Labor Day Weekend in the mountains!

We headed out for the BIG weekend on Friday. Mark got off at 11am and we were on the road shortly after 12pm. A bit of construction traffic issues on the pass, but other than that a fairly un-eventful drive. Wait, let me back up a little. Mark text me at 10:30, said he was going to fuel up on his way home. Good idea but wait I had a better one! We had a $20.00 gift card for Costco, let's stop in Covington on the way and get fuel -- diesle that is.  I happily road along in the passenger seat feeling such pride at my insightful suggestion.  That is till we arrived at Costco -- they don't sell diesle! OMG we both new that, how could we forget that??
Well ok let's think, we're in Covington, there's lots of gas stations here, right. Yeah GAS stations! After winding our 20 ft truck with an atttached 21 ft trailer through construction, narrow roads and traffic our 3rd stop was a winner, they had diesle!!!

Ok back on the road on our merry little way, finally!

We arrived at the Kachess Lake Campground about 1:30 pm.  It was warm out, sunny and quiet.   Mark and I had set the trailer up, leveled it, put the slideout in place, lawn chairs set up and were having margaritas and munchies by 2:15.  Now it's time to relax!  Mark's content peering through his spotting scope at the mountain side hoping to see some form of wild animal and I'm reclined in my chair with my pillow ready for a nap. Wow life is good!

As I lay there in my lawn chair I start looking around at the flora and fona around our home for the weekend.  When we first arrived everything just looked green.  I hadn't noticed anything spectacular.  But now that I have settled in, I'm seeing it all. The vine maple are already starting to change colors, they are beautiful shades of oranges and reds and bright vibrant greens.  There's still huckleberries on the bushes - Mark and I picked a few over the weekend while out walking, good but not too sweet this year.  The place is alive with critters, the cute one's like the chipmunks that are scurrying about and the not so cute ones like the pre-historic looking black beattles that are making a strange clicking noise - YUK. These creatures are huge! I got a pic of one on a log with the tip of my foot close by for measurement purposes. ICKY!!!

Mark and I got in a few hands of Kings Corner and just enjoyed our first day in camp.  Our friends Tim and Carol and their family didn't make it up till after dark.  Mark and I gave up and went to bed about 10pm.  Apparently our "FRIENDS" came to visit around midnight and I guess attempted to wake us up, but it didn't work -- too much fresh air for us I guess. We all met up the next morning after breakfast.

Saturday was cooler and late afternoon the wind started in, then the drizzle started in the middle of the night. Good thing we had gotten our walks and exploring done earlier in the day. By Sunday morning our friends were ready to call it quits and they packed up and headed home.  But we stayed and enjoyed what turned out to be a really nice day on Sunday. 

I walked down to the small boat launch and walked out on the little penisula and took some pics of the lake and hillsides.  It really is a beautiful area and it's so quiet, other than the laughter and yells of the other nearby campers.

The Big Weekend!

It's Thursday night about 9pm. Tomorrow we head out for a long weekend of fun -- just like thousands of other families. I've been to the grocery store 3 times today to get everything I think I need.  In my efforts of slimming Mark and my bodies down I have forgone all the typical camping treats - NO DUMP CAKE this trip. But wait I will have home baked goodies! I have 2 new recipes for low-fat and low-sugar goodies! YUMMY!!! Atleast that's what the article in the magazine said they were, yeah right.

The first recipe I tried is for a delicious looking brownie, black bean brownies that is.  Well what can I say, they smelled like brownies while baking, they even look like brownies as they cool on the counter, in all of their chocolatey looking goodness and with the perfectly placed pecan halves slightly nestled down into the batter how could they not be out of this world???  But then there's the taste, that's a matter of opinion.  They're not baaaad, a little dry, need more cocoa powder and have that funny after taste from the fake sugar.  I like brownies with frosting and there's none here, these definately could improve with a nice thick layer of chocolate or cream cheese frosting, but then I guess they wouldn't be as figure friendly. Damm!  Maybe add raisin's?

The second recipe is for coconut macaroons.  Ding Ding we have a winner! These are also made with the fake sugar, but it's taste is not as noticable. They also have plain Greek yogurt in them, which I thought was wierd, but they're quite tasty.  Got Mark's approval so I'll definatley be making these again, but I think I'll try using the Vanilla or Honey flavored Greek yogurt and see how that taste.

I'm sure we'll survive the long weekend with out a bunch of junk, I know my body will feel better for it.  Even though I have taken off 10 of the 14 lbs I put back on, once I get the other 4 off -- I still have a lot further to go. Maybe I should make a blog just about my weight loss? It might help me stay on track better and maybe help someone else too?

I am looking forward to the weekend. I plan on giving my friend Carol a painting lesson and I'll be working on some small items for up coming shows as well. Fall is coming soon, I need to get painting, plus I have a show in September for the Olympia Bird Fanciers so I really need to design some bird stuff.  I'll post more about that another day.

As always, it's all in a day!
Tracy