Nightmare At Alyssa's House

*Update, pictures were saved (some weeks later) you can see them here.

The most traumatic thing happened the other day which is why I haven't posted in so long.  Here I was minding my own business blissfully loading my pictures onto the computer when du-du-duhhhhhhhh iphoto freezes.  When it comes to again the pictures are not on the computer or on the memory card, they're gone.  506 pictures evaporated into space.  Our whole camping trip, the entire visual story disappeared.  It was awful, it still is awful.

So let me describe our trip with out pictures.  You'll see how (or not!) how inadequate my words are.  We left on Monday afternoon for the campsite Natasha had chosen.  We set up our site in turbo speed (note to us: let Natasha set up tents, Shane and I always fight about it.)  We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and sat down with our books.  Side note: reading without distraction is the second best thing about camping.  Although we do get distracted, just not by technology.  We had our whole family, that is, mother and three other siblings, come up for dinner/fire.  We ate bean burgers that we've made a few times now, they are so good!  And then when the time was right, we started our fire.  Side note #2: Campfires are the best part of camping.  We indulged in homemade smores, I made both the graham crackers and marshmallows the day before.  We stayed up around the fire as the darkness consumed everything until nothing but the fire was visible.

The next morning we awoke to rye pancakes and hot camp coffee.  Natasha and I took Butter for a hike to Watt Creek.  Somehow from Watt Creek we ended up on the top of Teapot Hill.  Except the hike to the top of Teapot was significantly shorter and steeper than the regular way.  Think half the distance and the same climb.  It was good for us anyway and the back trail was absolutely gorgeous.  It looped around behind the mountains through the valley and over a dry creek bed.  Down there in the wet we found the elusive salmonberries and tried a few.  Bad choice, they are not all that good and very bitter.  When we came back to camp we ate Onion-Miso Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

T&G came up and we started the fire again, we had marshmallows to eat.  We read our books some more and played a few rounds of Dutch Blitz, such a great game.  For dinner we made a grilled vegetable pizza, right over the fire.  It had all manner of vegetables and a bbq sauce I made.  We drank the rest of the Cariboo we brought up and Natasha tried to explain to me some of the biology of soil.  (Thank god it makes a little bit of sense to me.)  The night ended no earlier than the first and my sleep was remarkably better.  I think it had something to do with Butter not barking in the tent all night and the gravel in my back being less noticeable though I think I've get a bruise on my hip from the pressure.

We had a deluxe-o breakfast with fire grilled toast and local beef chorizos, we had hash browns and fried eggs along with local pressed juices and another pot of camp coffee (which just means fresh press.)  We packed up swiftly and cruised on home.

We're working on rescuing the pictures from my memory card, but the software in question costs $40, which is far more than I think it's worth.  We're waiting for a friend's dad to get back from Europe (2.5 weeks and counting!) to see if he has the necessary parts.  Wish us luck.