What We ate: Our 10-year Anniversary Camping Trip

My husband and I recently celebrated ten years married. Because we were married so young, living in a virtual shoebox on the west side of Toronto, and we got married fairly quickly (we wanted to get married before I was done culinary school so we didn’t get separated), we didn’t have time to save for and go on a ‘real’ honeymoon- at least not anything substantial. We went to a little 3-day yoga retreat in the Berkshires in late-October. It snowed and we were stuck inside for most of it, so where it was nice- it wasn’t exactly what we had pictured. We decided we’d save for a big European vacation, traveling through the picturesque seaside towns of Cinque Terre, Italy, for our ten-year Anniversary- our ‘real’ honeymoon.

And then COVID.

Almost as soon as we booked our flights, they were cancelled- never in a million years did we picture our ten year anniversary in the middle of a global pandemic, but here we are- so we decided to make the most of the occasion and go away sans kiddos (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa) to the woods, about 45 minutes away. Safe, distanced- and truly everything we could have asked for. This girl doesn’t need fancy hotels or candlelit dinners (though ironically we did get many of those)- give me a tent, a canoe and a good trail and I am happy as can be.So I thought I’d share a few peeks of our 5 days away, what we ate, how we explored on our little 10-year Anniversary camping adventure.

We’re off!

We dropped the kids with grandma, grabbed a sandwich for lunch and headed to the campgrounds.

Once we set up our tent and cooking area, I set up the fire pit and we sat with spiked seltzers, read and chilled for a bit (I started by re-reading Wild, which felt fitting, for this trip!).

Once we had the fire going, we put dinner on- steaks (I scored these grass fed steaks at Aldi for only $9.99/lb), corn on the fire and lazy man’s caesar (romaine and caesar dressing)

It was PERFECT. We also had s’mores- no pictures, it was dark!

The next morning, I used the rest of the steak to make us steak and eggs (we cooked over both the fire and a little camping stove- this is the one we have)- but not before I had two cups of coffee first thing. Ahhhhh.

We decided to head off on a short hike (we did 5 miles) before we were supposed to have some hurricane-level rain and wind (New England in August, for you!). I packed us a couple of juicy peaches for some mid-hike fuel.

When we got back, we made up some sandwiches (and a beer- it was vacation, after all) and decided to pack for the night- just in case.

It ended up being more windy than anything, but chips and guac and tacos were not a bad move!

Early the next morning we headed back to camp, I made us up bagels (Trader Joes Gluten-free Everything) and cream cheese (Nancy’s- my fave) and we grabbed coffee on the way back.

SO glad to be back outside.

We had planned on renting a canoe, that morning- but the camp store was closed due to lack of power (winds!) so we decided to head out on our longest hike of the week- 11.5 miles.We packed up the goods!Sandwiches + chips for lunch, LOTS of water + liquid IV for hydration, and a ton of snacks- meat sticks, fruit, date and nut bites, clif bars. Always best to be prepared and fueled, in my book.

We set off and about an hour in, we were a little hungry so we each grabbed a Chomps to tide us over.

A couple hours later, we found a few stumps and hungrily enjoyed our sandwiches, about 5 miles in.

And we continued! Lots of water, and beautiful views to boot.

An apple for a snack to get me through the last few miles…

Nick found some wild blackberries, though we decided not to take a change at a Romeo-and-Juliet-style fate 😉

And… surprise! My hubby surprised me with a new wedding band- my engagement ring has been lost for over a year now, and I haven’t had a proper band for a decade. Not a bad way to finish off nearly 12 miles (5 hours!) of hiking!

Of course, we celebrated with something icy cold– milkshakes from the shop down the road, before heading back to our camp.

We came back and relaxed, and since we had milkshakes around 5, we weren’t hungry until a little later– so tacos in the dark it was!

We kept it simple- ground beef with taco seasoning, salsa, guac, cheese and chips. We each had a few of these- we were hungry!

The next morning started much like the first- two mugs of coffee and reading by the fire.

Then I gathered the leftovers from the night before and threw together breakfast tacos for breakfast before we headed out for a canoe!

We packed up some drinks and a cooler with a picnic lunch and ended up canoeing around for over 6 hours. It was a beautiful day on the lake!

We stopped off partway for a little picnic.

Hummus and snap peas, cheese, crackers and salami.

And then for our last night’s dinner, we made up an easy one- hot dogs over the fire, bagged salad mix and fire- roasted eggplant (from the previous week’s farm share)- plus more s’mores and some stargazing.

(MUCH tastier than it looks!)

Our last morning we had a slow one before packing up- coffee, fire-toasted bagels with the last of the eggs, cheese and spinach.

(New book- absolutely loved this one!)

It was finally time to pack up and head home- we stopped for lunch on the way home before picking our kiddos up (we had an easy rotisserie chicken and salad dinner because we were pretty wiped!).It was every bit as perfect as we had hoped- and the food was good, too!Tell me over on Instagram: what are your favorite camping meals?