So for our family vacation this summer, in addition to spending some time in the Shenandoah, we went camping for a long weekend in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Porcupine Mountain State Park.

Our connection to Porcupine Mountain began the summer Simon was born.

Taido loaded up the three big kids + one cousin and took them all camping there. He drove our mini van (pulling a flat bed trailer full of gear) all the way up to the north of the north of the north.

To Lake Superior.

It was 2006.

The barefoot child in the above photo just graduated from college.

15 years ago, these four ran and played and swam and threw rocks…

And experienced the joy of being in this beautiful place.

While I was at home nursing a baby, they climbed through forests and made trails over their own little mountains.

They even enjoyed a little (probably enforced) camp chill time.

They walked the long staircase every day to stand in the freezing cold lake, and to watch the sunset.

And then they drove back home and told me all about it.

But I forgot about this place I had never been to.

Until 15 years later, Taido suggested we go there again. He said it would be cooler in the summertime, and that the drive would be shorter since we don’t live in Arkansas.

So a plan was made.

A long weekend in July was marked off on the calendar.

And off we went.

Again there were four kiddos. Much bigger this time.

And a different set of kids, save Ben.

We drove to the north of the north of the north and escaped the hot summer sun.

We walked the same long stairway down to Lake Superior.

We hiked the same trails.

And found ourselves in the middle of quiet woods.

And alongside waterfalls.

The kids crawled over rocks.

They sat by the river and watched the water flow by.

Now that the kids are older, sometimes we left them back at camp and went on morning hikes while they were still asleep in their sleeping bags.

We walked along the river in the cool shadows before the sun was high.

And we pondered how it is possible that piles of rocks can be so gorgeous.

When the kids were awake we drove as far north as we could go.

And everyone at least touched the ocean-like lake, and some brave folks got all the way in.

And then more hiking!

Porcupine Mountain State Park has miles and miles of beautiful trails.

This trail above The Lake of the Clouds might have been our favorite.

But it’s hard to choose! We also loved the river hike along the waterfalls.

And we enjoyed not having to watch little guys so closely.

I remember when Taido came home in 2006 and he showed me pictures of the giant staircase down to the lake, I thought that if I had been there, I might have been a little nervous about the kids camping up so high. Of course, this time I didn’t even think about the kids running down to the lake on their own.

Though I was still tempted once or twice to tell Ben to be careful.

And after hiking and swimming, we had a little camp chill time.

Napping + Outside = Dreamy Summertime.

This time, no one had to be forced to nap.

We had no cell service at our campground. Such a rare gift in 2021, y’all.

My niece Emily let all the cousins use her drawing materials.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw these boys drawing.

And just like in 2006, we went down to the lake every night to watch the sun drop below the horizon.

The colors were different each night.

It’s amazing how the sunset happens every day but is never the same.

And of course, the kids still got their shoes wet.

And they still spent hours skipping rocks.

Our sweet camping trip reminded me again and again that you’re never too old to play in the sun.

I found this passage about teaching kids to love the outdoors in a Mary Oliver book of essays recently that I just love:

Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones — inkberry, lamb’s-quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones — rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms.

Attention is the beginning of devotion.

(from Upstream)

My little kiddos grew up so fast (just like everyone told me that they would.)

This camping trip was a blessed pause, a moment to see that yes, I think we did give them the field and the woods.

I hope we showed them the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit.

And I will always rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms.

A few details for if you go to Porcupine Mountain:

There are two campgrounds in Porcupine Mountain State Park: Presque Isle and Union Bay. Both of our camping trips were at Presque Isle (no electrical hook-ups + pit toilets), but we drove one day to Union Bay, and it is lovely as well. Reservations are accepted (and recommended) at both campgrounds. There are also several great-looking backcountry sites, which we have our eye on for a return trip. The closest town to Presque Isle is Wakefield, which was a good 30 minutes away, so stock up on ice and firewood when you drive through there on your way.

