Reynold's Creek: April 6, 2013

The sinus demons plagued me throughout the night.  I didn't sleep at all.  I was hoping that the white noise provided by the generous little creek would lull me to sleep.  My sinuses had other ideas.  Non stop sneezing and runny nose.  Mike was a doll and let me sleep in.  He hiked around with the kids while I slept in.

She poses so seriously....then laughs at Mike.

And Rommel in his natural state: wet.

The three amigos.

 The tent really blends in.  The Jeep, not so much.

I finally woke and we had lunch.  The kiddos rested and Mike took out his bow.  He bought the silly thing years ago and decided to dust it off and practice.  He's contemplating hunting season this year....we'll see.  His aim is pretty spot on.  The arrow is so fast that the shutter couldn't catch it mid flight. 

We mostly lounged.  Snacked on cheese and crackers under the whispering canopy.

Mike spotted some red rock cliffs peeking through the tree line.  We hoped that hiking the opposite slope would drop us into an opening for some cool shots.  Not so much.  More teasing peeks, but nothing spectacular. 

Hiking isn't nearly as fun as the water, but he managed.

Everyone worked up a sweat.  What does that mean? Soaking wet dogs.

Bear graced us with his presence.  Even on day two, he still didn't understand what was so great about this whole camping nonsense. And he missed Elly so much he molested her eye ball.

Dusk came pretty quickly.  I considered finding a cool spot to capture the sunset, but it clouded over while making dinner.  And dinner....dinner....dinner...was fantastic.  I've been experimenting with pizza making.  I've made several at home, in the stove, in a dutch oven.  Various crust recipes.  I did something right.  And I think I know what it was.  I googled whether or not I could prepare my dough days in advance. Long story short, you can.  It was made Thursday night and slowly rose in the fridge until Saturday.  Same with the sauce, it sat in its herbs and spices all weekend.  Cooked slowly over coals in a dutch oven.  It was the best yet.  So great, I forgot to take a picture.   Pizza inhaled, wine enjoyed, fire roaring: another amazing day in our oasis on the books.

We had the bright idea to put the wine bottle in the fire to melt down.  A bit of a science/art project.  The coals were so hot that it melted quickly into a blob. So much for that.

The night was cooler than the one prior.  The dogs really pushed for bed tonight.  Hiking and water play really took it out of them.  They were asleep hours before we even put the fire out.  Going to bed meant leaving the following day.  It will be hard to leave this place.