i love camping! :) after trying to get three different groups of people together for camping this weekend (and subsequently various and sundry of them dropping out), i finally managed to coerce genine, seth, and og to go camping with me. g&s brought their lovely hyper puppy, zeppelin, and so we utilized genine's dog-friendly-campgrounds book to find lake sonoma. the campground was fairly empty when we got there mid-morning on saturday, because the wells were already all dried up for the season (hence no water). we brought plenty of water and liquid refreshment, though, so we were all set.

(thanks to seth whose pictures i'm usurping, by the way. :))

first, we had tents to set up. heather's tent, brand spankin' new out of the box, was a funky pop-up dealy that we had some trouble getting to "pop up." who buys a pop-up tent, anyway?! here's our mangled attempt. yes, we did get it up. and seth and genine's tent had bay windows! ahhh, luxury camping. :)

after we set up camp, had some pb&j, and cracked open a few bottles (mmmm, smirnoff twisters!), we headed over to ye olde swimming hole. there's a section of lake sonoma that's specifically set aside for swimming (with "beach") but it's entirely on the other side of the park! and you have to go through cloverdale to get there! not really the most direct route. we got zepp to do some swimming (reluctantly) and we all got some sun before heading back to camp for some grub. baked potatoes, chicken and apple sausages, english baked beans, and s'mores over the campfire-- yum! seth was demonstrating his multitasking and agility ability, which i unfortunately missed because i was up the road looking at stars. we also determined that my middle name is definitely not grace.

sunday we slept in a bit, genine made breakfast, and we packed up camp and headed back to the lake. this time we were smart and found a swimming area near the boat launch ramp, but the parking attendant was mean and wouldn't let us park there. instead, we crossed the bridge and found a tiny little private beach with lots of interesting geology and stuff. there was even a tiny spring! :) yes, i'm an eco-dork.

all in all, it was much fun. seth and genine are great :) oh, and og is too, but then, she already knew that. :)

some more of seth's usurped pictures that i think are fun.... (i tried to post them directly on here, but i am html-deficient. can anyone help me with the source code to post direct images? i thought i knew it but it didn't work :( )
~*~down from the ridgeline at the campground
~*~moonrise
~*~genine and zeppelin looking cute on the hiking trail
~*~a view of lake sonoma from our day 2 swimming area
~*~under the bridge
~*~the spring