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A Beloved Arkansas Campground

Dear Longpool,

Just the other day I was going through a box of old photos (a winter project suitable for a string of days of sub-zero temperatures).

I came across this sweet photo of our three oldest kiddos on our first camping trip to your perfectly situated riverside campsites.

It was a gorgeous Arkansas autumn weekend in 2005, the kind you dream about when you plan a fall camping trip but that you hardly ever get. (Many fall weekends end up being colder than usual or more rainy than sunny.)

The temps that weekend were cool enough for jeans and fires at night, but so warm and sunny during the day that the kids dared each another to swim.

The leaves were dazzling shades of yellow all around. We hiked campground trails, skipped rocks into the river, climbed giant boulders, and sat in the sunshine enjoying the views.

At night, we read one of the Chronicles of Narnia out loud around the campfire. Long days of playing hard outside meant the kids fell asleep quick in their sleeping bags at night. Then the adults sat up late visiting around the fire, staying until it was just embers and coals and we longed for the warmth of our own sleeping bags.

Longpool, you gave us such a perfect weekend on that first visit that we came back again and again. Soaking up our old memories and making new ones.

We returned with more families and friends to try to catch the leaves turning the perfect shades of yellow again.

We came back after our youngest was born, and my husband and I took turns carrying him around in a baby backpack. It was colder that year and I remember digging out every scrap of extra clothing I brought to keep our daughter’s friends warm.

She had brought several girlfriends and they spent their days making a clubhouse on an outcropping that they tended to all weekend. Their sweet giggles made me smile.

The boys dared each other back into the river, even though it was cold.

I loved nothing more than watching my kids play outside when we were camping. Far away from TV and video games, before any of them had a phone, they had only trees and rocks and dirt. And sticks. Sticks for beating the ground and using as swords. And then sticks for the fire and for roasting marshmallows.

Our son, Ben, called marshmallows “marshalotes” when he was little, and he would always ask for “one last marshalote.”

(He always had too many.)

My husband would make pancakes for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and various stews for dinner. Then he lead everyone on hikes and across the river to climb the rocks.

We came back in the winter the year after we bought our pop-up camper. We moved to a different loop of the campground to take advantage of the electrical hook-ups. The temperatures were below freezing, but we had a little space heater so we could thaw out at night after hiking in the cold all day. We had to stay moving to keep warm that winter weekend.

Now it’s been many years since I’ve set up camp in one of your loops or kept warm near one of your metal fire circles.

My three oldest have grown up and left home. It’s been a long time since I saw one of them ride a bike around a campground loop.

I can’t remember the last time one of them brought me something they found in nature, a rock or a stick. A frog or a bug.

Longpool, I’m grateful you have so many of our Chino Family memories stored in the earth there. I’m glad that the trees, rocks and river have collected the laughs of my children.

I think any one of them could return to spend some time in your woods and recall fondly the hours they played there.

Thank you for providing a place for their simple, pure, unadulterated joy.

Hold onto it for them, Longpool. I think they will need it some day.

In awe and gratitude,

Alison

The post A Love Letter to Longpool appeared first on Alison Chino.

We went camping at Starved Rock State Park a couple weeks ago for Simon’s fall break and I remembered that one of my favorite rooms with a view is this tent.

It’s true. Seeing the trees RIGHT THERE when my eyes open is one of the surest ways I know to wake up happy.

Also I love the boys being outside on their bikes and running around.

Of course camping with middle schoolers also looks like phones around the campfire.

We spent most of Saturday hiking around the state park. The trails at Starved Rock have tons of wooden walkways built above the ground to protect the ecosystem.

So fancy. You don’t even really get muddy.

The trails have lots of lookouts over canyons and gorges.

Everything was still so green and lush. Leaves were just beginning to change here and there.

But mostly it was all green and blue.

Starved Rock is right on the Illinois River.

