Camping, Wednesday.

[elfs]

Yamaraashi-chan at Anderson Pt.

The sun was shining and the girls were giggly. Yamaraashi-chan became obsessed with her bugbites and cataloged all of them. I made my coffee and we had cranberry breakfast muffins for breakfast. The trick to the breakfast muffins is to wrap them in foil and then hold them over the fire on the end of a marshmallow stick; they heat evenly and hold in moisture, so they're deliciously warmed and absolutely heavenly with butter. The coffee is civilizing force for good.

Yamaraashi-chan dressed in a spaghetti-strap top that even she admitted later was "a bad idea" because the mosquitos were all so bad this year.

We drove out to Baker Lake Dam, a modest hydroelectric project of Puget Power and Tacoma City Light. We drove behind a pickup with a horse trailer, and both riders were women. I don't think I've seen a man riding horses recreationally for a long time now.

Latrine.

We entered the Baker Lake Trail from the south side this time, taking an easy 2.4 mile hike in to Anderson Point. When we got there we found one heck of a campsite, complete with a box latrine: no surrounding shelter, just an isolated pit with a wooden box covering it and this sign pointing the way. The girls were fascinated by the idea until I pointed out that you'd also have to sit there to use it when it was raining. There were campers there, too. They had crossed the lake on their boat, only to have the motor break down and strand them. They asked how long the hike was as it looked like they might have to hoof it out of there to get parts.

We sat on the beach at Anderson Point, skipping stones, eating PB&J sandwiches, and lying in the sun while the girls played in the water. The campers had a crappy little weiner dog who barked at us annoyingly and then walked away, head and tail high. "Hmph, my ancestors were timberwolves."

Beercan Chicken!

We made beercan chicken, which admittedly looks a little weird and takes a long time-- almost two hours, while the steaming beer keeps the bird moist and helps cook the upper portion. That, couscous, and broccoli. Who says you can't be civilized out in the middle of nowhere?