My Not So Perfect Contribution to Camping...

So yeah - Back to the perfect camping trip... (See the posts below for the beginning of the story.)

We rolled back into camp sometime that afternoon (with my newly developing sun burn) and promptly set up residence on the conveniently located snow beach. It was so warm and sunny out that the snowfield next to our campsite basically looked like a white-sand beach. We threw out a tarp, put our Thermarests on top and voila! - A day at the beach! Add in the trusty iPod and some much needed SPF 30 and another perfect campsite memory was created. (However, since I’d already gotten a head start on my burn, there really wasn’t much stopping it…Sucky... ) I'd have to say that it felt pretty crazy to be lying on a 'beach' on Memorial Day weekend in the mountains, but that's exactly what we did.

We hung out for a while, listened to some tunes, checked out some more faces on the mountains - basically nothing terribly involved... It was a fine way to spend the day. Paul also used some of his quality beach time to attempt a bit of snow angel action. It was a pretty bold move - he actually lay down in the snow, sans shirt and gave it a go. He handed me his camera, so I snapped a few pictures to commemorate the event. However - OH NO - I just wasn't getting the shot I wanted! Damn! I mean, it was important that the moment be properly represented, so I really wanted to do the extra work to get that 'perfect' shot. Okay, so maybe it took a few minutes to accomplish and this meant that Paul was lying the snow the whole time, but it was all for the art! Seriously… For the art… I mean, it’s not like I did it on purpose or anything… >;-)

Alrighty – let’s move onto the inevitable. The part where I ‘fess up to being a LOSER campsite chef…

So, that night it was my turn to make dinner. Don’t get me wrong – I was prepared. I had everything I needed… I had the smoked salmon, the sun-dried tomatoes, the pesto sauce, the oil… And the pasta. (“I curse you, oh gods of Pasta!” she screams, fist raised towards the heavens.)

Enter: The MSR stove.

Paul hooked me up with some stove action and we got the water going for the pasta. Everything was going allll hunky-dory as I started to get the ingredients together for the sauce. I marinated the tomatoes in a little oil… I reveled in the fact that I was sitting in Pimp Master D’s swank chair… I threw caution to the wind and watched the water come to a boil in the pot. (Thereby dispelling the age-old myth…) I was doing FINE. And then I added the pasta to the boiling water… It was at this time that I officially started to mess with the perfection of our adventure.

I was sitting there, occasionally stirring the pasta so that it didn't clump together. What I wasn’t doing, however, was using the detachable pot handle to hold onto the pot while stirring it. Sigh… And since the stove wasn’t on completely level ground, it would have been a good idea to USE said pot handle… ANYhoo – the next thing I know, the pot goes sliding off the burner and deposits spaghetti and boiling water straight into the dirt. YES! And all the party people said, “WOO WOOO!!”

After Pauly D graciously helped to clean up my mess, I continued to cook the pasta that was left in the pot. (With a little less dignity, I might add…) I secured the pot handle to the side of the pot with a DEATH CLUTCH and moved on with my dinner preparations.

I had brought along my handy camp strainer and was very excited to use it. It’s all compact and cool and breaks down to easily stuff in one’s pack. Yeah, whatever – Paul had his ‘tiny cheese grater’, but I felt like I was definitely representin’ with my collapsible strainer. Hmmm… And it’s interesting that I should use the word, ‘collapsible.’

Anyway – It was time to drain the stupid pasta. I grabbed the strainer, ensured the pot handle DEATH CLUTCH was in place and I stepped off into the brush to drain the pasta… I was ALMOST done draining the pasta when a lovely pocket of pasta and REALLY hot water came unexpectedly careening out of the side of the pot, directly onto my DEATH CLUTCH hand. Suffice it to say the DEATH CLUTCH idea was quickly abandoned as hot water and pasta drained down my arm. And because my DEATH CLUTCH idea had been thrown out, with it went the pasta… Straight into the dirt… Almost all of it… (Insert pasta curse *here*)

Luckily, since I had stepped a bit away from the campsite to drain the pasta, Paul didn’t see the debacle take place. This was good as it also meant that he didn’t see my little pasta temper tantrum after the fact. Yeah, not only had I spilled the pasta, which was our very necessary dinner, but I had spilled it TWICE. And I really didn’t want to have to explain what I had done, but there was pretty much no way around it… So, back to the campsite I skulked… Nearly empty pasta pot in hand… DEATH CLUTCH abandoned…

“Uhhh, I spilled the pasta… Again…”

To Paul’s credit, he didn’t pour the remaining pasta over my head. (But then, I guess that’s maybe because he was hungry and wanted to EAT the rest of the pasta…. EAT pasta?!?! That’s crazy talk! Pasta is meant to be tossed on the GROUND and served with dirt sauce. Yum!) Instead, he very generously helped me get the sauce going, helped me cook the rest of the pasta and even let me stay sitting in his chair. Oh yeah… And when it came time to drain the next batch of pasta, he GRACIOUSLY helped with that task as well. I think I’ve permanently been removed from pasta duty…

The sauce, however, actually turned out quite well. I had a couple packages of smoked salmon that I combined with a pesto mix, olive oil, water, parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. It turned into a kind of hearty, meat-sauce mixture. Pretty tasty, in my opinion… With the rest of the pasta cooked, we finished dinner and I tried to put the pasta spilling incident behind me. Ahhhh… Movin’ on towards sunset…

After dinner was cleaned up, we decided to take an evening stroll through the snowfields and enjoy the sunset. I must say, there is nothing like the pinkish-purple of a mountain sunset. The color of it never ceases to amaze me. Especially when the day has been hot and sunny and you’re surrounded by snow – Just a bit other-worldly…

We traipsed through the snow for a bit, careful of the areas where water seemed to be running underneath and enjoyed the most amazingly fresh air. I love the way the air feels at that time of the year, when you’re in a snowy area. It’s not really cold, but because you’re still surrounded by snow and the sun is going down, it’s like you’re constantly taking in a breath mint or something. I don’t know how to better explain it… It’s just very clean and pure…

As usual, Paul took some great shots of the surroundings. We hiked around a bit more, checked out a grouse that was hanging out in a wooded area… Again, nothing terribly involved… But perfect. On our way back towards the campsite, we came across a couple of hikers and their dog. They were looking for a campsite in the area and were kind of making their way up towards our site. I totally appreciated the fact it was getting late and they needed to find a site, but I’ll totally admit that I was bummed that they might be encroaching upon our perfect site. Plus, I wanted to bust out with Club Perfect again and I couldn’t imagine that our neighbors would be as excited about the idea. Oh well – it’s all good – share the wealth, I guess. They ended up camping fairly close, but they were cool and all was well. And they didn’t make mention of any late-night clubbing, so I guess that we didn't bump the bass that loudly... >:-)

Speaking of late-night clubbing… I had brought along a flask of Maker’s Mark on the trip. In addition, I had put more Makers’ Mark into a boda bag that I brought. FOR THE RECORD, I had never put anything weird in the boda bag. EVER. Nor had I ever cleaned it out with soap… That being said, it is at this time that I would like to divulge my second, non-perfect camping contribution.

Oh, BUT WAIT! I have to take a break… I’ll write more later… Or, maybe it’s that I just don’t feel like revealing any more of my campsite dorkiness… The world may never know… Be back soon!!