Camping!

Last night I went up to the Spruces to meet the family for some good ol' family camping! There's nothing like escaping the city for the fresh pine valleys and lingering smoky aroma of the mountains! I've decided that man must, on occasion, return to the roots of civilization and enjoy the simplicities of fire, meat, and marshmallows. In fact, had there been a body of icy water, I would have gladly thrown myself into it for the simple opportunity to return to the primal nature of my long lost ancestors... and scream like a little girl.

That opportunity wasn't presented as no large body of water existed. We had a great time, though, and I look forward to when we can go camping again. Enjoy the pictures, folks...

The squirrels were EVERYWHERE! They were fairly tame for squirrels which makes me wonder if maybe somebody didn't train them to steal all of our food. I can see some bearded fellow off in the bushes: "Yes, my pretties, bring me a scrumptious Dorito! No, damn you! Don't EAT it! Oh... I'm so hungry..."

Salad in a pan. Camping is all about creatively using everything you have.

Here, we have cheese bread warming by the fire, and riblets stewing in a sweet, succulent barbecue sauce in the dutch oven. Mmmm.

This is our quaint little peice of National Forest Service heaven. :)

Mr. Squirrel (possibly the same one as shot one?) enjoys the greatest meal since the Johnson family left him an entire watermelon in '05.

This is the rarely seen "Beeflower." Hehe, nah, it's actually just a bee on a flower.

Dad and Andrew discuss the fire and the thermodynamic properties of decaying wood gasses.

This is Shan, my sister, and her husband, Andrew. You can see there blog here.

Tyler and I look over pictures he took. Shan seems to have captured me cleaning food from my teeth or something. It almost makes me look like I have a mustache. No?

Here I demonstrate my skills with a hatchet, as I turn a stick into a marshmallow roaster.

Oh sweet mother of golden marshmallow...

Shan likes a little cancer with her mallow.

YES! Tyler approves!

We played Phase 10 late into the night. And by "late into the night" I mean till about 10:30 when everyone started to get cold.

My poker face. Also my "I'm gonna kick yo @*%$" face.

I swear Shannon cheated. She had a wild nearly EVERY hand!

And that concludes this post. Thanks for reading. :)

-Barry