Tents... Family-Sized

We’re prepping for our big Door County camping trip and we had to make a decision on which tent to use. My parents have a big 2-room tent called the Winnebago. I’m not joking around. That’s really the brand. I guess Winnebago made more than just RVs. Growing up, my parents would take us on these amazing road trips around the country. The Winnebago tent was always in the back of the minivan. It was used more to keep us on our best behavior, because my sisters and I did not want to sleep in a hot, buggy tent during the dead of summer. We wanted the thrill of sleeping in an air-conditioned hotel room that had mini shampoo, cable, a pool and an ice maker.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my old 3-person tent isn’t big enough for the Emmons family, so the other weekend we were at my parents’ house and we decided try to put up the old Winnebago.

Tom and the Winnebago.

Checking it out.

  

Isabelle was having fun!

As you can see, we did it. I even found a brochure for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina inside the tent bag. What you can’t see is it took at least five adults to get this massive tent up. Yes, the Winnebago has had a good life and saw a lot of the country, but it will not go back to Door County with us.

So, I bought a tent on Amazon. We got the Coleman Montana 8 Tent. As the name states, it sleeps eight people. We put it up over the weekend and the massive 16’ x 7’ tent took up most of our upper deck (not to be confused with upper decker). It was pretty easy and only required two adults. Plus, I think you could even set it up alone. It’s definitely for car camping and at $136.86, plus free shipping, we can’t complain if it doesn’t last forever.

Our new tent!

5 More Hours, Please

Jet lag. Those two little words can mean a tired tourist as you try to adjust to a new time zone. Tom and I have a few tips that seem to work when we fly to Europe.

1. Take an overnight flight.
2. Wear ear plugs and an eye mask.
3. Stay hydrated by drinking lots of water before, during and after the flight.
4. Try to go to sleep right after dinner. A glass of wine helps me.
5. Prior to landing, freshen up. Brush your teeth and wash your face.
6. Keep on moving! Tom and I will usually walk and walk and walk around until dinner time.
7. Drink coffee! It might not keep you awake, but it helps! One of my funniest travel memories was when Tom and I were in Seville, Spain and he fell asleep while holding his coffee. That was after a flight when even after taking Simply Sleep (over-the-counter that’s no longer sold) and wearing earplugs, we were kept awake by some Japanese businessmen chatting away... all… night… long.
8. Don’t nap! If you must, try to only sleep for 30 minutes or less.
9. Go to bed at a normal time.

Traveling with children shakes things up.  During our recent trip to Europe, our poor baby passed out at dinner the first night.  This was after napping a lot during the day. I took her back to our hotel room, but apparently Isabelle thought she was just napping again, because she was up at 11:00 pm and stayed up for a few hours. She was ready to play! We were not. Lucky for us, she did sleep in the next morning!

At dinner our first night in Switzerland.

Moments later with a very sleepy baby.

*This post was inspired by lack of sleep and brought to you by coffee.

Pesto Vernazza Style

During our trip to Italy in 2010, I had the most amazing pesto in Vernazza. The Cinque Terre region is the birthplace of pesto and they have perfected it! I had it for dinner both nights and the second night was even better than the first! While I can’t remember the restaurant names, I’ll never forget the locations. In the photo below, the restaurant we ate at the second night is located just above my head and to the right…did you get that? I know I have their business card somewhere, so I’ll have to look. I guess I gushed a bit, because the owner even offered to give me a cooking lesson. Unfortunatly we were leaving the next morning, so I couldn’t take him up on the offer.

So why was it so amazing? The fresh pesto was served over trofie, a pasta made from flour with a bit of potato. It was designed specifically for pesto and I can’t find it anywhere in the states. Tossed with the pasta were chopped green beans and chopped potatoes. It was simply delicious! I bought a jar of pesto to take home and didn’t even think that it would be considered a liquid. Sadly it was confiscated at security.

Close up of trofie pasta.

Since it was October, I had to wait until the following summer to plant basil and make my own pesto. Here is a link to a simple recipe: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/. As I mentioned, I can’t find trofie pasta anywhere in the states, so we use small gnocci instead. I'll also substitute walnuts, because pine nuts are crazy expensive. I like to make large batches of pesto and freeze in ice cube trays. That way we can enjoy it long into winter. A quick meal is pulling out 4-5 cubes of pesto, cook the gnocchi and toss over pesto cubes. Then steam a few chopped green beans and microwave a few small red potatoes (chop after). Toss it all together and in less than 10 minutes you have a pesto Vernazza style. Yum!

Side Note: I have never tasted focaccia like the kind I had in Vernazza. It was simply amazing. I was addicted. Especially the version that had olives on it. I tried to recreate it at home, but it didn’t turn out the same. Guess we’ll just have to go back!