20 Bags Of Marshmallows

This weekend, I took some of my college friends on a road trip to Oregon. After about 10 hours of total driving, we arrived at Ice Cap Creek Campground in the Willamette National Forest. The first thing we noticed on arrival was the complete lack of amenities: no cell service, electricity, or even running water. 😳 Oops! Should have checked the campground info more closely! There was a moment of panic as my friends realized they weren’t able to send text messages and let their friends and family know about their whereabouts. 🤣 I tried to reassure them by saying we would have cell service at tomorrow’s location, but I wasn’t actually sure. 😁 

It took quite a bit of mental effort for them to temporarily detach from creature comforts. I wasn’t that thrilled myself either as I was expecting a shower after being sweaty and gross all day. I told myself and my friends it was only going to be one night so we would be fine. 

As daylight faded, our eyes adjusted to the ambient light. We set up the tents and started the hot pot for dinner. The sound of crickets echoed around the campsite and the forest was lit under the stars. It became amazing stillness.

That night, there was no emails to respond to, phone calls, text messages, or Instagram posts. The hustle and bustle of our daily lives was left behind. It didn’t take long for us to find ourselves occupied with analog activities. We learned how to cook a meal outdoors, set up tents, and build a fire. 🔥 It’s always a challenge to start one without any lighter fluid. After dinner, we had convivial conversations around our carefully nurtured campfire, roasting marshmallows and making s’mores. 

I remember this night in particular because we had a leftover bag of marshmallows that was past it’s best-by date. The stale marshmallows were too stuck together to pull apart. Like little kids with naughty intentions 😏, I strategically tossed them into the fire on top of the largest long so we could see it melt. The corn syrup started to fizzle, bubble, balloon and implode. The white concoction  quickly caught fire and charred. 😁 We all had grins on our faces; that was really satisfying to watch. 🤤

We sat and stared at the orange ambers, listened to the crackling and feeling warmth of the fire, and waited for the last bit of wood fuel to die off before going to sleep.

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Fast forward a couple years, we decided to go to an amusement park as it was a place we have not visited for many years. When we totaled up the bill for the day, I remember my friend protesting to me about the admission fee and the super inflated prices we paid for food and souvenirs. He said, “we could have bought 20 bags of marshmallows!!😭😭”, indicating we could have had as much, if not more fun around the campfire than what the $80 admission fee included.  

September 9, 2019 | Travel Stories
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