Yeah....and we do.

***Reallly...I had this great post with lots of great pictures. But since I have not the patience for Blogger sucking up my whole free day that is neither vacation time nor time to work, alas, you lose. Maybe when I'm in a less hormonal state, I'll try again. For the meantime, I'm going to save this for later, post the ramblings and those who want the full version (pics and all!) can email me/leave a comment and I'll be happy to forward you the word version. Let the stalking commence but until then, here is the verbage***

My people. We Camp. Yeah…we do. I hung out in the back of the Tahoe (very comfy let me tell you), sat around a campfire, slathered Deet on my skin (I know…so much for having children) and hiked to the top of the world before almost passing out. My goodness I’ve got a ways to go if I REALLY want to do that next summer. That’s another post for another time.

So what does camping look like to me? Well, let me show ya: (yeah...that would be picture eaten)

That would be Mt. Rainier. And that would be the !*#&#(@ Snow Lake path that almost killed a sista. But who would challenge her to do such a thing you ask?

Why that would be this dude of course: (yeah...that would be picture eaten #2)


And why would that dude drag her into the wilderness knowing full well her people don’t do this kind of thing? Well, to do this of course:(number 3, ate up alive)


Which was all well and good. Because I got to see lots of baby deer (no “kidding”) and that made the trip utterly worthwhile. Well, that and this: (#4)

Note the Burt’s Bee starter kit that I scored at the Longmire Lodge. If I would have known I merely have to travel to the top of the mountain to get this stuff locally…I tell ya. Also note the mustard—all I needed was some hot sauce and we’d be set. Speaking of condiments: (#5...really good I might add)

Do you know what this is? This is called hazing. Malicious, sweet, hazing. You see….sometimes, when you go places, you forget to pack something. Or someone who was supposed to come along doesn’t and so you have to make a stop. Well, we stopped at Sports Authority for a little ax…to chop all that wood that we’d buy at the grocery store and the campsite of course. But at that moment we realized we had no ketchup for our hotdogs. So of course we went to McDonalds. Land of great ketchup. Now…I was GOING to order some fries to go with the ketchup. But evidently, fries are not a breakfast food. So to punish Corporate McDonalds for not realizing the importance of fries in the morning, we each took a handful of ketchup. For the hotdogs. That they don’t sell. Hey…details—don’t get bogged down. Unless that detail is in the word “each”. Since there WERE three of us and only two took ketchup. People. Please. Not like I wasn’t going to return it on the way back.

So back at the campfire, Eagle Scout M got a rip roaring fire going: (6)

And then he settled in with That-Roommate-Dude-Who-Won’t-Gank-Ketchup: (7)

And he had a nice glass of: (8)

Because it wouldn’t be camping without the daily source of calcium.

The next day, we attempted a guided tour with Ruth. (9)

But somewhere between the paid rangers that didn’t know who Douglas Firs were named after or exactly how many years ago the last devastating mud slide was and the “where did the trail go?” volunteer guides…BF’s ADD kicked in and we decided to do the mountain on our own.

Well, the visitor center anyhow.

Since, at this point, I’m sure you are in utter disbelief that I was actually out in the wilderness, I should note that these are all pictures *I* took and that is why you cannot see me in any of them. See that big camera BF is holding? That one holds all of the tear stained, wrinkled forehead, eyes popped out of head shots of me. But just for the disbelieving, I leave you with this: (10)

And all those little flowers that you cannot see that were an amazing site to behold. Those are avalanche lilies.

Wish you were here!