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Category Archives: camping
Pancakes Are Served
Breakfast pancakes.....yum!
Did you see the pancake recipe in the post below? In it are the details on how to make this tasty breakfast. The photo here is how they (should) look on the plate…..and if you do it right (see how it is sized to fill the plate?), one or two of these will fill your stomach way past lunchtime.
You have got to give it a try!
Click on the photo for a larger view.
Camping: Plymouth, CA
and another thing about camping: you go places you might never visit.
In this case, I am referring to Plymouth, CA. It is a small town up the road from SacTown most likely established during the Gold Rush back in the 1800’s. I just looked it up, and here is a good link for more info at Wikipedia. Anyway, they have an RV Park we used as a home base for this our third outing in the new trailer. And this town they call “Plymouth” is a place I would never think to visit.
So we find our itinerary listing Plymouth as our next stop and you know what? It was nice! The RV Park is called “ Far Horizons 49er Village RV Resort” and they have plenty of things to do. Visit their site (opens a new window).
And this time we had some other folks with us. Craig and family, Kent & Wilma and family, Mike B, Ren and I. And Jessie the cat.
#1 Reason to go camping
Sunset at Grass Valley Fairgrounds
There are loads of reasons to go camping.
- get out of town
- fresh air
- visit new places
- hook-up with friends
- relax
and I am certain there are more really good reasons to go camping. But do you know what the #1 reason to go camping is? You can get in tight with Mother Nature and have a front row seat to her nightly show!
When you are out of town….camping…..away from the hustle and bustle of your daily grind, and put distance between you and the bright lights of the big city, you get to see some stuff you might otherwise miss. As an example, do you know there are actually stars up in the sky, and you can actually view them with your own eyes? No telescope required! And, do you know those geese you see off in the distance, flying in perfect formation? They hang out at the ponds and lakes just outside of town. Who knew??
You also have the chance to smell things you might know little about. Such as, were you aware there are actually trees that smell really good? They smell similar to that little tree hanging in plastic from the rear-view mirror of your car or truck…..but better! Have you smelled a campfire lately? Fantastic!
And then there is the relaxation part of camping. Just think, you are out of town, hanging with friends, in a new place, enjoying the fresh air, relaxing while the sun busily settles below the horizon off to the West. What a great way to spend a weekend.
Make plans to join in the fun, Mother Nature is calling your name!
Have you ever tried to walk a cat?
Here is something entirely too funny to keep to ourselves, to NOT share with you. The video is self-explanatory so I’ll just do the setup…..
We went camping RV’ing and tried something new on this trip….we took Jessie, our cat. As I have stated in previous musings, most cats don’t travel well. Ours certainly does not. Her biggest beef is the travel and she let us know about it, continuously, non-stop the entire way up to the campground. If we were in the car, she was not happy about it. The sounds, impressive in volume, were unlike any noise we have ever heard coming out of our cat. I thought it might have been the turns with their side-to-side motion causing the upset. Or perhaps the accelerating and braking was the culprit….I may never know. And in spite of 80% of our trip spent on the freeway with a fairly steady speed, she still let us know how upset she was to be outside the confines of her home. So maybe that was it….don’t know.
But the good news was, once out of the car and inside the trailer, she was one happy cat. Tail up. Nose busy. Eyes alert. This is Jessie looking for fun and frivolity. Looking for something to do. Some mischief to cause. Maybe wreak a little havoc. And, maybe in an effort to prove her Happiness, she was busy the entire time we were there, investigating, hopping up on things, looking out the window(s)….doing all that busy cat-stuff.
And then WE got adventurous and took her outside. Since Jessie is an “inside cat” we knew this had all the makings of something different, maybe even humorous. So the collar went on first. And she was okay with that because we put a collar on her whenever she goes out for fresh air in the back yard. Then it was the leash. This was quite a different story…..it seemed to be made of LEAD! The thing appeared to weigh her down so much she could barely stand up, much less walk.
Happily, I had a camera in hand and recorded the event for all to see.
And now, for your enjoyment, you simply must watch the video…..enjoy!
Step #2; go camping
Please release me, let me go.....
So now, we are camping. RV’ing may be the actual working phrase though. Camping implies we are living under the stars, cooking over a fire, and sleeping uncomfortably on the ground. And that could not be further from the truth! Our existance here is about sleeping comfortably in our trailer, using the microwave to heat our food, and sleeping comfortably (heater working) in our bed. Very nice!
Back to Jessie. Our little girl is not pleased wearing a leash. The photo here is a bit misleading because she looks nearly calm. But you need to know, she is displeased immensely. But, as she adapts to a leash for the first time, and goes camping for the first time, and already survived a car ride (she hated that MOST) for the first time…..Jessie seems to be enjoying her weekend. Who knew??
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Step #1, procure cat carrier
Jessie getting to know the new carrier
Here we go……this project is underway and step #1 is complete.
The on-going quest to take our cat on a camping trip continues. To that end we purchased a soft-sided carrier for her to travel in.
This is the very first thing we had to do; purchase some kind of container to keep her from crawling under the brake pedal or somewhere else and cause a wreck. And since the cat is very wary of enclosed spaces, putting her inside this carrier (in spite of its cloth walls and fabric windows) may be difficult, or really hard. I mean, there is the distinct possibility she will be freaked out forever. Or she will enjoy the trip. One or the other.
Anyway, this cat-carrier was purchased for thirty bucks over at Wal-Mart. It has a canvas exterior, nylon mesh for windows, and zippered access at the front and top. It also sports a metal-tube frame to help maintain its rectangular shape. I am certain over time that will be an important feature. The carrier seems very strong and durable.
For the next week or so we will be trying to familiarize her with it in hopes of a trouble free experience.
Uh huh.
Will let you know how that goes.
Wish us luck!
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the next impossible thing….
Well, we are going to take the cat camping.
This has been decided because the cat is going nuts. Slowly. So instead of going away for our next trip without the cat, we are going to take her with us.
And so it begins….
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