The Great Outdoors 2013

You may [or may not] remember that the last two years, Rachael and I have taken a summer camping trip. If you don't let me refresh your memory:  Here is 2011, and Here is 2012. 

Just because there is a baby on board this year, don't count us out! That's right, we took our annual camping trip again this summer, and Nugget got to come by default. It made things a little more difficult [and i complained a lot more...], but we still had a great time!

We decided to take our adventures a little further North than usual; we went to the Savanna Portage National Park in northern Minnesota. It was quite the drive [especially for rachael], but it was scenic and serene.

As usual, we did some exploring, relaxing, reading, kayaking, and of course eating. Here are a few snapshots from our adventure.

Our humble abode for a few days. It was roomy, airy, easy to assemble, 

and it kept the bugs out!

Our campsite and a little sun

The first of the dinner features. Hobo packs. This was Rachael's genius idea, and it was so simple! Meat and veggies assembled in foil before we left, then thrown on the fire. Simple and delicious.

Thank you to Pinterest for this gem...

Banana s'mores in a cone! SO delicious. A wafer cone, chocolate chips, peanut butter, marshmallows and banana wrapped in foil and thrown on the fire for a bit. YUM!

[excuse my giant man-hands... not my best angle, i guess?]

Breakfast burritos... talk about a great way to start your day!

[thanks to rach's uncle for the camp stove to make this possible]

Per Mike's request, we got an extra life jacket just for Nugget!

One of the 10,000 lakes that Minnesotans rave about

Rachael, expertly guiding the kayak from the back

[she is always up for anything, have you figured that out yet?]

Me, in the front of the kayak

Burgers and beans being cooked over the fire. Mm-mmm!

One of our rockin' fires. 

It hadn't rained the entire weekend, but when we were lounging around the last morning we were there, it started sprinkling. We thought we had time to leisurely put things away appropriately, but it just rained harder. We finally realized we better get moving, and the campsite was cleared in about 12 minutes. 

However, that resulted in throwing everything in the back of the car. Woops!

Thanks for another great camping trip, Rach! 

I wonder where we'll go next year?!