We had a weekend filled with debauchery, kielbasa, and bacon wrapped everything. It was good times.
Kim and Anu drove down Friday and we met them at Rio Grande. Aaron started the weekend with bacon wrapped shrimp, and it all went downhill…or I guess, uphill, from there. We came back home and polished off a bottle of wine. Not a normal sized bottle mind you, but one of the giant ones. There was much story telling, iTunes playing, and general good times.
We finally crashed so we could wake up ‘early’ on Saturday. Early being 8, so we had time to make a giant pot of coffee before hitting the road. If there’s one thing Kim and I do right, it’s coffee and wine. Everything else just sort of falls into place.
We packed the coolers and headed off for the mountains. It only took an hour, and man was it nice to be ten degrees cooler in the mountains.
For the first time ever, Illy acted like a dog and stuck her head out the window! She looks terrified, but I’m pretty sure she enjoyed it, based on the amount of time she spent taking in the breeze.
A hell of a lot of drool ended up on the seat behind her, a small price to pay.
We hit up the shop to get some firewood and other sundries. Aaron surprised me with a bear coffee mug and a swiss army knife that instead of being swiss was wood plated and had a bear carved on it. Yeah, I like bears, so?
We had campsites A 46 and A 48, which were perfect for three tents. I set up all the tents, which was the sweatiest part of the weekends. The weather was great except when you were in direct sunlight, and doing anything other than sitting and drinking beer.
I’m glad I kept every tent I’ve ever bought. There’s the 2-person Walrus tent that Kim and I took to Acadia for a week. I call that one Baby Bear. Then there’s the 3-person REI (Taj 3) that Aaron bought when we first started dating and went to GW National Forest with Jennifer and Aaron. A good size, but not when you add a dog. I call that one Mama Bear. Then there’s the REI Camp Dome 4 that we bought after we adopted Illy. It fits a double air mattress and a dog bed, and Aaron can get pretty close to standing upright in it. Of course, I call that one Papa Bear.
Here’s Kim and I at Beer O’Clock:
Aaron was in charge of all the tie-downs. I like setting up tents except for that rope and stake bit. Also, if you have the option of buying a camping chair witha foot rest and one without, even if the one without is pink, get the one with the footrest. Or else your husband will get really annoyed when you keep trying to use his arm rest as your foot rest.
Kim is master of the stilleto, but has yet to make hiking boots her bitch. My shoe of choice for the weekend were Vibram Five Fingers, and hers were gold bowed flip flops.
Trying for a family shot, but Illy wasn’t having it.
Mountain Man Aaron! Nothing sexier than a man with an axe, am I right?
For appetizers, Kim and Anu prepared bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers. They were awesome until I ate an extraordinarily spicy one, and had to commandeer Eric’s beer so I didn’t die.
Relaxing.
For dinner we had habanero burgers.
Kim and I had to do an old school self-timered photo, reminiscent of our Acadia trip. We have the same camera (but mine is pink!) and I managed to get both cameras to take this picture at the same time.
Aaron knew how to make use of that headlamp.
After a day filled with eating and drinking (and lots of s’mores!) we finally hit the sack. Aaron has some good photos of the fire, but I don’t have them uploaded yet.
Aaron and I were woken up at 4am by some animal making noise. Illy was so excited, she attempted to leap through the top half of the tent door – luckily there is a screen there so she didn’t escape. It was funny watching her rear up like a stallion, though.
So it wasn’t the greatest night’s rest, but at least it wasn’t too hot, which was my main fear. We finally roused ourselves since I was in dire need of coffee.
We set one griddle on fire due to too much bacon grease and too high flames, so Kim busted out her cast iron skillet, which worked much better.
A breakfast of champions.
After breakfast we packed up and headed home. A shower has never felt so good!
