I could not believe that I woke up late this morning. Yuko called me at 9:30am and woke me up. I met them at Yuko's place at about 10:15am. We tried to pack everything in the car including the bikes. However, the bike rack did not fit the truck design of the Lebaron and the back started to crack and we gave up to bring the bikes with us. Taka and Yuko was amazed all kinds of stuffs at in the car. It looked like we were moving. Three of us dressed like snowmen and all were sitting at the front with our butts kept touching each others. HAHAHA! We went to Walmart and tried to return some stuffs so that we can save some money but the lady said we could not return food. Well, we just had to finish eating all the food then. Taka was driving and he said he had never driven a car this old. He said the car is just one year younger than him. We stopped by a drive-through at Burger King for a cheap breakfast. Yuko said it was her first time to use the drive through. She is just a babe in America.
We started our journey to Lake Alan Henry. The weather was cold but not very very cold. It took us about an hour and half to get to Lake Alan Henry. It was quiet and no one at the gate. So we went to the store and got the idea to pay the admission at the gate with an envelope. Both North and south camp sites are very close to the main parking. We looked at each of those and we chose #30. Since it is next to the lake plus there was a secret spot to hide. We drove the car through some very rough road and part of the lake and we got to the secret spot at #30. Yuko was outside taking pics while Taka and I were struggling to drive the car on the path.
It took us quite sometime to setup the tent. The tent was supposed to be very easy to setup but we were still just too dumb for it. We went canoeing right after we setup the tents. We were so excited to try that. It was very scary in the beginning because we were very afraid the canoe would tip very easily. After a couple mins we got the idea and we sailed the canoe to some rocks hoping to fish there but there are branches everywhere which our fishing lines got stucked again and again. After awhile we gave up, we paddled back to the camp. We were so tried because of the paddling. My arms are so sore. Paddling uses more on my upper arm muscles which I usually don't work them out at all. Anyway we managed to sail the canoe back. Btw, we saw a big deer while we sailed the canoe.(What a wonderful life! ) At that time, I actually kept thinking of getting that deer for dinner. Of course it went away later.
We were so hungry when we got back to the shore. So we decided to make something to eat. Taka started the fire for the grill, Yuko was cutting and preparing all the food and I tried to set up stoves and lantern. After 30mins we were all enjoying teppanyaki or yakiniku 焼き肉. The food was so yumme. Yuko cut the vegetable so small that it was very easy to be cooked. We had so much food. We ate beef, pork, green pepper, onion, mushroom, and some other stuffs. The feeling was different on eating since we were at a such beautiful nature. It even makes the food tasted more natural. The bunnies were around us. I thought they could smell our food. I bet they really wanted to join us. But too bad, they did not come very close, I knew I would cook them if they came very close.
After eating Taka and I setup up many fishing lines. We set up 6 of those. We hoped to wait for one night then we might get some fish. We sailed the canoe again later and this time we tried to cut through many trees branches on the water. Yuko was quite scare of the tree branches but Taka and I were so brave that whatever branches or brushes on the water. We went straight into them.
After awhile we went back to the camp again this time we smelled something very good in the grill. It was the sweet potatoes. We totally forgot them after we put them in. It was just like gifts from Santa Coste to us. (Or maybe I should say from a female easter bunny!) we started to eat again. With beer, we bbq the beef, chicken wings and hot dogs, and more....... I love bbq food with chacoal. The taste and the smell is just different. The sweet potatos were so good that I thought we were eating a fresh baked cake. We thought of Karen telling us about the sweet potatoes and then we said to ourselves to try to bbq banana that Kumi was talking about. Again, the bbq banana tasted like a banana cake. It was good. We also bbq the mushrooms. The mushrooms tasted so yumme that I still remember the taste of the juice came out from bbq mushrooms. Bbq mushroom is so delicous. We also bbq the mashmellow. It was so sweet and yumme.
After much food it was time for number 2, we did not notice there was a toliet around us. So we all decided to find some bushes to do it. It was awesome. The feeling is so good to do it in the nature. It doesn't have any bad urine or poop smell like in the restrooms plus you can see the lake and trees around you and you can also hear the music that was sung by the insects around you. (beside the "bo bo bo" music that I made! Haha!). I asked yuko and taka what I should do with the toliet paper and he said it is better to put them in a bag to collect them. So I put them in a bag and tight it on the tree. (In fact, I took a pic of it).
Well, it was time for bed after we had accomplished so many great things. We all tried our sleeping bags. They are very crazy since they all for very cold weather (like 15F, 0F, -29F). We
drank beer and ate snacks while we talked in the tent. The tent was so big that it could easily fit 5 or 6 people inside. After much beer, at about 1am, we all slept.
