Bill and I like camping. Not "love" as in live in the woods, but we spent many wonderful weekends camping in beautiful Wisconsin. One time we even packed our tent and drove to Maine/Grand Manan and camped at the Hole in Wall campground with a awe-inspiring view of the Bay of Fundy. For many summers, we pulled our little pop-up camper to explore waterfalls in Wisconsin and that was really, really nice. I do enjoy the "romantic" idea of camping (late night cocktails under the stars, early morning camping breakfast by the lake, s'mores) but rain, bugs and dirty feet sometimes dulled the effect for me. When friends here suggested a three-night rustic camping trip over 4th of July weekend, I wanted to go if nothing else but for the company.
However, we had
no camping paraphernalia and had to give some thought to the weather (did I mention that it rains in Juneau - a lot??). The deciding factor was that the campsites would be on an island only accessible by boat with no amenities (i.e. toilets, running water) and, since we try to experience everything that Alaska has to offer, we said yes and the trip was planned. We accepted a generous offer of a
borrowed tent and had our own sleeping bags, bought copious amounts of food and booze, lawn chairs and even campsite decorations. However, the most ingenious bring-along was our own portable toilet! Yes, people - Bill "MacGyver" Meier
made a port-a-potty complete with tp holder. Picked up on a rainy July 3
morning, we motored to Suedla Island (only the eight of us on it!) and quickly unloaded our things with help from those campers who stayed the night prior. One would not think that eight adults would need this much stuff. Luckily the rain had stopped by cocktail time, which was not technically at 5 o'clock but who's keeping track. We split wood, kept the fire stoked and settled in with snacks, hot dogs over the flames and Brandy Old-Fashioneds all around (or beer or tequila or whiskey or Fireball). We agreed that dinner would be an
Alaskan-style crab boil, with King Crab, fresh halibut and all the trimmings poured out over paper on the table. Dig in! Since it was July 3, the sky was light until well after 11 p.m. (longest day is June 21) and it was almost 2 a.m. before we crawled (literally) into our tent. July 4th dawned early (around 4 a.m. - didn't see it though) and we spent the day kayaking, fishing,
laughing, eating, drinking and other sorts of camping shenanigans (what happened at Suedla
stays at Suedla!). It was warm and sunny, an absolutely spectacular Juneau summer day! We took chairs down to the beach, looked for shells and beach glass along the tidal pools as the guys took the boat out fishing. After a steak and potato dinner, we had copious amounts of fireworks and started down to the beach about 10 p.m. to light off the show! Booms, pops and color was all around - what a great night!
Sunday was Bill's birthday - a little gift-giving along with a birthday pinata filled with candy, vodka and Fireball
was the signal that our island adventure was coming to a close. What a joy it was to spend this time with these friends - people we didn't know four years ago are now counted among our greatest friends. I sometimes am in awe of how our lives have changed with the introduction of these friends along with our "happy hour" group. There are
lots of people in this world - God throws a bunch of His people together and magic happens! Go out and find your own "magic" and your world will be blessed beyond your dreams!
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| Our beach fire on the night of July 4th, about 10 p.m. |
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| Midnight on July 4th |
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| Jessie, Chris, Cori and me with our sparklers! |
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| A Sunday morning view of our beach |
Bill and I like camping. Not "love" as in live in the woods, but we spent many wonderful weekends camping in beautiful Wisconsin. One time we even packed our tent and drove to Maine/Grand Manan and camped at the Hole in Wall campground with a awe-inspiring view of the Bay of Fundy. For many summers, we pulled our little pop-up camper to explore waterfalls in Wisconsin and that was really, really nice. I do enjoy the "romantic" idea of camping (late night cocktails under the stars, early morning camping breakfast by the lake, s'mores) but rain, bugs and dirty feet sometimes dulled the effect for me. When friends here suggested a three-night rustic camping trip over 4th of July weekend, I wanted to go if nothing else but for the company. 
However, we had no camping paraphernalia and had to give some thought to the weather (did I mention that it rains in Juneau - a lot??). The deciding factor was that the campsites would be on an island only accessible by boat with no amenities (i.e. toilets, running water) and, since we try to experience everything that Alaska has to offer, we said yes and the trip was planned. We accepted a generous offer of a 
borrowed tent and had our own sleeping bags, bought copious amounts of food and booze, lawn chairs and even campsite decorations. However, the most ingenious bring-along was our own portable toilet! Yes, people - Bill "MacGyver" Meier made a port-a-potty complete with tp holder. Picked up on a rainy July 3
morning, we motored to Suedla Island (only the eight of us on it!) and quickly unloaded our things with help from those campers who stayed the night prior. One would not think that eight adults would need this much stuff. Luckily the rain had stopped by cocktail time, which was not technically at 5 o'clock but who's keeping track. We split wood, kept the fire stoked and settled in with snacks, hot dogs over the flames and Brandy Old-Fashioneds all around (or beer or tequila or whiskey or Fireball). We agreed that dinner would be an 
Alaskan-style crab boil, with King Crab, fresh halibut and all the trimmings poured out over paper on the table. Dig in! Since it was July 3, the sky was light until well after 11 p.m. (longest day is June 21) and it was almost 2 a.m. before we crawled (literally) into our tent. July 4th dawned early (around 4 a.m. - didn't see it though) and we spent the day kayaking, fishing,
laughing, eating, drinking and other sorts of camping shenanigans (what happened at Suedla stays at Suedla!). It was warm and sunny, an absolutely spectacular Juneau summer day! We took chairs down to the beach, looked for shells and beach glass along the tidal pools as the guys took the boat out fishing. After a steak and potato dinner, we had copious amounts of fireworks and started down to the beach about 10 p.m. to light off the show! Booms, pops and color was all around - what a great night! 
Sunday was Bill's birthday - a little gift-giving along with a birthday pinata filled with candy, vodka and Fireball 
was the signal that our island adventure was coming to a close. What a joy it was to spend this time with these friends - people we didn't know four years ago are now counted among our greatest friends. I sometimes am in awe of how our lives have changed with the introduction of these friends along with our "happy hour" group. There are lots of people in this world - God throws a bunch of His people together and magic happens! Go out and find your own "magic" and your world will be blessed beyond your dreams!
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