Saturday - Camping Day Three

We now had the whole party present at the camp ground now, so when we got up this morning and had a full breakfast of sausage, bacon, hash browns, eggs made-to-order, fresh brewed coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream, and Mimosas. You have to admit that we know how to start the day off right.

Serving Breakfast:


Group Shot Enjoying Breakfast:



The next thing on the list was to move Heidi and her husband, Tony, and Alex down from the campsite next to the bathroom to the campsite next to the sloping site where Jill, Samantha, and I were located. (One little side note, poor Alex didn't sleep well because the air mattress he stole from me lost all of its air and by the middle of the night he ended up sleeping directly on the ground.)

After all of the rearranging of the campsites and cleaning up after breakfast, we put on our suits, gathered up our alcohol for the day and headed off to play on the lake. Luckily Alex had experience with his own boat at one time, so Jill had somebody helping her out with getting the boat on the water, the people loaded into it, and driving it around the lake so she could enjoy herself as well as the rest of us and not have to be on constant alert as to what was going on with the boat. While the day on the boat was pretty uneventful, in that there were no moments of Andrea falling off the boat and that is really what is really important here!! Okay, only kidding. Pretty much everybody took turns trying out the wake boards or knee boards, but the real hit was the giant inner tubes that were pulled behind the boat. Check out some of the photos from Saturday on the lake:

Group in the Boat


Tony and Alex Set for Tubing Battles


Heidi Being Swallowed by the Man-Eating Life Vest


Alex, Sam, and Jill in the Boat


A little after noon, we docked at a restaurant/bar on the lake and went in to grab a bite to eat. By this point my back had started to glow just a smidgen (even with the SPF50), so I was pretty happy to get off the lake for a while.

About 2:00 PM, we all piled back into the boat and decided to stop at one end of the lake and just float for a while so that we could all just relax and enjoy the sun and water. Check out all of us relaxing in the sun:

Alex Relaxing in the Tube


Sam and Heidi


Andrea Asleep in the Boat


We spent a nice long time just floating and chatting and sleeping. Eventually, we were visited by some water fowl, who it seems love to eat Cheetos and attack toes:

Jill's Toes, The Geese, and a Cheetos


Tony and The Geese:

About 5:00 we decided it was time to get off the lake and go take showers and have a bite to eat. So, Alex helped Jill get the boat anchored down, we all went to Miller's Landing and paid the $3 for 5 minutes of showers (I actually splurged and paid for 10 minutes.) We grabbed some more ice, firewood, and headed back to the campsite. Surprise, surprise, it had once again gotten dark out, so dinner (a wonderful tri-tip, garlic bread, salad, and corn on the cob) was cooked by lantern light, but it was still wonderful tasting.

I, unfortunately, became quite the victim of camping injuries on this night. I twisted my ankle, again, and ended up falling and sliding down the slope. I ended up with a bruise on the palm of my hand, scrapes and bruises on both knees, dust and dirt all over which was upsetting after just showering. I then was helping to clean up after dinner and was bringing the Coleman kerosene lantern over to the group. It was decided to turn it off, since we had plenty of light from the fire, sadly I didn't know how to turn it off and made the mistake of twisting the screw thingy on the top of the lantern, which was VERY hot and managed to burn my finger and thumb. I vaguely doing this before when I was a child and camping with my parents, but I survived then and I survived now....

Everybody was pretty worn out after the day of boating, so we turned in pretty early. Alex was still challenged with his flat air mattress, luckily Sam had blown up a floaty chair that was initially going to be used on the lake but Alex ended up using that as his sleeping chair. Sadly, we have no photos of Alex "sleeping" in the floaty chair with his Boise headphones that he needed to use to block out Tony's snoring.

Personally, I again loved falling asleep looking up at the stars through the skylight in the tent. Admittedly, I did say after falling and burning myself that I hated camping, but that was just tired, grumpy five-year-old Andrea coming out. I still greatly enjoy camping and look forward to my next trip.

Friday - Camping Day Two - Afternoon/Evening

So, the three of us head to the boat ramp to get the boat in the water and have "girl time".

Sadly, the first challenge was getting the truck and boat backed down the ramp. Luckily, a couple of very nice gentlemen offered to give us a hand, mostly because I think they didn't want to have to wait in line while we pulled forward then backed up and pulled forward again. Jill and I jumped on the boat and backed into the lake while Samantha drove the truck and the boat hitch thingy to park it and the plan was to meet us back at the dock. While Jill and I were floating around on the lake, we decided that we needed to cool off a bit and I did something that I haven't done in probably my whole life. I jumped off the boat and went completely underwater. (For those of you who are not aware, I have a slight 'issue' with having my face wet, to the point where I have to keep a towel in the shower with me to dry my face. I have always been the Queen of the dog paddle.) So, me jumping in the water straight off, going under water, and enjoying it was a completely new experience for me!!

