Last weekend in August Camping at Tenderfoot

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We left Anchorage after work and got on the road south by 6pm. Dry weather! We hoped this meant we would be able to try out our canoe just recently purchased. 

Drove to Tenderfoot campground and found a fairly decent site. Now we have new things to look for at a site to be wary of. A slight slope in parking the van. Placement of the fire pit in relation to the picnic table. This is in addition to our previous list: site on the periphery if there is a loop with inner site, semi secluded, not in sight of neighbors, space for our trailer and foyer beside the van...we don't achieve this every time but the list is good. 

We did not even bother to set up our gazebo or tarp, optimistically thinking that it would stay dry the whole weekend. Sat out till late around the campfire reading and talking. I fell asleep in the chair, okay, I do this very easily... Mark cleaned up for the night and we turned in. Sometime late in the night it began to rain! Rain continued to fall the rest of the night and most of Saturday. We got up and set up our gazebo and tarp lean-to near the fire so we could sit out and read and stay dry while enjoying the fire. At one point it seemed that the rain had stopped so we went for a walk down to the lake only to find it rather windy and not very conducive to canoeing. The day passed pleasantly enough sitting and reading and a bit of thank you card writing after our campng celebration last week. 

One of the noticeable differences in summer and fall camping is the lack of light at night. We tend to forget things like a headlamp that would make things a bit easier. We still sat out Saturday night till we had no more light to read by. 

A new thing we tried this time was to use the DVD player in the van to watch a movie. Our choice of movie? "Labyrinth" with David Bowie. Aside from the small screen which made it difficult to see when laying down, the movie itself was horrible in our humble opinion. Off it went and we went outside to wander around the campground in the drizzle.  A movie on a rainy afternoon seemed like a good idea. we tried a movie again after it was dark and got rather cold out. This time our choice was "Get Smart" with Anne Hathaway. I like her as an actress but she seems way too young for 'Max' and then I fell asleep. 

Sunday morning was sunny and clear. We had enough wood left for a fire to cook pancakes on. Fresh blueberries made them extra tasty. We had thought to bring Aqua's gift of blueberry gooseberry jam to heat up and put on them but forgot to pack it. That will definitely be in our 'kitchen' for next week's adventure! 

As the fire died down and the sun stayed out and there was little wind, we decided to take the canoe out on the lake before heading back home. A fantastic decision! The canoe was lake-worthy with only two places that needed patching. We will have to get one more paddle. If you are between 5' and 5'7" or so then we have a paddle for you! And if you are between 4'-5' then we have two paddles for you. Our canoe came with three short paddles and one long one. For some reason we have had one lone paddle kicking around the garage for years, it is short too. I see a new Craigslist post in our future. 

We paddled from one end of Summit Lake to the other and back again. Next time we will pack a picnic lunch and float on the lake enjoying the scenery. Since it has rained over 70% of the time we have ever gone camping this may just be a dream but 30% is sunny and it could be that the next time will be that 30%!

Stopped at the Alpine Bake Shop on the way home. Not doing that again! They are way over priced and obviously know that as they say one should look at their prices before buying the baked goods. The baked good are not worth the money!

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