Some of the trails run right along the riverside.

There’s a beautiful old lodge at Starved Rock that reminded me of some of the older national park lodges we’ve visited.

They were all decked out for fall, and lots of folks were eating inside and outside the restaurant at the lodge.

We did a second hike after lunch before the rain set in to a different canyon.

The sky was starting to grow pretty ominous. Rain was rolling in Saturday afternoon and we were trying to beat it with one more hike.

We found the waterfall we were looking for and after the boys played behind it for a little bit, we took off to get back to the car before the storm.

The waterfall reminded me of a hike in Arkansas that we love so much at Petit Jean State Park.

Once the rain hit, we went to town for snacks.

We roamed a few shops, stopped in a taproom that had a stack of board games, and waited for the rain to subside.

Then we bought a stack of dry firewood and went back to camp.

Marshmallows and campfire selfies.

Taido and the boys turned in pretty early and I stayed out by the fire for a long time. I can watch the flames for hours, listening to the wood pop and the wind rustle the trees.

On Sunday morning, the sun came out and quickly dried everything out. We packed up and hit one more trail after breakfast.

It was such a lovely weekend and felt so good to flex that camping muscle again after a long hiatus.

I remembered how much I love being outside in my camp chair.

I read a book, I sketched our tent.

I listened to the kids laugh (while reciting their favorite scenes from Parks and Rec over and over again).

When I got home, I filled in my sketch with watercolors.

A happy memory in my journal of some good days outdoors.

Cheers to more of those super soon!

The post Snapshots of Starved Rock: Camping in Illinois appeared first on Alison Chino.

November 15, 2016

Dear Grace, Emily, Wilson, Campbell and Phineas,

Now that it’s been a few months since we all went camping together in Colorado, I have almost forgotten about the rain and the mosquitos.

I almost don’t remember the days of washing and drying a gajillion wet tents and sleeping bags that had mildewed after a week of rainy camping.

Today I am well rested because I slept in a real bed last night, so the mornings of waking up all stiff from sleeping on the ground are far, far away.

And now I can look back at pictures of our week together in the mountains and remember why our family loves to go camping with you.

In a world where we spend more and more of each day inside and on screens, camping forces us into a total reboot.

You have to be outside. There is no other option. Even if you hide in the car for a while, you can not stay there forever. Eventually, you have to get out. And when you are outside, for days and days strung together, you begin to do things naturally that in your regular life are not normal.

You run and shout and play with rocks and sticks and pinecones.

You are not just connecting to the earth. You are merging with it. You have it under your fingernails and between your toes and even in your food.

You are dirty with the earth and you do not mind too much.

You recognize and live within the rhythms of nature when you are outside all day. You notice when the sun comes up and when it sets, you come closer to rising and sleeping by it.

You play with fire. You find the wood, you build the fire, you tend the fire, you eat things you stick in the fire. You warm your dirty toes by the fire. You sit around it and listen to your Grandpapa tell you old, old stories.

Sometimes when you are camping in the mountains, especially with your Grandpapa and your Uncle Taido, you push your body further than you ever thought it could go.

You climb and climb and just when you think you cannot possibly go another step, you catch your breath and take a few more. You do this over and over until all of a sudden you are standing on top of a mountain and never in your life has the world ever been quite as beautiful as it is right in that moment. That moment, hard won with today’s sweat and tomorrow’s aches and pains, is only possible because you came on this camping trip.

You will carry that moment with you for far longer than the mildew smell of your wet tent or the itchy red bites on your skin.

I hope you will carry it for so long that it will compel you to go camping again one day.

I hope you will grow up and take your own children camping and carry on these wild traditions of spending your vacation days being outside together, telling the old, old story around the campfire and getting dirt under your fingernails.

Love you each so much,

Aunt Alison

PS. Here are a few of my favorite photos from this summer’s trip taken by Uncle Taido, me and your mama/Aunt Whitney.

