Camping Again!

What do we like to do with our spare time around here?  Camping is certainly right up there on the list.  Well we only had one free day this weekend but we decided to spend it out in the wilderness.  I wanted to try out a new campsite that I had heard about but it proved impossible to find.  Or just the directions we had were bad but either way we were driving around lost and decided it would be best to just go back to Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness.  We were half way there anyway so it wasn't a big detour.  To make things even more dull for regular blog readers we went back to the exact same campsite as last time!  It was getting late and after being unable to locate the first place we had lost all creativity.

I know this is a dog blog not a cooking blog but who doesn't love a little food porn (FYI food porn is a term that I stole from my grandmother recently- it seems to refer to pictures of delicious foods).  I love to cook and am always at the farmers market picking out fresh local veggies and making new recipes with them.  I recently got a cookbook full of recipes for dutch ovens over the campfire but it was really disappointing.  Everything involved either a can of barbecue sauce or a packet of ranch dressing- not exactly fresh and delicious.  Well I found a recipe for pulled pork in one of my favorite catalogs from my favorite spice company Penzeys Spices.  Everyone should check them out if you are in need of good spices and spice mixes, they are amazing.  I took the dry rub and sauce recipe from them and combined it with cooking directions and some other stuff from the dutch oven cookbook.  It turned out really good.  I am also proud of my packing job with it.  I dry rubbed the pork the night before and put it in the fridge in a plastic bag.  Then I made the liquid marinade and put it in a jar and the morning before we left I cut up the onion.  I packed everything IN the dutch oven that I had chilled in the refrigerator and packed it with an ice pack.  When we were out camping all I had to do was dump the contents in the oven in the right order and voilla!  I didn't even have to touch any raw meat in the wilderness AND I saved space by packing it all in the oven.

Copley demonstrates in this picture that camping can and should be dirty!  Mostly when we are out on BLM land I let Copley run around off leash but as it got more towards the evening we could hear people at a campsite a ways away shooting.  Out of an abundance of caution I tied him up but not before he got some good rolling in the dirt time in.

Kerrigan decided to become a lumber jack.  I fully support her decision.

 Observe Ben setting up the tent.  The only reason I am not helping is because it is a new tent and he "wanted to see if one person could put it up without help."  It turns out one person can.

 

The dogs LOVED cuddling up by the fire but Kerri is not crazy about the smoke coming from it.  Observe in the picture above Kerri hiding from smoke behind Ben's feet.  Now observe the photo series below of her turning from a chihuahua into a parrot.  When the wind changed Kerri crawled on Ben's shoulder in an effort to escape the smoke, it was adorable.  Unfortunately for her after we got the picture we put her down on the ground to escape the smoke in other means because we don't want our dogs to think people are jungle gyms.

 

Look at that beautiful Joshua Tree sunset!  We had such a great time camping.  It was a small group again with just our family and another couple.  The dogs LOVE the outdoors and Kerri is absolutely obsessed with our friends who came with us (I think it is because her cuteness is irresistible and when she gives them big puppy eyes they pick her up).  If I had all the time in the world I would go camping every weekend, being out in the wilderness and getting fresh air is so refreshing.