North Lake

Justin and I are on a marathon of weekend-camping. It just so happens that Justin has had Friday-Sunday off for the last three weeks, which is pretty rare, so we've been taking full advantage. ... and it has become an addiction.

This last weekend we went to North Lake in Bishop. It's a little campground about 9,600 feet up in the Eastern Sierra; just far enough away so we could get some fresh air amidst all these fires. It's bad here.

Justin went to this same campground with some guys for our friend Matt's bachelor party back in June. When I heard they were going up there I got so jealous I immediately booked a ticket with Jen up to Berkeley to visit Cait. Take that!

But now I get the best of both because I got my girl trip AND I got to go to this great campground!

our campsite:

I found out on this trip that I'm severely allergic to mosquito bites. I didn't even know that was possible? It seems like every time I get bit a lot, the reactions get worse and worse. When we hiked the Baldy Ski Hut I got bit on the forehead and it swelled up pretty nice. This last weekend it happened again, but the swelling spread through out my face. I looked horrible. I can't even post the photo here. Too embarrassing, but too funny not to share. We jokingly called me the "Hunch Forehead of North Lake."

More photos from our trip here.

Boulder Basin

Saturday we went camping again.

This time, Boulder Basin. It's about 20 miles from Idylwild, 8 miles up the 243 and 5 1/2 miles up a dirt road. I really thought no one would be up there. We saw one other person the road, and it felt like we were going nowhere. But we were far from the only ones there, almost every site was occupied - with families. Lots of kids. Screaming kids. A forest service guy was explaining that kids turn into werewolves when you get them outside, and it's true, I saw it.

Boulder Basin turned out to be very beautiful. And the views, amazing.



Justin trying to be dangerous, as always...








The last photo is a note we found on the ground, on a trail. It had a wilted and withered balloon attached. We took a photo of the area that we found the balloon (over 7000 feet up!) and we are going to send them a letter.

My aunt Laura is currently in a convalescent home so this touched my heart. Laura has brain cancer, she is only 41, she is there for rehabilitation. We went to visit her on the way home from Boulder Basin. While there we met Betsy, who is 99 years old. She loves to talk, and likes to stare out the window at passing cars. She is NINETY NINE years old, I wish she could tell us stories about what it was like to grow up in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and so on. But poor Betsy, she has a hard time remembering an hour ago. But she is still funny. We were watching the cars go by and she said, "It went right on by, out the side of my eye to the back of my head."

Two Years

Justin & I celebrated our two year anniversary with a camping trip at San Simeon State Park - beautiful rolling green grassy hills, patches of foresty pines, creeks, the ocean: the Central California coast is some what of a promise land.

It seems every where we go we meet people. Most of the time this happens because Justin is so friendly, and he loves to talk to people. This time, these people found us. Here were two experiences:

**We stopped by a coffee shop in Morro Bay, while putting cream in my coffee a man in the corner asked, "Is that your natural hair color?" (I get asked this question frequently.)

"Why, yes it is..."

He said, "That is so great. You see people with red, brown and blond hair, but you don't see anyone with purple, green or blue hair. Your hair is just electric." I wasn't sure what that meant, my hair is purple? I am never sure how to respond to these comments, I believe he was trying to compliment me. So...

"Thank you?"

This opened the way for a good conversation about nature and being outside... He encouraged us to keep "getting away" from the city. Be out in nature, be away from the craziness, "become man again."**

________________

**While we were unloading our car at our campsite the neighbor came out of his motor home, with hand waving in the air, and said, "Hey welcome to the neighborhood! Would you like a cold beer?"

"YES, PLEASE!" we responded.

We chatted for a bit, found out he and his family were from Modesto. We told him we were celebrating our anniversary and he told us they have been married for 20 years. He said, "Keep at it. It's good to have a friend in this world."

Later that evening when Justin and I were sitting around fire, on a very chilly evening, our neighbor came over again to share a trick with us: He shoveled out some coals from our fire and put them under our chairs. Instantly our back, butt, and legs were warm! It was so amazing!

The next morning while Justin and I were sitting at our table eating our trail mix for dinner, the neighbor came over again and offered us breakfast, eggs, potatoes, tortillas. Ours mouths started to drool, but for some reason we graciously declined. Which we regretted almost instantly. We were so touched by his kindness, you don't many people like him. He gave us hope that this world still has kind people in it, and he inspired us to be kind as well.**