The post A Letter to My Nieces and Nephews about Camping appeared first on Alison Chino.

30 Hour Midweek Highland Getaway

I can already tell that one of the most wonderful things about living in Scotland is going to be that it takes almost no time at all to get out into the country.

Just a few miles outside of the city, the Scottish Highlands are already beckoning to us!

While waiting to move into our new flat last week, Taido and I had the opportunity to escape alone for a night.  My mother is in town and volunteered to stay with the kids while we did a bit of exploring.

Beautiful weather + Moss covered ground + The River Dee = Magical!

We bought food at the market and had picnics for lunch and dinner by The River Dee.

Before our walk into the woods, we made a couple of stops in the small villages of Ballatar and Braemar.  We toured The Royal Lochnagar Distillery and collected information about the area from visitor centers.

Having done very little research prior to setting out, we asked for and received helpful information about where we could hike in and camp (called wild camping in the UK) for the night.

After walking through this beautiful country for about 4 miles, we pitched our tent right by the river.

Camping in the Highlands has been one of those moments we’ve dreamed about ever since we first started planning our move to Scotland, and it did not disappoint.

We had shockingly good weather, as everyone we met pointed out, It’s such a perfect day for a walk!

The whole outing was impossibly idyllic.  Truly.  Following the river over heather covered hills and such.

The days are still long, so after we pitched our tent, we were able to read until late, enjoying our little corner of lovely.

The next morning, we hiked out in the most beautiful light.

I love morning in the mountains.  The way the sun comes up and the hills gradually turn golden in the light is dreamy to me.  We hiked from shadow to sunlight and back into shadow again.

I never get tired of it.

We didn’t bring anything for cooking, since it was such a short trip, so we searched out coffee in Ballatar.  We were glad to find it at this little place called The Bothy, which we quite enjoyed.

We took our time drinking coffee and eating scones.  We planned our drive home to make a couple more stops, one at Crathes Castle, which we loved!

And now that we’ve got our camping gear used to the Scottish soil, I hope it won’t be too long before we venture back out again.  This time with the kids!

They were not happy when I said, Hey look, kids, Dad and I slept by this river last night!

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2 families, 4 days, 3 nights, 15 miles, 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

This summer our family hiked from Aspen to Crested Butte with another precious family. Read about our first day on the trail here.

Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 2

Before the sun was up, Taido was gone from his sleeping bag. I heard a noise, so I came out of my mummy bag enough to see that he was gone. I said a little prayer and tucked my head back inside my sleeping bag, hidden away from the cold mountain air.

I woke up later to full light, and still there was no stirring in the camp. I got up and went and found the food, secured away from camp in case of bears. I dragged our three stuff sacks full of food back into camp and pulled out the sausage, eggs and biscuits.

The eggs had been cracked the week before into a Nalgene bottle, and then frozen, so they were still thawing out, as was the sausage.

I was about to get water from the creek for coffee when Bobby came out of his tent.

Morning.

You know how it’s sort of awkward to see people in the morning before you’re all put together. Yeah, there’s none of that on a backpacking trip. Grooming is a faint memory you leave at the trailhead.

We exchanged pleasantries and then he headed into the woods.

Meanwhile, Taido wandered back into camp.

Nothing had been taken from the trailer and he had gotten the padlock on, but he hadn’t found his phone.

Discouraged, we were beginning to discuss what was the most unfortunate, the cost or the hassle, when he decided to have a last look by the creek.

We walked over together because we needed water anyway. And about a foot out of the creek, lying face down in the mud on the trail was his phone.

He picked it up, wiped it off and turned it on. I was trying to figure out what grain we had in our gear that we could put it in. Oatmeal, maybe?

But the phone totally came on and worked perfectly fine. His battery was not even low. Seriously, sometimes I think Taido is channeling Ferris Bueller. Had it been my phone, I’m sure it wouldn’t have turned on and the screen would have been cracked.