We get back on the boat and head over to the dock. Jill gave me a quick lesson in tieing ropes and then handed me the rope to use to tie up the boat. Her words to me were "Hop onto the dock and cushion the boat." I say "Sure, not a problem." We approach the dock, I swing one foot over the side of the boat in preparation for "hopping". Understand, I don't "hop". I figured I would just "step" onto the dock. So, we approach, Jill tells me to hop, I step. My left foot is on the dock, my right foot is stuck in the seat cushions on the boat. Even though the boat is in neutral, there are wakes coming into shore and the boat starts to float away from the dock. I am now the human equivalent to the wishbone being pulled apart. I give Jill a look of complete fear and confusion. She, sadly, sadly can do nothing for me. Sam is too far away on the shore to do anything. I am stuck and being stretched, farther and farther apart. Finally, I have to make a decision. I remove my foot from the dock, slap into the side of the boat, my foot comes unstuck from the seat cushions, I yell out, and splash into lake. Yes, it was the quintessential boating physical joke. The good thing, I survived (only with a swollen ankle, which gave me trouble the rest of the weekend) AND I never let go of the rope to tie the boat off. Jill killed the motor, I swam around to the rear and pulled myself back into the boat laughing the whole time...

Whew, quite the excitement. The rest of the afternoon the three of us played on the lake, drank some champagne, ate some Cheetos, soaked up the sun, and shared stories. Sam learned how to drive the boat so that Jill could do some wake-boarding. Check out some of the photos:

Sam Learning to Drive the Boat

Jill and Sam

View off the Boat

Jill on the Wake Skate

Around 5:00 we decided that we were getting hungry (and you know I don't do well when I'm hungry because then I get grumpy) and decided to get off the lake. We anchored the boat near our campsite and swam into shore. Sam and I went and set up the tent for the guys since we didn't want them to have to deal with it when they finally got in (yeah, yeah, we are really nice). We then grabbed a change of clothes and headed down to Miller's Landing for showers and to grab a bite to eat. We still didn't have a grill or lights.

The tokens for the shower were $3 for 5 minutes. It is surprising how quickly you can learn to shower when it costs that much and the water is only cold. After the showers, we got burgers and shakes at the grill there and waited for Alex and Tony to arrive so that they could follow us out to the campsite since it was a little difficult to find.

After food, the five of us headed back to the camp site and started a fire. "Luckily" we still had some gasoline left over from when we had to fill up Jill's truck, so that was used to get the fire started (Kids, don't try that at home EVER). We made some cocktails, turned on some tunes, and kicked back. Somehow, Jill and I ended up dancing the night away.

Jill and Andrea Dancing

Eventually Heidi and her husband arrived with the lamps and the party kept going. Around elevenish, we finally wrapped it up and headed to bed. All in all (aside from the whole Andrea falling into the lake thing) it was a great first full day camping. At this point, I'm still liking camping!!

Next day of camping and boating coming soon....

Friday - Camping Day Two - Morning

6:00 AM I woke up so that I could be one with nature and watch the sunrise....

After watching the sunrise, I decided to take a look around the campsite, since it was now light and I could actually see where we landed. It seems that the raccoons had a lovely meal of hot dog buns and pistachio nuts, but luckily everything else had been safely tucked away so that no other foodstuff was ruined. The Taj Ma-Tent had been set up on a slope and we didn't take the time to stake the tent down the night before so it had stared to slide down the hill.

Around 6:30 - 6:45 Jill and Samantha crawled out of the tent and Jill put on some coffee. While we did not have the grill, we did have Jill's camp stove, so she started percolating the coffee and then threw on some sausage, bacon, and eggs. Check out the kitchen setup:

By 7:30 we were sitting down watching the sun over the lake eating a nice hearty breakfast, and can I say that there is something really great about eating food cooked in the great outdoors.

Sam then took off to check us in at the Ranger's office and stake our claim on the other campsite so that the folks that were arriving on Friday would have a place to set up their tent. Jill and I rearranged the tent so that it was sloping back to front rather than side to side. This way we would no longer roll out of our beds in the middle of the night. While Jill cleaned up the tent (sweeping, making the beds, etc.), I cleaned up and straightened the camp site, got all the rest of the stuff out of the trucks and did other putzing around. Check out the Taj Ma-Tent with the great maid service getting it all ship-shape.

At about 10 AM, camp was in shape and all of the paperwork was done so the three of us decided it was time to put the boat in the water. We put on our suits, climbed into Jill's truck and headed down to the boat ramp....

Come back soon to see what happens next!!

Thursday - Camping Day One

NOTE: Times are not exact and the initial plan was leave Jill's by like noon so that we could get to the camp site while there is lots of light, get the tents set up and cook dinner, and relax. 

8:30 AM, Samantha is scheduled to pick me up on the corner with all of my gear. About this time she pings me to let me know that she has to deal with the movement of cars since there is street cleaning to contend with in the city and she, nor her folks, want to deal with the ticket. 

9:00 AM, Samantha picks me up with her truck loaded with all her camping gear and we head down to San Jose to hook up with Jill and help her get the rest of the camping gear, the boat, and head out on the road. 

