June 22, 2001

Someone said, "Let's go camping!" and it took us a few hours to pack, Jena, Bri, Dave and I were gone by 6 pm on Friday with new tents, sleeping bags and camp chairs.

The latest fasion was to die your hair bright neon pink, which Bri had done  many weeks ago, but the label that said, "Washes out Easily" lied. She was STILL pink. Washed out neon pink, but pink. Before we found out the dye was a bit more permanent than we expected, Jena wanted her hair pink as well but I insisted she do the tips only and it actually looked really neat because I spent almost two hours blending in that darn pink dye so her hair now faded from blonde to brilliant pink on the last inch of her hair.

We stopped at Diamond Jim's in Sugar Pine and proceeded to watch Bri, who must weight ninety pounds soaking wet, consume more shrimp that I thought humanly possible, thusly earning the new indelible nickname, The Red Headed Shrimp Sucker.

We set up camp in the dark. Jena and Bri were a little freaked out we were not in a campground but weathered it well. Marshmellows and a night time walk where we declared bird watching a success as we spotted not only a Red Headed Shrimp Sucker, but a Pink Tailed Night Owl. (My Jena)

Breakfast was grand. Nothing like the open air to make you hungry. Then we piled into the car and headed off to Kennedy Meadows for horseback riding. For the ride back to the top of the ridge, Bri rode Burt, Anne was on Socks and I didn't write down the other names! The dogs that hung out at the stables were fun, playing catch non-stop for us, but it made us miss our own dogs. We took a very cold dip in a very cold stream after the ride but it was grand.

Dinner at camp was Shrimp Scampi, succotash, hot dogs and burnt popcorn. Don't ask.

Sunday morning included paying out on a bet about who would fall to sleep first, and deer tracks found by the girl's tent. The girls had accused us of, ahem, panting, in the night (two stone cold asleep people do not pant) so we teased them about panting deer for many a week. A walk about Eagle Creek was after vanity shots of the girls were taken on the huge rocks surrounding the camp site.

Camp breakdown and a stop by Pinecrest Lake. Oh, the dangers of beautiful teens. Jena and Bri drooled as much as all the boys there while Dave and Anne ate at the Steam Donkey, a turkey sandwich and pepper corn chowder and salad.

Home again around five, so good to be home for hot showers, our own pets and our own beds.

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