We survived our first night, complete with 40mph gusts of winds that nearly flattened our tent! Now we're off to explore those badlands...
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Pit stop 4: groceries in chamberlain, sd
Beautiful river! Decently priced groceries! Clean restrooms!
(Getting punchy after a long day in the car!)
Pit stop 3: Mitchell's Corn Palace
Huh. Apparently the world's only remaining corn palace, after multiple popped up in the late 1880s. Not sure I would ever feel the need to return, but I'm glad we saw it (even though it was super kitschy).
Pit stop 2: sioux falls, sd
We played at falls park for awhile (which was awesome!!!) and now we're waiting for food at woodgrain brew pub. Rose is a little tired and hungry but overall we're having a great time :)
Friday, June 17, 2016
Success!
It's a bit like tetris, but we managed to fit everything in the car! Without a car top carrier! (Ahem, dad!)
Hopefully we don't get about two hours in and then say to each other, "you know what we forgot...."
:)
Monday, June 13, 2016
let the packing commence!!
In what I'm sure is a shocking surprise to no one who reads this blog, I've been slowly building my packing list for the past few weeks. Finally last week I crossed-referenced my handwritten "extended road trip car camping list" with my old backpacking list, and this past weekend I was finally ready to actually start packing! Woo-hoo!!
Mike, on the other hand, would happily "wing it" the day before we leave, so he was forced to grudgingly submit to my pre-packing planning. Let's just say it was not the highlight of his weekend to be carting up tubs of camping supplies from the basement for me to sort through!
Nor was it his idea of a fun time to have to "play around" with how the bins could fit in the car, in order to see how we could best use the space in my small (read: fuel-efficient) hatchback.
And it definitely wasn't his favorite part of the weekend to see me lay out all my clothes so I could start thinking about what I could fit into my allotted space.
But seriously. Two weeks is a long time! Plus the fact that we'll likely be in snow at Glacier and in 90+ degree weather at lower elevations. At least most of my clothes coordinate (yay for my generally purple, teal, gray and black color scheme!), as I once blogged about before.
What do you all think is reasonable for two weeks of car camping? I'm thinking two pants, one capri, two shorts, two long sleeves, two tanks, three tshirts, and three pairs of socks. Plus rain gear and a light winter coat with hat/mittens. Reasonable????
Also debating footwear. Definitely bringing my Keens. Also tennies? Or hiking boots? Both??? I can't decide!!! (And this is precisely why I like to give myself two or three days to mull it over!)
In addition to planning and packing, I also love to occupy myself with silly little projects like this:
So thankfully Mike is now at the "cabin" with Rose, which means I can fully indulge my love of organization, without fear of annoying him.
Here's where I'm at tonight:
Bin 1 (in back, directly in front of the fire place): tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, hiking poles, flashlights
Bin 2 (toward the front): food, cooking supplies, propane, TP, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, hiking backpack (with bear spray!!)
Steph's car bag (to the left of bin 2): guide books, maps, my kindle, my camera (with extra lens), charging cords
Pillows! (in front of bin 2) - one more is en route from amazon... they compress into tiny balls but are still fluffy and firm when unrolled! I'm ridiculously excited to actually have a pillow when camping, and not be forced to use a fleece in a stuff sack!!
New duffle bags (continuing counter-clockwise to the right of the pillows) - a medium for me and a small for Rose. (They happened to be 50% off at LLBean today!!) I think these will be spacious enough but not too large, and can be easily crammed into odd spaces in the car. Our toiletries will go in our respective bags.
Mike's bag- actually I'm not sure which bag he'll want, but I'm guessing it will be this backpack (which is about the same size as my new medium-sized duffel). (I think we'll skip the totes, Marsha, but thank you so much for giving us that option!)
Cooler - we're borrowing Jack and Marsha's 6L cooler so it can double as a seat, if necessary. So far it holds an unopened bottle of ketchup and a can of wine, but I'm sure it will be used to its fullest over the next few weeks! Also, it's flat on top (unlike ours of a similar size) which should make for better packing in the car. (Thanks again, J&M!)
New camp stove - we decided to splurge on a campstove with two burners and windguards, instead of relying just on our backpacking stove.
