So, apparently this is more fun than I'd thought it would be! I'm still trying to figure out how to run this blog site; I'm not very savvy when it comes to computers, so the fact that I even got this blog started is a small miracle in itself! I much prefer to do things outdoors; gardening, hunting, and quadding, to name a few. Four years ago, Gerald and I went to a spot way back in the hills; a place where Gerald had enjoyed many good times with Kevin, our dear, departed friend. We quadded for about an hour through very beautiful terrain, much of which looked like a rain forest due to the abundance of natural springs. The ferns and leafy plants were so bug that I found myself in awe of the robustness of the nature; much different than the vegetation that exists around most of Baytree. We got to the special spot and I was thrilled to see that although it resembled the view from the Baytree Rimrocks, that I'm sure lots of you are familiar with, this new scene was so much more grand and magnificent in size and beauty. To make a long story short, Gerald and I built a camp there, and stayed there one night, before getting snowed out. I was actually pregnant with Jake at the time, but didn't know it yet. So, needless to say, after we found out that Jake was on the way, that was the end of quadding for a while. And so, our camp was left alone for the past four years, while we tried to survive Jake's screaming for the first several month's of life, numerous moves and other obstacles that prevented us from making the treck out to the camp. Well, this summer has been no different; always something needing to be done; so we haven't done much quadding. But, one afternoon last week, Gerald took off his tool belt and we packed the cooler, fired up the "orange quad" and the "green quad", as Jake calls them. Apparently, the color is more important than the make or the model, something that will surely change for Jake in the years to come. We bounced our way through the bush and past the salt lick, that has been VERY used this year, due to the lack of rain. I know where I'm setting up my tree stand this year! When we reached the camp, we saw that the bears had all but demolished our shelter, and there were pieces of shredded, blue tarp leading into the bush in all directions. But the log benches were still intact, along with the fire pit. There were a few littered beer cans here and there, but Gerald quickly kicked them out of sight, while muttering something about how mad "those kind of people" made him. We were sad to see all of the large pine trees that lined the edge of the cliff dying from pine beatle infestation, but the view was more than enough to make up for the bare evergreens that were no longer evergreen. We enjoyed our gourmet supper of iced tea from a mason jar and jumbo Schneiders hot dogs, about which Gerald instructed me not to buy again. Then after tossing a few boulders over the edge and walking down a few rims only to be grossed out by masses of pack rat nests, we headed back home. On the way home, Monika stated that this was our "secret camp" and if we don't tell anyone where it is, no one but us will ever go there....I guess the beer cans didn't mean anything to her...