Alexander Lake

There are no words to describe just how much I love this place. Really.

We got there late because...well it's a 2 hour drive, I worked 'till 5 and we still had some getting ready to do when I got finished with work. No matter, it was well worth the drive.

First order of business (I mean after peeing of course) was to build a fire and set up the tent. There's just something romantic about staring at a fire in the pitch black, glancing up at the 10 million stars every once in a while, with only your husband to protect you from the creatures and drunks next door. Last night did not disappoint.

Josh and I kept looking out over the lake, Josh wished he could be fishing, but of course he couldn't. Until it was time to put out the fire. Using our gigantic Subway cup, he went down to the lake to get some water to safely put out the fire (because even though Josh doesn't think so, I know that Only WE can prevent forest fires.) and returned with a cup full of......

A fish! (It's bigger than it looks in the picture.) I don't think it really satisfied the "urge to fish" but he was pretty proud of himself for catching a fish in a cup in the dark. I was proud too. You can tell because I took a picture.

After Josh kicked my butt at Phase 10 (I NEVER used to lose to him....maybe the child within is throwing off my groove) we crawled into bed. May I pause to highly recommend a 2 man sleeping bag? I never slept well camping without Josh close enough to keep me warm. Well worth the financial investment.

First thing in the morning I unzipped the tent to see if the lake was still there. It was.

and it just got prettier...

and prettier...

the longer I watched it.

After going back to bed for "just 5 more minutes" I woke up to this view (which in my mind is tough competition for the first).

Josh had already built the fire and was ready for another round of Phase 10 before breakfast.

But first another picture of heaven:

OK fine, 2 pictures of heaven.

And then I kindly kicked kicked HIS trash at Phase 10 (my only explanation is that Thomas was still sleeping...)

After breakfast (fire scrambled eggs and pancakes of course) we got ready to go for a swim.

Then started to pack up and head out (hey! It's Saturday, we got things to do!)

This might be my new favorite picture of Josh - handsome eh?

The only thing I do not love about Alexander Lake is that Josh prefers to drive in to the lake instead of stopping when the road gets bad and hiking all our stuff in. The worst part? Driving in also requires driving out.

When we finally got to the non-scary good road that had virtually no rocks, no bumps, and was easily twice as wide as what we'd been on for the past 20 minutes I was ready to get out and kiss the ground.

And by "get out and kiss the ground" I mean "take a picture because my eyes were open and my hand was free from gripping the door handle as though it alone would safe my life in case we rolled or crashed, for the first time since we left".

Although it was a short trip, it was perfect. We got to watch a fire, eat banana boats, swim, play cards, fish (sortof), talk, laugh, count a million stars, make fun of the awkward 15-year-olds in the next site, and just plain enjoy each other's company. That is my idea of the perfect weekend.

Josh is totally wiped out (and sleeping), which means we'll both be awake most of the night (surprisingly this sounds fun to me....it's been a while since we both got up in the middle of the night because sleep was too boring and did something exciting).

Meanwhile, I've had time to do 4 (count them, FOUR!) batches of laundry, we put away all of the camping gear, did the dishes and cleaned up, and now we still have a whole Saturday night ahead of us!

And THAT, my friends, is what I love about Alexander Lake.