Those of you who’ve been reading AOC awhile may remember (from looooong ago) that we own a cute little vintage trailer – a Dalton “canned ham” circa 1957 (or ’59 – we’re not sure). We actually haven’t gone camping in more than a year for a variety of reasons – the main being that our kids are working most of the summer, so arranging things like camping trips takes some doing.
I was determined, though, that we would camp before the summer ended and with the deadline looming (our son moves back to campus today!), we dusted her off and hightailed it up to a beautiful creek a mere 45 minutes away to get our “summer camping fix.”
Brice Creek is such a nice area to have so close – the main hiking trail winds along the creek, which is full of picturesque little falls and swimming holes.
It’s also some of the clearest water there is – we easily saw trout swimming about among the rocks and boulders.
And it’s also some of the coldest. Sheesh – we saw teens wearing bikinis and suits walking down from the trail leading to the biggest pool, but after getting my feet numb in the first 30 seconds, I decided they had spent their time sunning on the rocks and NOT freezing in the water.
Brian and our daughter did challenge each other to dunk in – but I was not tempted one iota. No siree.
We love our little trailer, and we were reminded again how easy it is to camp with. We just load the food and pack our clothes in the closet and off we go.
I’ve learned to keep food really simple when camping. We grilled burgers when we arrived and served them with chips and some fresh salsa I made earlier. Breakfast consisted of fried-egg-and-cheese-sandwiches with fruit and zucchini bread. Lunch was sandwiches.
When we keep it simple, no one spends a lot of time cooking or cleaning up, so we all get to enjoy the camping experience.
The food highlight for me, though, was being able to use a thrift store cast iron griddle on the camp stove for the first time to fry the eggs. Oh my goodness, did it make frying six eggs SO much easier! I’m so glad I coughed up the $17 for it – it was worth every penny.
On the menu for this week is:
Monday – Soft tacos with fresh salsa and baked chips
Tuesday- Slow cooker ribs, Zucchini,Corn, and Tomato Saute, green salad
Wednesday- Parmesan-Herb Crusted Baked Fish, corn on the cob, Sourdough Artisan Bread with Fresh Bruschetta Tomato Topping
Thursday- Chicken-vegetable skewers (brushed with Teriyaki), rice, tomato salad
Friday- out with friends
Saturday- out with friends
Sunday- Chicken-garden vegetable stir fry (made up on the fly with what’s ripe…)
And, yes, it’s still simple ’cause the kitchen work continues…
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
Jami, that is a very cute camper indeed, love it! Great camping, I want to join you some day…
CUTE trailer… we want something like that or even a small motor home.
I need to correct my words here…..what i meant to say was this; the comment
about making herbal oo….and since i cannot find the short article that followed up
on the preserving tomatos in oo…it actually popped up after your video…oh well.
What i was trying to say regarding your suggestion about cooking herbs in oo
for infusion was something many of us have done, only to have the oo with the
herb go bad. I questioned this type of infusion with those that make and sell evoo/oo
with herbs…..they do not cook the herbs, due to the results.
I love vintage campers! Yours is adorable.
Glorious views of the camping trip!
Best wishes to your son heading back to school.
Enjoy your week!
Just bought my first vintage trailer hours ago!!!! A 59 Dalton and I’m so excited. Hoping to find lots of “help” out there as do the little bits of renovation it needs. Happy to find your website.Thx
Wow – we don’t hear of many Daltons out there! Does yours look like ours? The lady we bought if from said ’57, which is then on the registration, but we’ve heard from others that it may be a ’59. It’s so hard to find pictures of ones to help us determine.
Hope you enjoy her!