The weather has been horrible the last few weeks. It’s been cold, hovering around 0⁰C, with rain and sleet on a somewhat daily basis. I’ve wanted to get out into the forest, but with the worst possible weather to be outside, I’ve put my plans on hold.

But when we finally had a weekend with radiant sun and a few degrees warmer I wanted to take the opportunity to get out. C hadn’t been out in a long time so I wanted to bring her, and I thought we might invite some friends to. I took up the phone, about to call Christoffer, my friend and co-leader in Skogsmulle, when I received a message from him, asking if we should get outside. Great minds think alike!

We spent 30 min browsing Naturkartan to find a suitable place. There are a lot of nice places close to Växjö, but the proximity also makes them crowded. Especially when it’s the first sunny weekend in a long time.

Finally we found a small nature reserve about 45 min drive from home. I packed up mine and C:s gear and drove to pick up Christoffer and his daughter E. We drove down to the nature reserve, and parked next to a beach. We were only allowed to camp in the northern section of the reserve, and hiked the shorter trail around that part to search for a good campsite. There was only one place large enough for both of our tents, so we got back to the car to get the backpacks.

We set up camp immediately. It was a bit windy, so we set them up in a wide V-formation to get some wind blockage. The kids played in the forest, while Christoffer and I made dinner. Christoffer made burgers for the kids, and beef and vegetables with Mediterranean rice for us. As a dessert I made fried Nutella-banana wraps.

Since Easter was near I hid candy eggs in the forest, that the kids went looking for. After playing for a while we put on a movie for them on the phone, and they spent the evening in Christoffers tent, with snacks and movies.

Christoffer and I hung out in my tent, where I had brought beers, cheeses and other snacks.

Both Christoffer and I were very tired, so when the movie ended and the kids were going to sleep, so did we.

C got into her sleeping bag next to me, and just giggled with excitement. “Det här är livet!” she said, roughly translated ‘This is the good life’. When I said I was going to sleep she said that we couldn’t go to sleep yet. We had to “talk some chit-chat” first. So we did that, and ended up talking about how people have seen ghosts of humans, but you never hear anyone talking about ghost cows or ghost dinosaurs.

We both slept well, and I woke up feeling very refreshed. It was chilly outside the tent, and E was feeling a bit cold. Christoffer and I started with breakfast right away, and I made grilled cheese sandwiches for everyone while Christoffer made coffee. C didn’t want to eat much, but instead mostly wanted to carve on a stick she found. The basics of wood carving that we went through last September still stuck, and she handled the knife very well and responsibly.

After breakfast we packed up camp. E had a playdate, C had a birthday party to go to and both Christoffer and I had Skogsmulle later that day.

It was a nice little getaway. These short overnighters don’t really require any preparations. I just packed everything from my prepared packlist, bought some food and drove to the reserve. While it’s really nice to get away on longer trips I really recommend shorter close-to-home overnighters like these. They don’t require much, but still gives you a lot of energy, and are a great way to recharge.