Stuffing in a Box

Last night at the local H.E.B, Sean, Kate and I discussed the merits of "just add water" pancake mix and the pros and cons of packaged meat chili meals (The pro was Sean could eat it and the con was that it made Kate want to throw up).

While Sean pushed our cart around, I crossed items off our disorganized shopping list, and Kate found things on a shelf. We were like a perfect little family. We got almost everything we needed minus a TVP meatball solution that Sean promised to conjure up, and Clementines cause H.E.B.'s produce section sucks.

And at 5 am Wednesday morning, we convene in the darkness at Sean's house to puzzle piece our camping gear and food into Sean's car.

And then we hit the long, boring road across Texas to Big Bend for Thanksgiving! We're camping for 2 nights in the desert campground and 2 nights in the mountains. We have more hiking routes picked out then we can reasonably do in 3 days. We have canned cranberry and Stovetop "just add water" stuffing to get a little bit of Thanksgiving over our mini-propane stove.

I've been looking forward to this trip forever. Kate and I have been talking about doing it almost as long as I've know her. We booked the campsites in August.

Just for a little bit of scale, I'll let you know Big Bend National Park is the size of Rhode Island. It is one of the most desolate parts of the country with very unforgiving climates. Weather for our trip should be great though. 60s during the day. 30s at night.

I am looking forward to bright skies, canyons, mountains, quiet and friends. I am looking forward to the challenge of camping for 4 nights. I am looking forward to getting away.

I've been really busy lately. I haven't had much time to just be. And lately, just being has been sad and difficult. So bring on the mountains and the Stovetop!