10:00 AM, Samantha and I get to San Jose but Jill is finishing up getting the boat in ship shape, so we stop at Walgreen's to pick up some additional last minute things, like aloe vera for the sunburn I know I will get, Chapstick for Sam, Oreo Cakesters because I'm hungry for something bad for me, allergy medicine since we both woke up with allergy attacks and know that it will just get worse as we head into the woods. 

10:30 AM, Samantha and I stop at Starbucks so Sam can get a coffee fix. 

11:00 AM, Samantha and I get back to Jill's house and wait for Jill. While there we come across the Costco list that Jill has planned and added a few things. 

11:15 AM, Jill arrives and we all jump in Samantha's truck and head off to Costco. While at Costco, we purchase meat, water, soda, crackers, beer, champagne, orange juice, tequila, rum, buns, sausages, eggs, and a big ol' cart of other stuff. We loaded up the truck and headed back to Jill's. 

12:45 PM, Jill and I start loading up her truck with all the camp gear while Samantha ran to the grocery store to pick up a couple of final items like tomatoes, potatoes, and some other perishables that we would need for the trip. 

1:45 PM, Samantha makes it back with the groceries, but missed getting ice for the coolers, so headed for a final run to the store to get that last final requirement. 

2:30 PM, we throw the last of them items into the trucks, climb in and head out. We are only four and a half hours behind schedule. 

3:30 PM, Jill calls Samantha and tells her that we forgot to pack the portable gas grill that we will use to cook dinner on. Should we turn back and get it or power on forward? We opted to power on forward and Samantha called Richard to get in touch with Heidi, who was coming up on Friday afternoon and could swing past Jill's house on the way out to pick up the grill. Whew, crisis averted. 

4:45 PM, we have been following the directions that were printed off from Google maps and find ourselves lost circling around a women's prison. 

5:00 PM, we are back on track and heading into the foothills. Samantha has taken the lead and we feel we are making good time along this remote winding road. 

5:15 PM, Jill is no longer behind us. Hmmm, let's pull over and give her some time to catch up. 

5:25 PM, strange lady pulls up next to us and asks if we have a friend towing a boat? If so, she is a couple of miles back pulled over on the side of the road with only fumes left in the truck and is in need of gas. 

5:30 PM, Samantha and I turn around and go back to Jill, determine to go get gas and bring it back so that Jill will have enough gas to get to gas station to fill up. 

6:15 PM, Jill's truck is gassed back up. Samantha asked the locals for directions to Bass Lake and the Wishon Campsite, so we are back on track and heading to our campsite. 

7:00 PM, we arrive at the boat ramp and unhitch the boat, then head off to claim our site. 

7:30 PM, we arrive at our site. The one that we really wanted had already been claimed so we took the double site next to it and started to unload. Mind you, it was starting to get dark, surprise, surprise. Our site had a great view of the lake, but there was no completely flat area and there is a serious slope from where the trucks are parked to where we were going to set things up, but we manage. We set up the "kitchen" area, which contains three tables, including the bar. By this time it is almost pitch black and we realize that we have also forgotten to bring any lights, aside from a wimpy cheap flashlight that I picked up at Target and another little lantern that Samantha had. Jill and Samantha decide that we will only set up Jill's Taj Ma-Tent and the three of us will all stay in there for the night. The only problem would be that the tent was set up on a slope, but more about that later. The air mattresses are blown up and Jill whips out the 300 thread count sheets and comforters and make up the two beds. 

8:30 PM, we realize that we are all hungry and even though Samantha is already into her whole "one with nature" mode and keeps trying to point out how beautiful the stars and the moon look, all I can say is my blood sugar has crashed, but bowl of cereal at 5 in the morning and my Oreo Cakesters at noon are long gone and I can't appreciate nature when I'm feeling grumpy." (FYI, don't cross Andrea when she is grumpy and hungry.) So we all pile into Jill's truck and head off to find food. As it turns out, we had to drive quite a ways to locate a restaurant that was actually open but we found one eventually. 

10:00 PM, we get back to camp and sit around and look at the beautiful stars. I can now adequately appreciate them now that I have some food in my belly. 

10:15 PM, we all decide that it is time to turn in. We look around and think that everything is battened down and we crawl into our beds. 

Midnight, I hear scratching outside, but am too concerned to get up and see what it is. 

1:30 AM, Samantha gets up to go to the bathroom. She comes back in to the tent and announces that there are raccoons out there and asks if we put all food away. I have a brief mind flash that we perhaps didn't get the hot dog buns put away. She and I determine that neither of us want to face off against a rabid pack of raccoons. 

Lessons learned from day one.... 1. Go to Costco before the day you plan to leave. 2. Keep a map in the car. 3. Fill up your gas tank before you leave. 4. Get to the camp site before dark. 5. Always enjoy yourself. 

Come back for Friday - Camping Day Two. That's when the REAL party gets started!!