First Campout of the Season

I didn't realize how much I'd been looking forward to this campout until Greg couldn't find spots for us.  The campground we originally wanted to stay at is closed for the season - beetle killed trees that they're cleaning up, or something like that.  So he headed north instead, looking for our weekend homestead.  Two campgrounds later, and he called me to let me know that nothing's open... Maybe we can camp in the back yard?  No way.  If we're not camping, I'm not going to drag out all our gear just to set it up in the backyard.  So he headed south, and eventually found us spots at Bertha Creek Campground.

 

Initially I wanted to be a bit closer to town, since I was staying the night then driving back in to Anchorage so I could work on Friday.  (I didn't take Friday off, and I was worried - what with the long weekend and the nice weather - that we wouldn't be able to find a site, even on Thursday night...  seems like other people maybe had the same idea.)  Looks like the mother of necessity breeds willingness to camp farther afield (isn't that how the saying goes?).  So we ended up at Bertha Creek.  It's south of Anchorage, but significantly higher elevation.  There was still snow, and the leaves hadn't opened from buds yet.

 

But it was a site to put up tents and get a fire going - yay!  I didn't even mind having to get up super-early so I could drive home to take a shower and get in to work at a decent time.  I don't know how people commute for and hour or more one way.  That's so much time that I could use for so many other things: sleeping, reading, blogging, relaxing at home, sleeping...

 

It was such a lovely weekend!  I love sitting around the campfire, relaxing and visiting with friends and family.  I even tried a new flavor combination: peanut butter, strawberry jam, and bacon.  Bacon really does make everything taste better!

I'm looking forward to this summer and the other camping trips we have planned.  *Fingers crossed* that the weather this summer is better than last year - less rain, more sun, and plenty of big fires!!

Flower Power

Sunday was such a nice day that we couldn't resist going for a drive.  I didn't intend to actually purchase any flowers - it's too early for me.  The nights are still cold enough that I have to bring the flowers in over night, and then I have to watch so my cats don't eat them.  And when my cats DO eat them (since I don't keep watch all night long), I have to clean up the leafy cat barf.  All-in-all, it's a pain in the ass, and I just prefer not to have to deal with it.

When we got to the nursery in Indian, I just couldn't resist the lure...  I found some petunias with colors I hadn't seen before.  And since I was going to get those, may as well take a look at what else is there too, right?  The nice thing about shopping for flowers this early, is that there's still a whole lot of selection.  Usually, when I go after Memorial Day weekend, it's pretty slim pickin's.  (Note: The pictures are blurry because I couldn't figure out how to use the macro function on my camera.  It's been so long since I tried, that I actually had to look up the user manual online to figure out how to change the settings.  Then once - I think - I had it set right, the stupid auto-focus kept picking up something behind the flowers.  If you look closely, you'll see that either the leaves or the pot/dirt are in focus rather than the flowers.  And those are the BEST of what I tried to get.  Dumb camera.)

I talked to the owner at Forget-Me-Not Nursery for a bit, and she recommended another greenhouse in Anchorage - that I'd never been to before (can't recollect the name right now) - for more petunias, so we back to town for more shopping.  So much for waiting...  Five flats of flowers later, I figured it'd be easier to haul the plants in and out of the house if they were in pots.  This is practically a record for me getting my flowers planted.  I didn't do them all - just the petunias and one other pot - I'll finish up the rest of them another night.

And now it's crystal clear why I don't like to get flowers this early.  Five trips to get them outside - have to close the slider in between so the cats don't escape.  Five more trips to water them.  Five more trips to bring them in at night.  And then I have to keep the spray bottle by me so I can fend off the kittehs when they decide to visit the salad bar.  It's going to be worth it, right?

Let's Amble!

Every summer I try to do as many of the charity walks as I can.  Mostly because it's an extra incentive to get in some exercise.  I've already missed three, but made an extra effort to get to the Amblin' for Alzheimer's walk.  Not because it's an issue that's near and dear to me - just because I like the venue (Kincaid Park is very pretty), and I enjoy the folks that I've walked with for the past few years.  It helps that the weather was absolutely gorgeous!

In celebration of completing a four mile walk, I promptly went to the store for a doughnut, had way too much food for dinner, and topped off the night with a brownie for dessert.  I mean, I deserve all that right?  I burned up lots and lots of calories walking for charity - that's got to count for extra calories, right?  I think I'll wait a while before I brave the bathroom scale.  Maybe I'll get a bike ride in first...

The weather was beautiful.  Leaves still aren't out on the trees, but I'm sure I'll wake up one morning to find they've all popped out over night.  There was enough sun (and exercise) that I was sweating up a storm, but enough breeze that I wasn't miserable.  And I found an amusing sign.  We don't have many people brave enough to surf the frigid waters around Anchorage, and what waves we get are minuscule compared to Hawaii or California, but apparently Kincaid Park has another draw...