Light the Night

A couple weeks ago, Greg & I participated in the Light the Night walk (a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) with friends - in celebration of M. Cancer free for over a year now - way to go, M!!! They give balloons to participants that have lights inside, so as the evening progresses they "light the night". Red is in support of someone, White is for someone who's had cancer, and Gold is for those that didn't make it. (My balloon - a RED one - popped when I walked under a pine tree...)

Tasha & I - at the start

A wave of balloony walkers

Tasha, Caleb & I - at the end
with a *BIG* balloon

Camping - King Mountain, the people

I've already got pics for more blogs, so I'd better finish up the camping trip! (Started the post on the 3rd and it's already the 11th - how time flies!) Thanks to PseudoTech for supplying lots of the people pictures. Not sure why, but I didn't get many this go 'round. So we're missing people too: Heather, Ayanna, Jamie & her crew - they came up on Friday and left Saturday. A quick trip, but it was fun!

1st Night

Some folks went hiking on Saturday - to the top of Castle Mountain. They left around 10am and returned to camp around 10pm. A long day - and they were *beat* when they got back - but it was apparently worth it. Of course, it was for a cache - Greg's 500th find. Way to go!

Cachers Return

Malcore

Brian

James

While the cachers were out hiking, the rest of us divvied up. Some went to the fair, and some just stayed at camp relaxing (one of those was ME!).

Fair Folks

Relaxing around the Fire

Todd, Anita, Kelly & I stopped for a cache on the way home - the only one I got all weekend, but it was one more than I had planned on. =) (Greg & Malcore got several caches on the way home - Greg was actually 6-7 hours later getting home than me.)

Looking for the Hide

Success!!

The rest of the pics are just random shots.

King of the Hill

Greg (L) - Anita's Long Legs (R)

Instructions

Strawberries - yummy!!

Camping - King Mountain, the place

I didn't get many pictures of people this trip - so I'll have one entry dedicated to some of the scenery shots I took. Friends have agreed to donate pictures of the people - so at some point, I'll add another entry for the people.

A small group of us left Thursday night - so we could get sites and get things set up before the rest of the group came up on Friday. King Mountain is only about 2 hours from Anchorage, so the drive wasn't too bad. Weather was a bit cloudy and sometimes rainy, but we saw a fantastic rainbow on the way out!!

We arrived after dark and got three of the tents set up. The moon came out from behind the clouds and we got a great night view. What an auspicious way to start the weekend!!

Once again, we were in a lovely area. Lots of scenic eye candy. I noticed that the leaves are starting to turn - just another sad reminder that winter is coming. In noticing the yellow foliage, I saw that there were several trees growing crooked. My speculation is that some event (like a heavy snow) years ago caused several of the trees to bow, and in subsequent years they straightened in their new path. Who knows why - but the effect is pretty cool!

Changing Colors

Crooked Tree

In addition to the foliage directly surrounding our area, we just needed to focus a bit further out to see more spectacular imagery. Some of our group went hiking on Saturday to Castle Mountain - to find a cache, of course, and enjoy more great scenery - and others went to the state fair in Palmer. I opted to stay at camp and relax - which was just what I needed.

Views from Camp

This campout was very relaxing for me. We were in a gorgeous area, and the weather was very kind. It was pleasant and warm most of the trip - cloudy, but only drizzly on one day and just for a bit. It was nice that it was cloudy at night, so my nose didn't freeze and I slept better. It was also nice to come home and shower, but I don't know that I'm ready to go back to work yet... I guess I had too a bit too much relaxing while I was gone. =)

The Ride Home

Friendly Visit

We got a call this afternoon from Patti - she's in town, would we like to meet for dinner? Sounds great! Turns out, they're on their way back home after spending time in California & Vegas. Sounds like they had a *marvelous* trip - and the extra warm climate was tempered by the pools everywhere. Lots of sun - and everyone was extra brown! It's always nice to visit, even though the time is short... So glad we opted to come home from camping on Sunday, so we had the chance to visit with friends on Monday. =)

Bethany & Greg

Momma & Kenneth

The Gang

Clean Again

This is Before & After... and actually, I had already done some cleaning before I got home to the shower, so the Before picture is not from the dirtiest moment. =)

Went camping this weekend - it was great to get away from everything for a few days. Will post more, but just wanted to put up a few shots tonight. I had a good, relaxing time - and greatly enjoyed the shower to wash off all the dirt!!

Leaves are already changing

View from the campground

View from just outside the campground

View from the car on the journey home