Nalgenes (center of the circle) - Mike likes to laugh at my love of Nalgenes, but I absolutely adore them and would buy a new one every week if it wasn't so wasteful. As it is, I'm still using my old one from college which still has its Wellstone sticker on it. Mike has a slightly newer one that I bought a few years ago. Rose has a little sippy Nalgene. We also have a big Nalgene water bladder in the camping bin, and a backpack bladder in our day hiking pack.
Can you think of anything we're missing???
Stay tuned for photos once it's all actually packed in the car!!! :)
Mike, on the other hand, would happily "wing it" the day before we leave, so he was forced to grudgingly submit to my pre-packing planning. Let's just say it was not the highlight of his weekend to be carting up tubs of camping supplies from the basement for me to sort through!
 |
| The overwhelming beginning of the sorting process... |
Nor was it his idea of a fun time to have to "play around" with how the bins could fit in the car, in order to see how we could best use the space in my small (read: fuel-efficient) hatchback.
 |
| our blank slate |
And it definitely wasn't his favorite part of the weekend to see me lay out all my clothes so I could start thinking about what I could fit into my allotted space.
But seriously. Two weeks is a long time! Plus the fact that we'll likely be in snow at Glacier and in 90+ degree weather at lower elevations. At least most of my clothes coordinate (yay for my generally purple, teal, gray and black color scheme!), as I once blogged about before.
What do you all think is reasonable for two weeks of car camping? I'm thinking two pants, one capri, two shorts, two long sleeves, two tanks, three tshirts, and three pairs of socks. Plus rain gear and a light winter coat with hat/mittens. Reasonable????
Also debating footwear. Definitely bringing my Keens. Also tennies? Or hiking boots? Both??? I can't decide!!! (And this is precisely why I like to give myself two or three days to mull it over!)
In addition to planning and packing, I also love to occupy myself with silly little projects like this:
 |
| Travel-size spices made from tic tac containers!! |
So thankfully Mike is now at the "cabin" with Rose, which means I can fully indulge my love of organization, without fear of annoying him.
 |
| Before he left this morning, he even chose to escape to the garden in order to eat his breakfast! |
Here's where I'm at tonight:
Bin 2 (toward the front): food, cooking supplies, propane, TP, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, hiking backpack (with bear spray!!)
Steph's car bag (to the left of bin 2): guide books, maps, my kindle, my camera (with extra lens), charging cords
Pillows! (in front of bin 2) - one more is en route from amazon... they compress into tiny balls but are still fluffy and firm when unrolled! I'm ridiculously excited to actually have a pillow when camping, and not be forced to use a fleece in a stuff sack!!
New duffle bags (continuing counter-clockwise to the right of the pillows) - a medium for me and a small for Rose. (They happened to be 50% off at LLBean today!!) I think these will be spacious enough but not too large, and can be easily crammed into odd spaces in the car. Our toiletries will go in our respective bags.
Mike's bag- actually I'm not sure which bag he'll want, but I'm guessing it will be this backpack (which is about the same size as my new medium-sized duffel). (I think we'll skip the totes, Marsha, but thank you so much for giving us that option!)
Cooler - we're borrowing Jack and Marsha's 6L cooler so it can double as a seat, if necessary. So far it holds an unopened bottle of ketchup and a can of wine, but I'm sure it will be used to its fullest over the next few weeks! Also, it's flat on top (unlike ours of a similar size) which should make for better packing in the car. (Thanks again, J&M!)
New camp stove - we decided to splurge on a campstove with two burners and windguards, instead of relying just on our backpacking stove.
Nalgenes (center of the circle) - Mike likes to laugh at my love of Nalgenes, but I absolutely adore them and would buy a new one every week if it wasn't so wasteful. As it is, I'm still using my old one from college which still has its Wellstone sticker on it. Mike has a slightly newer one that I bought a few years ago. Rose has a little sippy Nalgene. We also have a big Nalgene water bladder in the camping bin, and a backpack bladder in our day hiking pack.
Can you think of anything we're missing???
Stay tuned for photos once it's all actually packed in the car!!! :)
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