A somewhat different Thanksgiving

What comes to mind when the idea of "Thanksgiving" is tossed into a conversation? The essentials; turkey, sweet potato casserole, rolls, green bean casserole, numerous pies and ice cream. Oh....and most of the time family! But this year was a little different for the southern California Suhr household of two. Instead of spending the holiday fighting traffic driving somewhere or loads of moolah flying home, we decided to spend it camping in a tent in a little place called Yosemite. Lodging? A cabin with a nice bed, fridge full of food and hot showers, right? Nope. Not even that. We went for the camping experience and it turned out to be a good one. We had 3 nights of freezing (literally) temperatures, but thanks to our numerous ground mattresses, blankets, and queen size sleeping bag we slept like babies! And our food....was goooood! Beth suggested "pigs in a blanket" for thanksgiving dinner and so that's what we did. Here's how. Roast a hot dog over the fire. Once it is done cooking, take a thin slice of cheese and place it around the hot dog and then wrap it in croissant dough (from the can), and finally in aluminum foil. After you roast it over the fire some more it starts sizzlin' and boy does it taste great! Oh...and speaking of fires, we had roaring fires at night. They kept us nice and toasty as we cooked and ate out meals and waited for the uneventful sighting of a bear. They were supposed to be in camp every night but we didn't hear or see any sign of them. Beth's beginning to think that animals don't exist where people say they do. On our honeymoon in New Hampshire we looked and looked for a moose for a week and a half and never saw one. We were up in the Boundary Waters canoeing for a week and didn't see one up there either. Now, no bears in Yosemite?! She might me on to something.

The interesting part of camping though at this time of year in a deep valley, is that the sun sets around 4pm and it's dark by 5. The game then becomes, "what can we do to stay awake for like 4 more hours till it's bed time?". The answer was NOTHING! Ahh.....going to bed at 8pm was actually a treat. We got about 12 hours of sleep each night.

During the days we hiked to gorgeous water falls via hiking trails that were near vertical. I looked at the hikers guide and it said that the hikes would be strenuous and then very strenuous, but I didn't believe it. But let me tell you, it's not 3 days after the hikes and we are both still so sore from it! The people on the trails were very friendly and everyone was wishing each other "happy Thanksgiving!" and we even got to hike with a man from San Francisco for a while. His wife and girls were staying down in the valley for the day and so we some good company for a while. One thing that seems to happen on our hikes is some sort of miscommunication. Beth says something, I don't hear it right for some reason and then the aftermath leaves us trying to sort out what happened. Neither of us like it, but it happens each time we go out! Every couple I talk to says that communication is the hardest part of a relationship....and I'll agree whole-heartedly on that one. A constant tension that we'll be learning about for years to come.

Back to the end of the trip...we came home and relaxed friday evening after thanksgiving and it was so nice to be warm, clean and sleeping with a down comforter! Saturday ended up being a huge day for us as well. We made our first, all by ourselves, thanksgiving dinner for us and 6 others! It was a hit and the people that came loved it. We really enjoyed the evening with our friends and just wish it could have lasted for longer. The day ended with a slice of pumpkin roll and some sparkling cider and laughter in the living room!
That was a different thanksgiving, but one I'll remember for the rest of my life. I'm going to put a few pics up just so you can see where we were for our fall holiday!