Last weekend I wanted to sleep outside with my friends. In tents, you guys!
So I brought my boyfriend to Juniper Springs in Marion County, which is not far from Salt Springs and Ocala, and several friends from St. Petersburg joined later.
Photo by me from a lovely hike (but still second-best to banana boats).
The campground is located in the Ocala National Forest, apparently home to lots of bears. We did not see any bears because we followed strict bear-avoidance protocol by diligently storing trash in our vehicles and cleaning up wasted food. I did, however, see mysterious tracks below our picnic table the morning after our first night. Perhaps a tiny bearcoon helped herself to some mini marshmallows that fell from our banana boats. Perhaps.
Wait, do you know the glory of a banana boat? HOMG. It is the tastiest, warmest thing I have eaten this year. Friends Jim and Steph are the masterminds behind this delicacy. Now I’m going to steal all of their glory.
First you give the banana an incision down the slope of its peel. Right down the middle, OK? Then you stuff it with semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter morsels — you know, those mini Hershey’s Kisses things — and mini marshmallows. Next you cover the banana (in its peel, duh) with aluminum foil and gingerly place it near the open flame of your campfire. You must have a campfire. You leave it there for, say, 10 minutes and then you eat it up with a spoon. It’s all blended, melty and, um, healthful, right?
That was my favorite camping memory, campfire songs aside. Also, I only wrote this because I wanted to see kitty pictures every 100 words.
