An All-Time Favorite - Wallace State Park

We spent Labor Day Weekend at Wallace State Park, which is one of our all-time favorite parks and one we stay at at least once each season.

The remnants of Hurricane Isaac brought much needed rain to us on Friday, so we left home under wet conditions and arrived at camp the same.  

Many of the Missouri State Parks have wi-fi now, but not yet at Wallace, so my computer usage was limited to a few games and the books I have downloaded to it.  Fortunately, we have games, books, a television, VCR and DVD players and other things to keep us occupied when we can't be outside.  Shane even thought to bring the campfire! 

On DVD, that is.

Saturday was equally rainy, so we went to town for something to do, and because I'd somehow forgot to bring coffee and we needed to buy some.  We spent a couple of hours looking in two thrift shops, and an antique mall, with a quick visit to the grocery store for coffee and a stop at Dairy Queen for a treat.  The rain finally tapered off by Saturday evening, and the burn ban that had been in place most of the summer was lifted, so we enjoyed a real campfire.

Sunday morning looked much brighter.  The sun was out and the day warmed quickly.  It was never warm enough to swim, in my opinion, but we did go fishing for a couple of hours. 

As usual, Kat was the only one of us who had any luck. 

After fishing, we went for a short hike on one of the many trails.  It doesn't feel like autumn, but the summer-long drought has made everything look fall-like.

Then we came back to camp to play washers and cook a nice steak supper and enjoyed it at the picnic table instead of inside the camper.

We had a nice surprise Sunday night around 8:30, when the large group parked across from us gathered with three or four guitars, a mandolin and a stand-up bass.  We stayed on our side of the road, but we enjoyed listening to them play all kinds of music, from Steve Earle to Green Day to Merle Haggard to bluegrass standards to gospel.  They were good, and we really enjoyed the free concert.  It was, without doubt, a unique twist to this trip.

Parked at Wallace State Park
Cameron, MO
August 31 - September 3, 2012

The Food - August 29 - September 3, 2012

Friday p.m.:  We knew it was going to be rainy and a little cooler on our first night at camp, so I made a small batch of my basic chili for supper.  We like our chili with corn chips, sour cream and cheese.  We have almost everything we need in the camper -- except for bowls, I discovered.  We ended up eating layered chili "sundaes" from coffee mugs, with some fresh grapes on the side.

Saturday a.m.:  I know that "Toad in the Hole" is the name for an entirely different dish in other parts of the world, but to us, it means a slice of bread with a round piece cut out so an egg can be cooked in its place.  I recently read about a twist on this breakfast novelty -- after the egg has set a little and the whole thing has been flipped, it gets sprinkled with cheddar cheese and topped with another piece of buttered bread.  Once the cheese starts to melt, the entire sandwich gets flipped again so that the top piece of bread browns.  Surprise!  It's a Grilled Cheese Toad in the Hole, or a Cheesy Grilled Toad or something like that.  We ate chunky hash browns and fresh grapes with it.

Improvising a cookie cutter with a travel mug lid.

Saturday noon:  After having an ice cream snack in town, we ended up not eating lunch until around 3:00, and had grilled hot dogs, chips and applesauce for our meal.  We also ended up spoiling our appetite for supper.

Kat learning the fine art of hotdoggery.

Saturday p.m.:  Because none of us was very hungry, we ended up skipping supper.  We had quick ham sandwich just before bedtime.

Sunday a.m.:  I had many good intentions to make this lovely braided breakfast sandwich with crescent rolls, eggs, ham and other goodies, but in the end, I decided why go to all the trouble when I could just cook it up this way:

It was still very good, just not as beautiful.

Sunday noon:  Ah, yes.  We learned our lesson on Saturday and decided to not have lunch rather than spoil our dinner again.  Kat had a small snack to keep her going, but Shane and I skipped lunch altogether.

Sunday p.m.:   Grilled steaks, baked potatoes with toppings, corn on the cob and home-canned peaches.  It had been a while since we'd had some really delicious steaks; these KC Strips were worth the wait.

Monday a.m.:  We usually keep our breakfasts/brunches light on our last day at camp.  This time ham sandwiches were the breakfast of choice, although I found I was perfectly content with just coffee and a piece of toast.

Iced tea was my drink of choice for most of this trip. Beer or other alcoholic drinks just weren't doing much for me this time out.  However, I do want to tell you about a beer we found recently called Redbridge, and is a gluten-free sorghum beer.  It's made by Anheuser-Busch and contains no wheat or barley.  Shane and I both like it.  Shane normally does drink Anheuser-Busch products, but I usually don't care for them much.  I think this one is very good.

Parked at Wallace State Park
Cameron, MO
August 31 - September 3, 2012