Bobby came back into camp and offered to help us cook breakfast. We got everything started before Taido told him the story.

Well, I guess you’re all warmed up for the day.

As everyone else started to wake up and wander over for breakfast, they could not believe that Taido had already been to the van and back that morning.

We took a long time eating breakfast and breaking camp. It was 9:30 before we had our packs loaded and were back on the trail.

We stopped for a few pictures of our pretty spot before we started hiking.

It made a world of difference to everyone to have had a good night’s sleep. Or at least some sleep. We brought Thermarests for everyone, and even carried extra thick ones for Bobby and Rhonda, but when we threw them into the tents, we neglected to mention that in addition to unrolling them and letting them inflate with air, you also have to blow on them and close the valves. Whoops!

Oh well, you are not going to BELIEVE how great those mats feel tonight!

The girls had also slept on flattened mats. Details.

Still, Bobby had a great attitude and kept saying that he felt like a new man this morning! Everyone’s spirits were up for the first hour or two on the trail.

We hiked through gorgeous wildflower fields. I have never seen the flowers like they were this year in Colorado. Fields and fields of red, yellow and my favorite…the purple, white and yellow Columbine, which is the Colorado state flower. ($500 fine for picking one)

There were very few other hikers on the trail to East Maroon Pass, so we got really excited when we saw one. On this particular morning we met an older man who hikes this trail alone every year on his birthday just to see the Columbines. So Bobby had to ask what birthday he was celebrating. It was his 88th.

It was wonderful to have Bobby on the trail, because he has never met a stranger, so we got to hear stories from many of the other hikers, and we were always the most inspired by folks who had been hiking the mountains for years and years like this guy.

By 11am the bright sun seemed to make our packs heavier, and our trail started to gain in elevation a little more. We were all growing weary and hoping for a lunch break, but we had a short Packs Off break instead.

Packs Off means you get to take your pack off and sit down for a minute. The kids beg for these breaks, but usually we just stop long enough to pass around water bottles and catch our breath.

I think our slower pace was most painful for Bailey and Cole, who had: A. Boundless Energy and B. Excessively Heavy Loads.

Lots of stopping and going slow meant they had to carry their loads for longer, so every once in a while Taido would let them go ahead and tell them to stop when the trail met the river and they would take off like racehorses who’ve been set free. Then when we got to them they would have been waiting 30 minutes for us to reach the Packs Off resting point. This didn’t happen very often since Taido likes for everyone to stay together on the trail, but occasionally while we were hiking or at the end of the day when it was time to scope out a camping spot, he would let them ahead.

Most of the time Rhonda, Simon and I were at the head of the pack, setting the steady, slow pace.

Somewhere along the trail, Mary Polly’s boots began to fall apart. The soles were cracking at the heels. Taido roped them up to hold them together. (Note to self: Don’t by Dunham boots again.)

We were really beginning to slow when Taido said we could stop for lunch after we reached our first river crossing. Always reading the TOPO maps, he knew that we would soon reach a spot where we had a fairly significant crossing and that after we reached it, the trail was going to get pretty steep.

Taido once almost drowned on a Colorado river crossing, so I tend to get a little nervous about freezing cold rushing water. I was trying to remain calm as we got closer. We could hear the water before we saw it.

It’s so hard to tell in pictures how fast the water is going, but it looked and felt like it could easily sweep me away on a normal day, but today I was extra tired and my pack was burrowing into my shoulders, making little bruises on my collarbones, so it seemed like it wouldn’t take much to knock me over.

We all put on our sandals and tied our boots onto our packs.

I watched Taido cross first, using his trekking poles to make sturdy steps in the current. Then he dropped his pack and came back across for Simon. After Simon was safely on the other side, the rest of us crossed with Taido or Bobby in the water steadying us with their hands. They had to get out after every person to let their feet thaw.

