HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!

It’s Father’s Day weekend – it’s last minute planning – and we really lucked out!

My buddy Brendan called me two weeks ago and asked when we could take his son camping. I immediately jumped online with the Wisconsin DNR to see if anything was available. Trying to get a camping spot during the summer in Wisconsin is really tough. Typically Jaime and I sit down early in the year (usually February) and we plan out our camping trips so that we get choice spots in the campgrounds, and really have our pick of the park. That wasn’t the case this time. I had a week and a half to find something.

I found only two open camp spots in the entire state for this weekend – Point Beach State Park, and Gov Earl Peshtigo River Forrest State Park.

What caught my eye with Gov Earl’s campsite was that there were only 16x total campsites in the entire campground on Old Veterans’ Lake. At Point Beach there was 1x spot right next to the latrine in a highly trafficked electric only site… not really ideal for any sort of privacy, or peace and quite.

Ultimately we chose Gov Earl because it was remote, it was small and secluded, and not heavily trafficked.

We packed up and shot up to Crivitz, WI Friday night and arrived around 6pm and started setting up camp.

The campsite was nice and quiet and we got setup pretty fast and settled in to make dinner. I had just bought the new JetBoil Genesis 2 cooking system and it was time to see how it stands up to commercial kitchen cooking.

PAPP CON SALSICCIA

I made Rigatoni & Italian Sausage (usually I use Pappardelle but it wasn’t available, Rigatoni is a great substitute) and it was pure magic making it and eating it in the woods! Here’s the recipe:

• 1lb Ground Italian Sausage (mild or spicy depending on your preference)
• 1/2 Normal Size Red Onion – Roughly Diced (not fine)
• 3x Cloves of Garlic – Diced / Minced
• 1tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1tbs Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 2x Medium Roma Tomatoes – Chopped
• 16oz Heavy Whipping Cream
• Fresh Basil Chiffonade
• S&P to Taste

Add olive oil to pan and get the oil hot but not smoking. Add your onions and garlics and start to sweat them into the oil. Once the onions show a tiny bit of caramelization, turn up the heat, and pull the italian sausage in little “coins” and place them evenly throughout the saute pan and then add the Marsala Wine. After the sausage has cooked for about 6 minutes getting nice and brown on one side, add your pasta to the salted boiling water.

Turn your sausage coins over so the bottom side starts to brown. Wait about 4 minutes and then add your crushed red pepper flakes, and heavy whipping cream. The cream will start to reduce and bubble nicely – turn the heat down slightly so it doesn’t overflow from the saute pan.

When the pasta is ready, strain it (reserving about 2tbs of the pasta water) and then add the entire contents of the saute pan into your pasta pot. Over low heat – let it absorb for a few minutes into the pasta and stir gently.

Plate your entree and then top it off with Shaved Parmesan, Basil Chiffonade and a couple of cranks on the pepper mill. -Ahhhmazing

We hit the sack, and I slept like a bear! (At least I was told I snored louder than a bear – sorry boys)

In the morning we hit the Old Veterans Lake Loop – 1 mile loop around the lake.

It was a pleasant stroll with a few different lookout points along the way.

It was a short loop, but the TICKS were everywhere. When we got back to camp, we all had ticks on us – including the dog. We picked off at least 10 ticks after that short little hike – so please make sure your using PERMETHRIN spray on your clothes if you’re going to head out this summer. You can spray your clothes once and it’ll last for about two weeks.

Gov Earl Peshtigo River is a part of the larger Gov Thompson State Park. Since it was early, and I’m curious like a cat, we hopped in the car and drove over to Gov Thompson to check out the park and the campsites.

Gov Thompson is a HUGE park. We drove and drove and drove to get into the camping area, and once we did, I’m really glad we found Gov Earl – LOL.

It’s a beautiful park, it has a LOT of amenities, and I’m sure some day we’ll take Frances there to experience for ourselves. There are so many trails, and water sports to take advantage of that I can’t see any reason not to go back. But for this weekend with Jaime and Frances in Lake Tahoe doing the Tahoe Rim Trail – I was glad we were in a quieter area. I miss those maggoos…

We settled back into camp and took a glorious mid-day nap. The weather was absolutely perfect for it.

Blackened Beef Tacos for dinner (nope – not gonna give you that recipe just yet), great conversation and a really nice camp fire made for a really lovely evening.

Next time we come up, we’re going to hit up the walk-in (mildly dispersed) campsites. The river-side camp sites look absolutely amazing.

In spite of my beautiful family being thousands of miles away on the TRT – this was a really great and special weekend for me, Brendan and Oz.

Keep on truckin’ kids!

CK