Camping this last weekend at West Hills

This is the shelter we stayed in. The high pitched roof helps keep the heat in, and the rain out. And the snow, although that mostly melted.


This was the point of the whole trip. A garbage can cooked turkey to share with friends and family. The can acts as an oven, with the charcoal providing way more than enough heat to cook the bird, which is impaled on a stake, holding it vertically in the middle of the can. The 15 pound bird cooked in just a few hours.


My boy Jonathan (on the left), me on the right, and our friend Joel in between. Yes, that’s coffee in the mug. And, yes, it’s a stainless steel vacuum mug. With a spill proof top. But not the one I leave at the office.


My other boy, Michael, against the far wall, near the fire. They’re warming up after we sent them outside to do some of the cooking. Which was mostly making sure there were enough coals around the trash can.
We also made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, peas, corn bread, stuffing, and cherry and apple pies, cooked in dutch ovens. The dutch ovens were in the fireplace opposite the one in this picture, in the far corner of the shelter. Between the two fireplaces, the inside temperature got up into the 80s at one point. We had to open the doors to let out the heat.
And the smoke.

Everyone had a good time, and we came back with the same number of boys we left with.

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