Camping at DAR

Camping this year has been quite the experience. We have endured annoying people, rain and unseasonal heat but we forge on because it is one of the things we look forward to doing all winter. This trip to DAR, i.e.Daughters of the American Revolution state forest, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts was no exception. We arrived under some majorly dark clouds and quickly set up our tent.

Then it was on to make dinner...which was sooooooooo good! Mixed veggies cooked in veggie stock with corn pasta. Corn pasta rules! It's like having a serving of corn, taste great, and no white flour to add inches around the ol' waist. Win! Win!

Next order of business is always breaking out the girl scout skills and getting a fire going.

In all the state forests you must buy firewood from them. The reason for this is that bringing in firewood from other areas could introduce bugs that are not native to that particular forest, and this could result in major environmental problems. This is always a task...climbing in some woodshed trying to pick out the best wood etc. ...but not at DAR! They have contracted with a company that bundles the wood into these neat little packages that you just go and pick up. The wood is kiln dried and burns great!

Okay so now that the fire is lit there is only one thing to do ...ahhhhh, relax!

I think out of all the places we have camped Keeto LOVED it here the best. There were chipmunks EVERYWHERE and he really enjoyed watching them. He liked laying on his little grass mat and his lawn chair. That is his favorite chair and I cannot believe Elizabeth and I struggled to fit it into the car just so he could have it. That's what you do for your fur kids!

DAR's natural beauty is amazing!

And they recycle!

Okay so let's talk camping essentials, creatures to watch out for and blunders. You gotta know what you are doing when you camp in bear country. We have a lot of bears in our neck of the woods and an encounter with them ain't no joke. They put these on the tables for all those folk who come camping and don't have a clue what they are doing. This is to help educate the fools regarding the dangers of leaving food around and attracting bears. Let me just note here that you must watch out for the crows and the squirrels, too! Each time we camp we see people who walk away from their campsite and leave food on their tables...and each time we see crafty squirrels carrying away hot dog buns and all kinds of things you wouldn't believe they can carry. Crows are really smart and watch you, so the second you leave they swoop down and walk around your site and grab things. A chipmunk once grabbed Keeto's Kong (rubber toy with a hollow center we put peanut butter in)...he made off with it and then taunted Keeto by screaming at him as held the thing in his tiny hands. UNREAL!! LOL

Another creature to look out for...Red Salamanders, they are poisonous!

In camping sometimes you make mistakes that cost ya...this was one! I thought it would be a great idea to add rock salt to the cooler this time to help the ice stay colder longer. Well that was NOT a good idea it turns out. It dropped the temp in the cooler so low that the sodas we had in tin cans all burst! This is a photo of the only ones that didn't explode. You can see how it's all puffed up at the top. Ughhhhh!

So what do you do when this happens?? It is essential to locate the closest general store. This is always a fun adventure in the woods. On this trip, we found the Goshen General Store, and it had everything! And it was super cute to boot! This place was lost in time. Farmers in overalls appeared to be the primary clientele.

Always essential finding where the water supply is. Good job Keeto!

Moving on to other essentials...these you can't leave home without! MUST have bug spray, bite med and the Off clip ons!!! The bugs were a bit crazy this time due to the rain we had earlier in the week.

Another must have...Holy Protection!

A good clean bathroom....you may not always get one but when you do you are so thankful! DAR was great with that and boy were we thankful seeing as the portable toilet we brought (yeah we are prepared like that!) freaking leaked and we were forced to use the camp facilities.

Another blunder....Jiffy pop over the campfire...We have done this before and it worked great but this time was for sure a dud! Nothing like the smell of burnt popcorn (which we promptly took to the dumpsters so we would not attract the forest critters).

On to camp food that did work....Mexican Smores!...as we called them are sooooo good! You take a whole wheat tortilla and add mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips and some cinnamon.

Roll em up like a burrito and wrap in tin foil.

Stick em over the campfire.

The insides will melt into a gooey, yummy treat...make sure you let them sit a minute before you break em open.

And enjoy!...Sooooo good!

Wake up! I love the morning camping time...Coffee and breakfast just taste better in the woods.

Elizabeth made her famous pancakes with hot fruit compote! MMMMMMMM!!!

So what do you do for activity when you are camping besides eating and sitting by the fire (which are my two favorite things!)? You walk down the camp road a piece and see what you can find....

DAR has great hiking trails which are blazed which is what I am pointing out. If you don't hike, blazes are distinct markings used to navigate on trails.

We thought this was really cool...you walked down this path

To this cool "Nature Viewing" site...which was a building with these slits cut into it where you could sit and look out at the area you can't get to on foot in the forest and watch for animals. It was so pretty!!

These are the animals you could see...

We found this grafitti on the inside of the building. We didn't come here before!? LOL

Everywhere you walked around DAR was just filled with natural beauty. We walked a lot which was a good thing since we had those s'mores and pancakes!

Keeto and I could not resist climbing up on these rocks.

Another really unique feature of this camp is that it has a beach on a pretty lake!

But no dogs allowed on the beach : ( Keeto obeying all the camp rules!)

Another activity is walking along the camp roads and looking at other sites. It's always fun seeing the camping equipment others have like the divas with their big as a house L.L. Bean tents or snickering at those ill-educated in the physics involved who improperly put a tarp over thier tent for rain protection...knowing that that thing is going to pool water that will come crashing down with the first vestules of rain. This time we saw something kinda odd...a TINY tent placed at the entrance to a camp site. In the photo it's hard to see but this tent was not more that 2 feet tall and maybe 3 feet long....I can only assume since it was placed at the entrance away from the other tents (Cause who would do that if it was for a child) that it was a dog tent!

I always say I am going to take a picture of the cute little rangers as they are always so helpful. On this trip the ranger came by in his truck and stopped and told us that we could head up to the Nature Center if we wanted to to see a Birds of Prey show. He explained that they know a local guy who rescues these animals and arranged for him to come and show some of these cool birds. Not our thing but thanks Mr. Ranger. : )

This might be a good spot to mention this...so the ranger also noticed when he came by that the people across from us were blaring loud music...he was so nice and explained that "quiet time" was at 10pm and he did not think that these people would be a problem playing music after that...he then asked me if the volume of the music was getting on our nerves and if so he assured me he would take care of it. We said no it was okay...(I will explain more below) and he assured me that if it did just let him know and he would take care of it.

Okay so more on the people across from us...another fun camp activity is nicknaming the other campers around us...so we called these people the "Katy Perry Dance Team" They were BLARING music in a totally obnoxious fashion...totally assuming that we love Katy Perry music..Which we do!! LOL But what made it okay besides the fact the music was good was that we understood what they were doing. It was a family with two young children...girls maybe 4 years old...as all smart parents of tiny ones know, you gotta wear them out so you can get them to bed. Both the parents and the girls (waving around glow sticks) danced all around the campsite. 10pm came and they shut the music off and those little girls were down for the count! Night Night!...I was impressed that the camp really did become super quiet at 10pm (except for the occasional cackling of a girl about 3 campsites down). The rangers drove around every hour and made sure it stayed that way. Another fun activity...playing with the camera!

Well when you go camping you never know what mother nature is gonna hand you...on this trip we only got one good day really before the rain set in and we were forced into the tent for cover.

And what do you do for 3 hours in a rain storm in the tent?...take horrible pictures of yourself and read tabloids of course!

After many hours waiting for the rain to stop we had to make the decision that the rain was not going to stop(which it didn't for the next two days!)and we would need to pack up...in the pouring rain! and head home. Here we are in the car after tearing down the tent and packing everything back into the car. Soaked but happy to be heading home.