Being tired makes me emotional anyway and watching Simon hang on to Taido’s neck sort of undid me. When it was my turn to cross, I gritted my teeth and went as quickly as I could, but then I kind of fell apart when I stepped out. It was soooooo cold. I know it sounds dramatic, but I really felt like my feet were never going to get warm. I was just sort of paralyzed once I got over to the other side and then I was super teary watching everyone else cross. Bobby carried Rhonda’s pack over for her, and then he went back to help her cross.

.

They were the last ones over. Even though there was only steep rocky trail after we crossed, we all found places to sit down, so Taido went ahead and pulled out lunch. We had bagels and peanut butter, Pringles and M&Ms. It was a relief just to sit, even though we were all perched awkwardly on rocks.

We needed a minute to recover, and we were trying not to think about how much the trail in front of us seemed to be going up, up, up.

So after we ate and pumped water back into all our water bottles, up we went.

It was slow going from the beginning. Normally when hiking, we start early enough to be at our next spot by 1 or 2 in the afternoon, but since we’d gotten a late start we were having to hike a bit later. It was hot in the sun, and we were having more trouble breathing. I started in pretty quickly on counting steps to get up the steep parts. Counting about 25 steps and resting for 5 breaths. I’ve mentioned before that this is how you get up a mountain when the altitude is too much.

I told Rhonda to stay with me and I would count out our steps. She was not buying into the five second standing stop. But I had a little Simon, Mary Polly, Blair and Ben parade behind me keeping my exact pace, marching out 25 steps at a time.

Mary Polly’s boot situation kept getting worse and worse. One of her soles came off completely and she was carrying it and hiking lopsided.

Simon kept stopping and crying. His backpack was a little too big and the irritation of it flopping on his back was bothering him more than the weight of it.

Mary Polly was fed up with her boots, Simon was fed up with his pack, and Rhonda was fed up with going uphill.

When Bobby told her she was too far from the van to turn back now, she said that she guessed she was just going to have to die in the mountains.

Good thing it is so pretty here. It’s a good place to die.

She was dead serious.

Bobby and Bailey (her husband and son) stayed right with her, encouraging her and standing her back on her feet each time she stopped to rest.

It was a loooong afternoon. When we were getting close to another river crossing, Taido said to start looking for places to camp. Pretty soon we found what might have been my favorite spot we camped. We had just come through a field of fallen trees, so the view was clear to the mountains. The trees were all bent over from (we think) an avalanche and it was just sort of an amazing natural phenomenon to see. New trees were growing amidst the graveyard of fallen trees. The trail had been re-routed around some of the bent limbs.

Once we pulled off the trail and collapsed on the ground to rest, we saw Bailey coming through the trees with an extra backpack. This was so sweet to me. How many times have I needed a little help with my load for that last half mile?

And soon enough, relieved from her pack, Rhonda came walking in to the campsite, followed by Bobby. The kids all started setting up their hammocks and Bobby started on their tent. Rhonda immediately got into it and went to sleep. She couldn’t wait to try out her mat once it was really inflated! Plus she was wiped out. We all were. It had been a long uphill afternoon and everyone wanted to just put their feet up.

We set the tarp up and enjoyed an afternoon of sleepy card games and reading. Mary Polly and I put our Thermarests into some handy dandy chair kits and sat in the shade to cool down and finish off the M&Ms.

It was lovely to not be rushed to fix dinner and to enjoy the afternoon.

Lazy hours in the mountains = Best part of camping.

Taido had grilled, sliced and frozen the chicken that we were carrying, so we just wrapped it in tortillas with beans and cheese and warmed them in the skillet for dinner. Rhonda got back up for dinner and we all ate A LOT.

We played a couple rounds of Killer and shared our highs and lows from the day (found my phone, my boots fell apart, my son carrying my pack…) before Rhonda went back to bed, and then Simon fell asleep in the middle of the tarp.

