Life in Central Oregon affords us the luxury of day trips to a large selection of scenic places. Occasionally we’ll hit a pub or restaurant, but more often these trips are accompanied by a packed lunch and sometimes dinner.
The one constant in all our adventures is a cuppa camp coffee … or two. Sometimes we cook a meal but regardless the size of the offering we always put the kettle on the stove.
We’ve had the same picnic kit for nearly 40 years. At it’s heart is an old “Frostline kit” with a small nylon utensil bag both gifts from Jack’s older sister. In here is a small ‘billy’ can, tea pot, two bowls, a couple sets of eating utensils, a sharp knife and a white gas stove.
Gear has gotten upgraded over the years. We still have a vintage Svea 123 Bronze stove, but our current cooker is MSR’s PocketRocket canister stove, it is a much quicker set up. Yeah, there is a S-bucks on every corner but our steamy hot mug served up with a view is unlike anything you find outside a chain latte store’s window, It is hard to equal.
The go to recipe on these cool winter outings is equal portions cocoa mix and Trader Joe’s instant coffee stirred into a mug of water fresh off the boil.
We enjoyed an Eastside Pub, Ancestry Brewing, which if you get a chance has great burgers and fine pints.
We try to make it over to the High Desert Museum at least once a quarter, which is how often they change out exhibitis.
The most recent one is a collect of journal drawing from a Japanese internee and it was extremely interesting. A totally unique look at the shameful treatment our government pushed on American’s of asian descent during the second world war.
At Kiyokawa Orchards there are warehouse size bins filled with apples and pears. And not just a couple of kinds. At peak season there are 120 varieties of apples and 24 varieties of European and Asian pears. Plus a bunch of different plums.
We enjoy planning road trips.
