Memorial Day Geocaching Camp Trip

This Memorial Day Weekend we went camping at a KOA by Port Orford. We don’t spend a great deal of time on the south coast of Oregon, even though the weather is better and there are some really cool places to visit. It just seems we end up going North more often. Our friends Dan, Heather, and Brandon joined us for a weekend of Geocaching.

Port Orford is about 2 hours south of us and a little longer when pulling a trailer. The KOA itself was OK, full hookups and the usual amenities. However, they had quite a few “rules” – no campfires in the morning, no tent stakes in the ground, don’t leave your dogs side even for a second. The campground wasn’t very full (oddly for the holiday weekend). We weren’t planning on hanging out there anyway.

Dan, Heather, and Brandon managed to make it over the 1000 cache mark while we were there. We are only at 600. Living in a more rural area, we have to go further to get caches…. Plus we aren’t quite that addicted. More on addictions later…

I like the Port Orford area. The scenery is great and provides a lot of photo opportunities. It’s hard to take photographs and cache at the same time – but it gives me some places to visit later for a more formal attempt at doing some great landscape photography.

Sunday night we went into Bandon to grab a couple more Geocaches and have dinner. It was Dan’s birthday so we surprised him with an ice cream cake for lunch – but had to do more at dinner. We ate at a great place called McFarland’s Pub and Grill, embarrassed Dan by having the whole place sing Happy Birthday and were introduced to “Frikles”

I’ve heard of frickles and honestly they sound nasty. A Frickle is a deep fried dill pickle. McFarland’s serves them as an appetizer with a feta cheese dip. Did I mention something about addiction earlier? I got past the “sounding nasty” part and now have a new love for deep fried pickles.

I haven’t made them yet – but here is Recipe– give them a try!

Ingredients:

7 cups peanut oil, for frying

3 to 4 dill pickles, cut into 1/8-inch slices (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup flour

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Have ready a baking sheet lined with paper towels.

In a large heavy-bottomed pot, heat the oil to 350 degrees.

Lightly coat the pickles in flour, shaking off any excess. Use a slotted spoon or Chinese strainer to place the pickles in the oil. Deep-fry, in batches if necessary, for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the frickles to the paper towels to drain. Sprinkle with pepper to taste, and serve immediately.