I Heart Camping!

When I agreed to this whole camping adventure, I assumed there would be restroom facilities. I'm not sure why I assumed this, but I did. Much to my dismay, Carol informed me how very wrong I was. She corrected me the day we were scheduled to leave.
We'd be taking care of nature in...nature.
I was appalled! I was horrified! I nearly backed out!

After a LOT of reassurance from Carol that girls are INDEED able to go potty outside, I thought I'd give it a try. (It helps that she promised to go to the "civilized" camping grounds if I was outdoor-potty inept.) She even came up with the cup idea. I'll spare you the details on that one. Just know that Carol is pretty much the coolest camping girl EVER. I freakin' love her!

I took 67 pictures this weekend. I limited myself to posting ten. If you count them, I even went over that limit. But I just couldn't choose! The first picture is, of course, the infamous Steve Van Wie and his FANTASTIC girlfriend Carol. This was right after we got to our campsite. Which was right on the river. I'm not sure the name of the river. I just know that we were very near Lake Benka. And then this is Brian and myself holding Zoe. We're pretty excited, as you can see.

This is our first fire. We eventually went to a nearby gas station to buy firewood. We had a good reason! It had rained and there was no dry wood left. You may ask why it's dark. Well, you might not unless you know that the sun doesn't set during Alaska summers. Only for a few hours. We didn't get to our campsite until almost 2 a.m. Not to worry, the sun rose before the fire died out. I really packed way too many flashlights.

This picture just looked better in black and white. Carol found that pink bandana at the Tesoro in Wasilla. I found the equivalent of a 7-11 Slurpee. It's basically a coke slushee and it's pretty much the only thing that is safe for me to drink when I'm feeling queasy. Car rides make me queasy. I was overjoyed to find the miracle drink.

Super Carol even attempted to teach Steve Van Wie how to fish. That went ok. He yelled a lot. He actually caught one and when he was trying to reel it in, he hooked Carol's hand. When I asked if she was going to be okay, she replied, "Yeah, it only bled for a second." I would have cried like a baby. I'm a drama queen. What can I say? Oh, the fish got away.

These are the only fish we caught. We named them. If I remember correctly, Fred, Cecil, Clyde, and Nancy. I'm guessing on the Nancy part. We later released them back into the river, probably sending them to their deaths. We caught them in a little pool full of babies. We let them go where the big fish swim. They're probably dead by now.

This is Lola. As nature-iffic as her Mommy is, Lola is a prissy princess. She did not like the rain. Not one bit. Brian has a soft spot for this dog that I call "Tiny" He let her occupy his sleeve until the storm passed. This picture also looked better in black and white.


I can't really poke fun, but I think Carol is afraid of bugs. This little fella was on our tent door. When she found out I was going to open the tent, dig out our camera, and snap a shot of him, she nearly passed out. Brian squished him with his boot when I was done with him. Carol swears that's the bug that was on her foot by the fire!


We had to coax Zoe into the water, but once she was in, she learned quick that she could swim. She wouldn't go out unless we went with her. And when I say "we" I mean ME. Brian would have none of the river. He was a good sport when it came time to dry Zoe off, though.


I think there might be only one thing Steve Van Wie loves more than Carol; his Jeep Liberty. He posed by it while brushing his teeth. After the flash went off, he said, "Now that's a MySpace picture!" He nearly broke down in tears when we had to put a trash bag full of our non-burnables in the back. You know the motto; "Pack it in, Pack it out!"


This whole weekend was orchestrated by Carol. She even brought along charrizo and eggs for us to try. She likes to say that she's half mexican. Though, she claims she got the worst parts. She says she got white girl skin and mexican hair. She makes me laugh. I tried one bite of the charrizo and eggs, at her request. While she was cooking it, I was battling morning sickness, which was a bummer. The boys gobbled it up with a vengeance.

Even though it rained, I had a blast!
What I learned from this whole experience is that when you're camping,
you're going to get dirty.
Your stuff is going to get dirty.
Your dog is going to get dirty.
And when you all get together for a sobbing, laughing, stumbling group hug, no one cares how bad you smell.


Maybe that's why it took me so long to realize how much I love camping.
I always tried so hard to keep everything clean.
It just isn't possible.