Two weeks ago we went camping for the first time in 12 years. My husband and I camped frequently before we had kids. We enjoyed camping so much we were going to go camping for our honeymoon, until my husband decided at the last minute to book a cruise. Then after our daughter was born 17 years ago we still went camping, although it was more complicated and we only went about once a year. After our second daughter was born camping seemed overwhelming, so we started renting cottages at State Parks instead of pitching a tent. We went tent camping once with the two girls, when they were 5 and 2. Our 2 year old came down with a high fever, and we ended up packing out (in the pouring rain) and cutting our trip short because she was so sick. After that we never even tried again. So this year we realized our kids are 17, 14 and 11, and our son has never been camping with us, only with the Boy Scouts.
We were determined to change that, so we headed off to Piseco Lake in the Adirondacks and set up camp for 2 nights. We found a great campsite which had its own little beach, perfect for launching our canoe.
We pitched our tents and had went canoeing. We tried fishing but caught absolutely nothing – not even any bites. We camped on this lake 16 years ago and caught some fish, but acid rain has badly affected many lakes in the Adirondacks, and it seems like Piseco Lake is no exception. So canoeing was more for sightseeing than fishing. It was very pretty scenery though.
We made dinner on our camp stove and then of course we had to have a big campfire. My son insisted on showing off his Boy Scout fire making skills.
The wood was pretty wet, but we did finally succeed in starting the fire, and then discovered I had forgotten to pack the most important camping food of all – marshmallows. I had no idea this was the most important camping food, but apparently everyone but me knows this fact. So after a trip to the closest store we had marshmallows and roasted them for dessert.