We were cleaning up camp and talking when Taido told us that we needed to start really early the next day because it was going be a long one.

Longer than today? I thought.

We have to gain twice as much elevation tomorrow as we did today in order to reach the pass. And I’d like to be over the pass by lunchtime.

Then he told us he wanted Rhonda’s pack to be practically empty and that Simon wasn’t going to carry his at all.

Also, we were going to start the day with a river crossing.

Thinking about getting into the freezing cold water first thing in the morning made me shiver in my sleeping bag. So I tried not to think about it. The stars were incredible that night. I was marveling up at the gazillions of bright little lights and thanking God for every mile hiked and every flower seen.

When I thought about how much we’d seen already in just two days, I could hardly take it in.

Read Day 3 here.

The post Aspen To Crested Butte: Day 2 appeared first on Alison Chino.

2 families, 4 days, 3 nights, 15 miles, 3,000 feet of elevation gain.

I had a revelation along the way last week in the mountains. Well, several actually, but the first one was this.

I really love backpacking.

Seriously.

Taido goes backpacking a lot. Three of our kids have been with him at least once.

But I had not strapped on a pack and headed into the woods for more than a long day hike in (ready for this?) 17 years.

What?

How is it that I have gone that long not doing something I love so much?

I’ve done a lot of family camping. In pop ups. In tents. Near the cars. And the bathrooms.

But backpacking is a different animal, y’all.

Backpacking is camping in its purest form.

Stripped down. Bare necessities.

Bring only what you can carry.

Friends, for me? That ain’t much. I think I weighed in at around 35 pounds.

Fortunately for my friend, Rhonda and I, we have husbands and sons who can heft closer to 75 pounds.

I’m unashamed that we had to rely on these men for our food and shelter.

In fact, nothing can take away from how proud I am of us for hiking all the way from Aspen to Crested Butte. Not even the fact that we ran into two different couples who were doing the same hike in one day that took us four. When the first couple ran (literally, y’all, RUNNING) past me on the trail and someone in our group informed us that they had left from the same place we had left from three days ago, at 8 am that morning, I said to Rhonda,

I am not letting that cheapen this experience for me one little bit.

Just think of all we’ve seen.

We’ve fallen asleep to the sound of rushing rivers,

With the stars as our canopy and the moon as our evening light.

We’ve gazed at flowers that only a handful of other people in the world will see this summer.

We’ve taken time to stop and wonder at the colors, the variety and the sheer multitude of wildflowers. 

We have carefully crossed rivers and snow fields, giving thanks for the ropes and strong hands that guided us and our children along.

We’ve sat around a campfire and eaten meals from tin bowls that tasted better than food at any restaurant because everyone knows food tastes better when you’re outside and when you’re hungry from your journey.

We’ve been humbled by our loads and received mercy from our families.  As mothers, we experienced a role reversal on the trail with our children whom we have long served. And it was good for us.  And for them.

And so much more.  The gifts are countless.  Even my greatest moments of shame on the trail have been rendered gifts to me as I reflect on our time there.

I saw what I went to see in Colorado.

I experienced the mountains in a new way.

And that experience is more precious to me than the fact that we made it from Point A to Point B.

I have so much more to share about being in the mountains, but today I am just giving thanks for the journey.  Where in your life have you seen how the journey or the experience is even more precious than the destination?

The post Along The Way appeared first on Alison Chino.

 Happy Summer Holidays, Friends!! 

Are you going camping this summer??

Well then, I think you might find these Weekend Camping Menus super helpful!

Friday Night Dinner: Creamy Pasta, Baguette (torn into pieces), Veggie Skillet (onions, spinach and zucchini sauteed in a little oil in a cast iron skillet)

Saturday Morning Breakfast: English Muffin Egg Sandwiches with Sausage

Saturday Lunch: Sandwiches, Chips and Salsa, Carrots and Hummus (This meal can also be packed up for day hiking!)

