We slipped away this week for a few days and went camping.
We went to South Beach State Park, at Newport. The weather ranged from nice, warm and relatively sunny to stormy, windy and rainy. It was extreme and very changeable! One stormy day, we took a short drive south on Hwy. 101 and saw lots of beaches that would be fun to explore on a nicer day than that one.
Rob and Patsy spent several afternoons down on the sand, collecting rocks. Even on days that were rainy and windy, they enjoyed their time down there. I stayed back at the camper and read several books, sewed, and slept. I had downloaded several books from the library app to read, and took a couple of actual books, too. At the last minute before we left, I grabbed some fabric and my sewing machine and during the trip, I worked on putting together a quilt top with fabric I’ve had for a long time. I also used several pieces I received in kits at a shop hop I went to a year ago. I had decided I didn’t want to make those particular blocks, but didn’t want to waste the fabric. I’ve got a ways to go, but I have a plan now, and am making progress.
I took several long walks with them, went for a drive, and we took Patsy to the candy/ice cream store one time.
Camping is super fun and economical for us. We used our park pass to pay for the campsite. We took food for all our meals, and I packed a picnic for the first day. Lots of our home-preserved food was used in those meals. Our trip was fairly short this time, so we wanted to get down there early. We knew our campsite wouldn’t be ready until afternoon, so we just went to the day use area until it was time. It was funny when we checked in to see if we could get into our spot early. The ranger suggested we drive into town for a “bite to eat” while we waited. I politely said we’d be back at 2, like he told us, and got back in the van, inwardly chuckling. Think that one over….why would we want to drive a 15-passenger van towing a 32 foot trailer back to town, find a place to park it, and eat at a restaurant and then find a spot to turn it around to come back? During Covid-19, no less? Someone else might want to do that, but not us–it was much easier to pack some food into a cooler:).
Last evening, I took one more quick walk down the beach look-out path. We woke up again to a windy, stormy, rainy day.
Rob hooked up the camper while standing in about 2 inches of water this morning. I helped him. The rain was blowing sideways in the gusty, strong wind. Because you have to empty your trailer tanks at the entrance of this park, we put dry clothes inside the camper door, and just changed real quick after we hooked up, then drove to empty, so we didn’t have to stay soaking, sopping wet!
Before we went, I was able to pick several items from the garden to use in meals, and we took the rest with us. I was surprised at how much garden lettuce I ended up with. We had salad every day, mixed with a head I had on hand. Yum! I packed leftovers into the camper out of the fridge in the house and we ate them up. I cooked rice and marinated some chicken for the first night to make it easy. I did some cupboard cleaning while I was camping, and pulled out a basket of food that needs to be used. I ran out of time and didn’t make it to the store for last minute food items before we left. We made out fine. I won’t go again until next weekend, as there is still plenty, which always saves me money when I skip a week of shopping. I have several meals planned for the next few days, starting with chicken-rice soup, which I made for supper tonight. Jake will come over tomorrow, as usual, and he eats that, so I won’t have to run to the store for “Jake-food” for a few days.
It was great to get the camper out. For various reasons, we’ve had to cancel almost every reservation we’ve made, so this was only our second camping trip during the last year. Hopefully, there will be more before too long!
That sounds like a lovely trip even with the rain! I’ve only been to the beach twice in my whole life, and I loved it so much that I literally dream about going back 🙂
Our week didn’t include a fabulous camping trip, but we had a few good frugal things going on.
*We received some food blessings this week and shared with others as well.
*I worked on freezing and dehydrating several things to keep from wasting any of it. We now have 2 jars of dried onions and 2 jars of dried apples in the pantry.
*My daughter helped me clean and reorganize the pantry so now we know exactly what we have and what could use some stocking up.
*I bought herbs from the local organic farm and dried those for the pantry. The spice shelf looks so pretty!
*My husband is working on creating more furniture to sell.
*We ended up with an ER bill this week as well as a surprise need for 2 new tires for the truck. Neither of those were cheap, but we’re very thankful my husband was safe through both instances!
More on my blog at http://cottageonblackberrylane.com/frugal-fun-homemaking-for-october-10-2020/
We love the beach so much! I can see why you would want to visit more often:). We are fortunate in that it only takes a couple of hours, more or less, to get there from where we live, depending on which beach we visit. The mountain pass in the other direction is still closed, due to the awful wildfires that ravaged the area recently, so the beach was the logical choice to camp at this time.
Now that we are back home, I will need to deal with a few more apples–we’ve been drying them, too. I’m glad you got your pantry cleaned. That’s always a great accomplishment! I was thinking while on my trip, that I needed to put that on my list as I do a couple of times each year.
I’m sorry your husband had troubles, but also am glad he’s safe.
Sounds like a wonderful week. Good for you for getting out before winter.
It’s such a strange year. We’ve actually scheduled and cancelled several camping trips for various reasons, so were super glad we actually got to go. It felt unreal that we were actually going, even as we drove there! I don’t know if we will get to go again this fall, or are done, but at least we got this trip:)
Oh, what a fabulous weekend! I would have loved it! I’m ready for a break. Our first frost will be this Friday night so the hoop houses must be up before then and there is still much to be harvested from the garden. The ground is still warm so one night’s drop down to 32 might or might not do much damage.
The winter garden is almost completely out. All that is left are some small seedlings that need another week or two of growth.
Seeing your mini-vacation makes me eager for the quiet of winter.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
I was exhausted. I’ll bet you are, too! I hope you can get things in order (will every job ever be done? I kind of doubt it! But, the things you really want finished, anyway) and then get a break, too.
Oh my it sounds like a very lovely trip!!! I’m glad y’all got to go away for a few days!!!
Thanks! I was pretty tired, so it felt good to rest up.
We went camping over night with close friends and stayed in tents. We were so blessed to be able to camp at the hunting camp our boys go to every year. It has a bunk house and restroom accommodations but we decided to stay out in the fresh open air!! “Covid Safety” It is so beautiful there. We took a couple of awesome walks and fished and paddle boated in the 2 ponds. We took turns with the 2 main meals, supper and breakfast, then snacked the rest of Saturday. So fun!!! And very minimal cost!!
I love tent camping, as well….when it’s not storming or raining! I was very thankful for the camper this past weekend:)
I’m glad you got to go and have so much fun without breaking the bank.
I’m so glad that you were able to get away for a short camping trip. I love how you didn’t let the rain spoil things. 🙂
I guess in our part of Oregon, we often would get to do nothing whatsoever if we stopped for days without rain…at least in the fall and winter! Since I’ve lived in Oregon my whole life, I guess I’m used to it:)