Fake Camping

I love camping. Always have. Now that I'm older, and have to pack my own gear, plan my own menu, make my own food, do my own dishes, fold up my own tent, and put away all the dirty gear, camping seems like much more of a hassle.

And yet, I still love it. There is something really amazing about the smell of the campfire and the sticky roasted marshmallows that make globs of dirt adhere to your fingers. It just makes everything in the world seem ok.

And yet, the hassle...Well, I'm here to tell you I have a new favorite form of camping: FAKE camping :) It is awesome. Last night we had our first fake camping experience and it was better than ________ (fill in the blank)!

Ricky and I dragged out our charcoal grill, dusted (and de-black widowed) it, and filled it with wood and old dry palm fronds. Cue matches and the result is a HUGE fire. We were already both dirty from gardening, there was a light breeze and a cool chill to the air, and the pool filter was running and sounded like a nearby creek. We roasted marshmallows and I even burned my socks from the fire embers. It was just like real camping.

Except....

The great thing about fake camping was that after we enjoyed our sticky marshmallows and fire, and when it started getting really cold outside, we came inside! Yea! We put on warm pjs, pulled out a blanket and watched Nacho Libre. It was awesome.

Best. Camping. EVER!

I love how the MC is just chillin' in the background. He wasn't too fond of the fire. The other pics are of my burned socks and me cooling off my feet in the pool. Embers are hot. So are melted polyester socks...Who needs their little toes anyway?

Our jar of marshmallows took a hit tonight. My sweetie wanted me to blur his face on this one because he had marshmallow and chocolate on it. haha. He's cute :)

One word: YUM! Dark chocolate + marshmallow + shortbread cookie = Amazing!!