Actually, the entire night was lovely. We made a grilled pizza and watched the sunset, and the weather was perfect for sleeping out. We've gotta camp more often!

Good luck with that.

On Saturday, Karl and I went camping. We stopped in my hometown to pick up some bait. I know you want to jump on this business opportunity!






By the way, I caught three fish! We threw them back. The area where we were fishing was a shoreline made up of big boulders, and Karl got one of the fish (a bluegill) off the hook and then it wriggled out of his hand and fell down between the rocks. We couldn't see it but we could hear it flopping around... gross. I'm telling myself that the fish made its way down through the boulders and into the water.

Sorry. You probably didn't want to know that.