Paved with Good Intentions: Camp Our House: Black Bean and Chicken Salad

Wednesday, July 01, 2020

Camp Our House: Black Bean and Chicken Salad

We decided last year we would go camping for Father's Day weekend. Thatboy loves camping, and the weather is perfect for it in early June. And then the Coronavirus became a thing and we weren't going anywhere.

When they mentioned that campgrounds would be opening, we had a serious discussion about going. Seems safe enough, right? Except I have some friends in Canada, where they're kicking the pandemic's butt, and I remember when their campgrounds opened and all the restrictions that were put in place. One of my friends got an RV because one of the restrictions was that they weren't opening the bathrooms at campgrounds. No such restrictions were being put in place in California campgrounds. They were open for business as if there was never a shut-down. So we decided no on the camping. (As a side note- we were totally right because less than 2 weeks after opening, we'd already had an outbreak at a San Diego campground.)

So instead, on Father's Day weekend, we found a campground much closer to home - our backyard!

We found that scavenger hunts are a must when we go on hikes when we camp, and earlier this year I had found these "Seek and find" sheets in the Target Dollar Spot and bought them. Lucky for me, they work equally well on hikes around the neighborhood.

Hiking around, you can work up and appetite, so when we got back, we made a little snack - butterfly trail mix bags.

I also pulled out some of our crafts from our camping supplies. The kids had just as much fun making bubble snakes in the backyard as they do at the campsite.

We did some family tournaments, like cornhole and bocce ball.

And a little bit of archery

Another Target dollar spot find were these Backyard Bingo games. (We have roadtrip versions too)

For lunch, I had "packed" us a lunch we would have had a campground - a leaf-less salad that travels well, watermelon, and some sangria for the grownups.

Our neighbors happened to be out of town during the week and we were in charge of feeding their cat and making sure their pool got used, so we spent the afternoon pretending it was a lake. When we got back, Thatboy lit a fire and we all sat around reading by the campfire.

And doing that resting thing you do at campgrounds.

We grilled hot dogs for dinner, and ate them with more watermelon and lots of chips.

And after we had hot chocolate (which is my kids' favorite part of camping I think)

And smores (their other favorite part?)

And then we let them stay up late telling "spooky" stories, which turned into silly stories. We also let them stay awake in the tent whispering and giggling for a while.

Eventually the boys fell asleep, and Thatboy and I stayed awake listening to every little sound - we were both a lot jumpier in our own backyard than in the middle of the wilderness! Our only problem is that the kids have been asking to sleep in the backyard every night since then.

One of the things that kept the whole thing feeling "real" (especially since we had indoor plumbing) was the fact that I did my best with authentic camping food. We learned a couple years ago that the best way to keep our kids happy was to bring mostly prepared food. Either foods that could be eaten cold, or foods that were already cooked and just needed to be heated. The boys lack the patience for true camp cooking. This salad is perfect to make ahead and bring with you, but that also makes it great for picnics - and when this is all over, summer barbecues. Because there's no lettuce, there's nothing to wilt. Rather than dressing, which can get gloopy even without lettuce (and yes, gloopy is the scientific term) there's just some lime juice which keeps everything fresh and bright tasting.