Saturday Night Dinner: Beef STEW! Yum! We serve this stew over mashed potatoes. It’s a favorite for sure!

A little red wine, a book and a bowl of beef stew is the perfect way to kick back after a day of hiking trails!

Sunday Morning Breakfast: Swedish Pancakes

These buttery almost crepe-like pancakes are served with lingonberries traditionally, but you can use any jam!

After breakfast, we usually break camp, go for one more hike, and eat lunch on the way home (either sandwiches or a stop on the way).

We LOVE to get outside for a weekend, and these menus make it easy to plan ahead and enjoy your time away!

Happy Camping, FRIENDS!!

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More camping menus here. More about camping here.  More recipes here.  Follow our camping, hiking and travel adventures on Instagram!

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When we’re camping, we usually have our car (or pop up), so we take a grill and I pack my enamel dutch oven so we can make soups and stews.

This beef stew makes a regular appearance on our camping trips. The kids love it. We serve it with a big pot of mashed potatoes, so you fill your bowl with potatoes and then pour this stew over them.

It’s one of those meals that tastes so much better when you are sitting around the fire outside.

Beef Stew

Ingredients

2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 pound mushrooms, quartered
1 pound baby carrots
2 pounds cubed stew meat
2 cups red wine
1 quart beef stock
1 cup flour (plus 2-4 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
More salt and pepper for seasoning
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

In a ziplock bag, put one cup of flour and one teaspoon of salt. Add the meat to the flour and shake the bag until it is coated.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in the pot and brown the meat a layer at a time, turning each piece once. (About 2 minutes on each side.)

After browning the meat, return all the meat back to the pot and add the onions, garlic,carrots, mushrooms, beef stock and red wine. Bring it to a simmer and allow it to cook on low for about an hour and a half.

The stew should thicken on it’s own but if it doesn’t seem thick enough, make a paste with 2 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of cold water. Mix it into the hot stew. Repeat if necessary.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot stew over mashed potatoes.

What’s your favorite meal to have while camping?

The post Camp Beef Stew appeared first on Alison Chino.

A few weeks ago, we took advantage of a school break to go Spring Camping in Missouri.

It rained for a lot of the time we were gone, but I still loved getting away.  The spring rain has made the flowers and trees sparkle with color this year, and it always makes my heart happy to get out and see all those shades of green.

Plus, cold, rainy mornings are a good excuse to enjoy the view from your sleeping bag for a little longer.

We had enough breaks in the rain to get out and hike a bit.

Simon and Ben got lots of time in on their bikes, riding the loops in the campground at St. Francois State Park.

Most of the Missouri State Parks I’ve been to have playgrounds.

We spent one of our mornings exploring Johnson Shut Ins State Park.  Taido is going to take a group camping there this summer, so we went to check it out.

Simon and I have been there before with my dad and sister, and it was just as gorgeous as I remembered!

The shut-ins are these rocks where water gets trapped in all these different little pools.  The kids immediately started climbing on and around them, even though it was still kind of rainy.  They didn’t even care that they were getting all muddy and wet. I do love that about camping.

There’s a great new visitors’ center at Johnson Shut-Ins.  We spent a while watching the films and reading all about how the landscape in this area was formed.

Explorers.

Everywhere we went, I was ooh and ahhing over the wildflowers.  The wild dogwoods are blooming and the fields of yellow were everywhere.  So pretty!

Back at camp, we escaped the rain under our tarp with books and games.  We wished for the sun to shine, but I finished an entire book and we had lots of time for relaxing with each other.

We also spent one rainy day in St. Louis since St. Francois State Park is just an hour south of the city.

All in all, it was a great getaway.  And now that we have our camping gear all cleaned up from the mud, I am ready to go again!

We forgot our cards so we picked up four new decks for Nertz, which all my kids love to play.  I grew up playing Spades and Hearts though, so I’m ready to teach my kids those.   What card games do you play in the rain?

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