A pole in the water is a good thing!
We got back on Monday from our last camping/fishing trip on the Siletz River at the coast in Oregon. It’s that sad time of year where we have to pull in the dock out of the water, pull up the ramp, and move the RV to higher ground. (The river usually floods in late fall or winter.) We made plenty of time for recreation, with a bunch of work in between. I also got to play with my new camera! The weather was astoundingly beautiful, and the sunsets were spectacular, and the reflections in the river during evening were so colorful with the fall foliage. I could not stop snapping photos!
But with all that recreating and working, we still have to eat. I brought along a bunch of pre-made frozen bags of food to make the cooking experience a bit less time consuming, as well as planned some other quick and easy fresh meals. As much as I loved taking nature pics with my camera, I took nary a photo of the food. We were usually so worn out by the end of the day I was just glad I had enough energy to cook and sit down to eat.
However, come along for the ride through my photos and links to some of the recipes for the food we ate!
First evening of fishing off the dock
The first night there we always do something quick and easy. Actually this entire trip we did that, though. We heated up some delicious (frozen) fish chowder made from the sea bass we caught the prior fishing trip. Can’t get any easier than that! Link to recipe below:
Creamy Fish Chowder with Corn and Potatoes
Cool full moon photo through the trees
It was also a full moon, which made the fishing (and crabbing) not that good. But I will not complain, since the weather was outstanding. Last year we pulled out in a full-force Pacific Northwest storm, which was not very pleasant. We were soaked to the bone after that. Sunny weather is a good thing for these activities.
Heading out on the Siletz River to fish and crab
There were a lot of boats on the river the next day!
Fishermen on the Siletz River
For the second night’s meal, I brought some frozen spaghetti sauce my husband makes in huge batches. Boil water for noodles, microwave sauce. Put some garlic bread in the toaster oven. Done! Unfortunately I’ve never posted his sauce recipe, but it’s really good though! He uses a spicy cayenne sausage one of our markets sells along with ground beef.
All our crab pots had lots of crab, but none of them were big enough to keep. What’s up with that??? First time we’ve ever been skunked on crabbing.
Pulling in crab pot of (too small to keep) Dungeness crabs
OK I just have to share you a picture of our dog, Hannah Banana. She just loves to roam around the property for squirrels and birdies!
Hannah Banana
Oh, I guess another recipe or two would be in order by now. For lunch one day I made my tuna melts with the very last of my fresh tomatoes from our garden. Another lunch we had Carne Asada tacos with some of the canned homemade fire-roasted salsa I made earlier last month. YUMM! Links to recipes below:
Homemade Canned Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa
The next morning I made some killer Migas Tacos with same salsa, but alas no recipe yet for that dish.
Next thing we knew, it was work, work, work, with fishing off the dock instead of river trips. But let me share a couple of sunset/river reflection photos. The colors were spectacular and the river was like glass. Amazing!
Trees reflecting off Siletz River
Trees Reflecting on Siletz River
The next night we did the standard grilled steak and baked potatoes. Oooh but we loaded our baked potatoes with lots of goodies and fresh veggies. Can’t go wrong with that either!
And check out this huge mushroom I found on our property! It had to be at least six inches across in diameter. Since I’m no mushroom expert, I just took a photo. For some reason mushroom poisoning scares the crap out of me.
Large Mushroom at Camp
Awww, here is our last night of fishing off the dock before pulling it in the next morning. Not sure why I always caught empty chairs. Well of course mine was empty, but hubby was probably off doing some kind of chore. But our poles were in!
Last evening of fishing off our dock
On our last night, we grilled up some frozen pre-marinated chicken fajitas. Of course we had our salsa with that too along with some fresh veggie fillings. Link to recipe below:
And last, here is our dock and ramp all pulled in for the winter. We took the opportunity to add two more barrels under the dock, as it listed pretty badly to one side because two of the barrels got crushed by logs last year.
Adding new barrels under the dock
Ramp pulled in and ready to tied down
Neither of us caught a salmon this year. That happens, those darn fish can be elusive and the full moon didn’t help. Well I hope you enjoyed my journey and some of the links to the recipes!
anotherfoodieblogger 