Camping was awesome. I will try to post pictures later (I need to get all my photos moved to my laptop so I can do that kind of thing). The weather was gorgeous during the day Saturday and Sunday, and we got to go canoeing and hiking through the red and white pines, birch, spruce and aspen trees. The first night was cold (I think it got down into the 30s), but the second night was cool but comfortable. And it didn’t rain before we got everything packed up, even though the forecast said 80% chance of rain and thunderstorms today. So that was awesome.

The loons were crazy, yelling at each other at night, and diving in one place and coming up in a totally different one during the day. Loons are really interesting birds – they have a hard time taking off flying, and aren’t at all good on land. Read more here. After hearing them at night, I can understand why people are creeped out by their calls or think they make a lonely sound. I totally agree. We didn’t see much other wildlife, though – just the loons, some crows and bunnies and LOTS of squirrels. Very friendly (or aggressive, depending on your point of view) – they were running around in our camp all weekend, picking up crumbs and seeds and stuff and chattering at each other.

We put our Pie Irons to really good use this weekend too. We made apple and cherry pies, breakfast sandwiches with eggs, bacon and cheese, and Elvis sandwiches (I hadn’t heard of them before, but everyone else was familiar with the name) with peanut butter, bananas and honey. And we made potatoes and carrots in them the first night, to go with the brandy-marinated arm roast (which was a HUGE hit – thanks, Aunt Janice!). We have decided that we want to try camping for a weekend and doing something with the pie irons for every meal for the weekend. Like dutch oven chili and pie iron corn bread one day, and hot ham and cheese, or sloppy joes or something for lunch. And they are the best kind of cooking utensils – you just wipe them out with a dry paper towel. In fact, you AREN’T SUPPOSED to get them wet/wash them. Awesome.

Anyway, Ryan and I are super-sore from all the canoeing and hiking (and eating), so I think I’m going to call it a night and head to bed.