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On the road in Eastern Washington

Posted at 5:44 PM on August 14, 2008 by Paulette Thompson (2 Comments)

I have a developed an awful summer cold after having gone camping on Lake Roosevelt (Colville Reservation). I have no regrets. I attended our annual Northwest Regional Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (plus families and friends) Campout.
I carpooled with my friends Scott and Joana. It was a 6-hour trip.

The campout is held in a different Northwest location every year. It is hosted on a rotating basis by one of the local Returned Peace Corps groups in our region. This year there were only 35 people present.
The group hosting the event is responsible for providing Saturday dinner to everyone. Saturday night dinner this year was chili, both vegetarian and meat. There was plenty of cornbread available plus different vegetable salads. There was rice and a few curries, too. One item, a Southern African starch, took four hours to prepare.
Dessert? Chocolate cake, rice krispy treats, a plum crumble, raspberries, and grapes.

Sunday breakfast is always provided by the the Idaho group. They make the best pancakes, usually with huckleberries. This year there weren't any because the huckleberry harvest was late! Along with the pancakes and different kinds of syrup, you are welcome to help yourself to coffee, fruit, and Basque chorizo from Idaho or beef sausage. The sausage is cooked in a metal contraption right on the fire.

How did I manage on my own foodwise? Not completely local. As it was going to be hot, I packed easy to assemble food. I packed some granola, dried fruit and nuts, and Kettle chips(local). In my cooler I placed two frozen bottles of water, two frozen containers of yoghurt, a sandwich for when we arrived on Friday night, iced coffee (frozen), and bagels (local, with Nancy's cultured cream cheese).

Sam from Idaho made sure that everyone had coffee every morning.

On the way back home, we kept stopping to check out the produce. Incredible cherries, peaches, nectarines, and other fruit, oh my! Scott and Joana really wanted corn. Unfortunately Joana and Scott were not successful in finding the corn of their dreams in any of the places we stopped.

The scent of the peppers, even bell peppers, was so intoxicating. They smelled as wonderful as peppers did when I lived in Morocco. I bought a few.
Although I bought enough cherries to freeze, I gave half to my parents and have already eaten most of them. I also gave them nectarines, onions, and tomatoes.

Next summer our Peace Corps groups will be the hosts of the campout. We have to figure out what we are going to serve for Saturday night dinner. What did we serve the last time we hosted? Couscous!

Comments (2)

Hi Paulette!

Sounds like it was a fun camping event! I just read in the Boise paper that the huckleberry harvest is just now coming into season and I guess it is going to be a banner year. Of course, one has to know where to find them and the columnist claimed that you had to drive to almost Montana to find 'em so I take that to mean that most people don't share their huckleberry bush locations!

Posted by Scott | August 18, 2008 6:26 AM

Scott,
It was a wonderful camping trip. Fortunately for us, we missed fires that have been raging that way now.
When do you head for Minnesota?
Paulette

Posted by P. Thompson | August 21, 2008 3:52 PM