Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Great times camping result in latest drawing!

This latest drawing is titled "Rosa's Flounder". We were down at the Pacific Coast in a campsite on Whalen Island the past few days and had great weather and a wonderful time. On Monday morning the camp host, Rosa, came by and showed me her catch of the day, a beautiful flounder, which inspired this drawing. The best part, however, was when she offered to filet the fish and give it to us for dinner! Cooked up in butter with pepper, season salt and garlic powder it proved to be the best tasting fish I have ever eaten! I remarked that it tasted a bit like delicate shrimp and Rosa said it was probably because flounder feed on sand shrimp. Guess I'll have to get a fishing license for my next trip to Whalen Island!

 We spent time in the Trask River Campground in Tillamook County on Friday and Saturday and actually caught three crawdads!  We gave them back to the river the next day because three wasn't enough to cook up, boy were they happy to get back into the river!  Here are a few photos from the Trask River Campsite ....





After two days at Trask River we headed on over to Whalen Island, another Tillamook County Campground, where I set up my portable art studio and began work on "Rosa's Flounder".  Here are some of those photos ...



Another great discovery was an easy way to get hot water for washing dishes!  I took along an old roaster, filled it with water and dish soap, heated it up on the campstove and had hot water for washing!  Yes!  An added benefit is the lid keeps out bugs and pine needles.  Then I use a 5 gallon water dispenser to rinse the dishes, really makes cleaning up a breeze!

And, if you ever want the BEST camp stove that heats up water in a jiffy ... get yourself a Stansport!  It is almost as good as my domesticated restaurant gas stove at home!

We have found another Tillamook County camp ground we want to check out, it is called Kilchis River Campground.  If the weather holds up, maybe we can get over there sometime in early September, who knows, maybe we'll catch some crawdads over there???
Would be nice to catch enough for a small spiced crawdad feast with melted garlic butter!

Happy camping!
Karen Anne





13 comments:

  1. Hey Karen Anne ;o) Sounds like you had an amazing time! I am hungry just from reading what you had to eat ;o) I love how you washed the dishes! And, it was fun to see your drawing come to life! It is gorgeous as usual ;o) Big Hugs ;o)

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  2. Hi Stacy! We did have an amazing time, wish it would've lasted longer, but I appreciate the time we were given.
    Big hugs back at you!

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  3. YUMMY... art & food is all delicious KarenAnne... nice to get back to nature too :)

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  4. Hi Shelle! Happy you stopped by! Always nice to hear from you.
    Happy day to you!

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  5. Hi, Karen Anne. I got your comments and am so happy to finally be able to leave a comment here on your blog. It sounds like you had a lovely time and you got a lovely drawing in besides!
    :-)
    Lise

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  6. Hi Lise! So happy you can finally leave a comment!
    I took your advise and made adjustments so that anonymous comments can be posted.

    We did have a wonderful time and it was fun to work in a drawing!

    Karen Anne

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  7. Sounds like fun! I love your flounder!!!! Deb

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  8. Gallon water dispenser you use is very simple. Water dispensers are very easy to carry around. But the water dispenser I have nothing like this. Water dispenser but you have to have a very large capacity so it can accommodate a lot of drinking water.

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  9. We have a 5 gallon water dispenser that I was lucky enough to find in almost new condition at Goodwill. Thrift stores are a great place to pickup camping equipment at a fraction of the cost.

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  10. PS Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment Gregory!

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  11. I was investigating Whalen Island Campground and ran across your blog. I love the flounder! I have always liked NW native art and your design struck a similar chord with me. I hope you will take this as the compliment it is intended to be: it also reminded me of the wonderfully intricate and psychedelic coloring posters that I had as a tween in the '70s. I am also a biology teacher and educated as a marine biologist, so that draws me to that design as well.

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    1. Well Hello Anonymous! I am so happy you found my blog! Indeed, your comment is a very welcome compliment, thank you! I too, have a deep appreciation for NW Coast Art and have friends who are true NW Coast Artists; perhaps my love of their work has filtered into my pieces, if so, that is nice.

      My kids were tweens in the 80's, back then my pieces were never compared with the word psychedelic. But since I retired from selling insurance about 8 years ago and began really exploring my artistic side and discovering Zentangle art, psychedelic is a word that is oft applied! LOL! As is the word "Hippie"!

      My hubby wanted to get into marine biology, but back when we were young that was a career choice that was just beginning in earnest. I'm happy you were able to achieve your dream and that your interest brought you to my site.

      You are welcome to visit often ... you'll never know where I will go next in my artistic adventures. Thank you for taking the time to comment this time.

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    2. PS We have been visiting Whalen Island for well over 40 years, it is a wonderful place for clamming, crabbing, and fishing! It is a bit of a primitive campground, but we have always enjoyed it ...

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