Backyard Camping!

After Bonnaroo Music & Arts Fest was postponed and then cancelled this year, Paul and I were bummed that we'd be missing our annual camping trip. We go to 'Roo every year and camp in the guest camping grounds. It's festival camping at its finest — easy access to showers, a coffee bar, and plenty of porta-potties, and just a mile walk from the festival grounds. With that option out, we decided that we should try to go actual camping in actual nature this year instead!

I'm always down for tent camping, as primitive as possible. But Paul is a bit of a diva and complains about the heat in the tent every year. So he invested in a small pull-behind RV, and we're planning to take it to Asheville, North Carolina in the fall. But we had to test it out first! Paul brought the RV home from Nashville last weekend, and we camped out in the backyard.

The best part about camping at home is you still have all your stuff inside the house, and you can go inside to pee. We also had access to our gas grill, so we started our evening of camping by grilling some vegan brats, zucchini, corn on the cob, and asparagus. 

Then, we headed inside the tiny camper to watch a scary movie (The Grudge) until the sun went down. The camper is tiny! Inside, there's a couch that folds into a bed, a TV/DVD player, and some cabinets for storage. That's all!

After the movie, we enjoyed some summer drinks (Crosstown Brewing Boat Drinks margarita gose & Memphis Made Fun lime hard seltzer for me!) and made a bonfire in our fire pit. We roasted Dandies, and I made some s'mores with dark chocolate and Belvita oat breakfast biscuits (I couldn't find vegan grahams at Kroger, but those Belvita biscuits make perfect s'mores).

Am I the only one who likes my marshmallows blackened? I roast hot dogs like this too!

We slept in the camper. It wasn't as comfy as my bed, but it was fun to pretend we were in the woods! And Maynard was right inside the house, so I didn't even need a dog-sitter. 

The next morning, I was super-excited to try out the camper's kitchen. The back opens up to reveal an outdoor kitchen space with two gas burners, a mini fridge, a sink, and microwave. The night before, I packed everything we'd need to make pancakes and vegan sausage in the camper. Still wearing clothes from the day before!

Then we enjoyed instant coffee (yay camping!) with our pancakes and sausage on the back porch. The sausage was quinoa-seitan sausage from The Be-Hive in Nashville. 

What a fun weekend! I can't wait until we can take this camper on the road!