Speaking of Camping...

I just recently celebrated my first Anniversary with my boyfriend Mike. We decided to go camping at the Lake close to town, Brantley Lake. Well, we booked a month in advance to get the best camping spot. It had a gorgeous view of the lake and was really private compared to the other spots. I loved that this spot came with an electrical outlet, a bar-b-q and an awning covered picnic table. Friday morning we went and got all the stuff we would need (we had our tent already), food ice, and of course charcoal. We love to bar-b-q and we got some Angus beef to make killer hamburgers! By Friday afternoon, we were set to go!

Well, naturally, things didn't go as smoothly as planned...

A.- The weather was bad. Windy, cloudy and a light drizzle.... swimming was out.
B. - Worst of all things, NM had put a FIRE RESTRICTION in effect!!! A pretty pink tag that was tagged to our Bar-b-q read "No Charcoal, No Firewood" Great now how were we supposed to eat!

Needless to say we were a little distressed. Here we had booked a month in advance and now we couldn't even eat those oh so delicious Angus beef burgers we bought especially for our bar-b-q! Well after running around the campgrounds to see what other campers were doing, we noticed they had an advantage, PORTABLE STOVES! Why didn't we think of that?

Our fellow campers suggested we talk to the Campground host. (We called them the permanent campers!) Luckily the campground host was as down to earth as we had hoped someone who lived at a campsite would be haha. He told us he didn't even know those tags were there, he made a phone call and then informed us that the fire restrictions went into affect that morning and he was even a little bummed because he was preparing a bonfire of his own!

So how did we eat your wondering, right? Well luck was on our side this time and the campsite host told us that "as long as you don't burn the place down, I won't say anything." WooHoo! We bar-b-qued that night and the next day, thanks to that down to earth campground host. Next time we vowed not to chance it though, we did some research and bought our little portable stove like the other campers had! We bought the Nature's Quest Portable Camp Stove. Just click on that link to see it. It works great and was cheaper than a lot of other stoves we saw online. A definite recommend to anyone who is planning a camping trip, or just needs a portable stove!

So, the moral of this story... don't go camping unprepared!