The most beautiful lake in the world

Ok, maybe the title's a wee bit of an exaggeration.  But seriously, look at that!  That beautifulness is called Cliff Lake, and it's only about an hour and a half away from where we live.  Jesse and I, along with Laramie and Kelly, two couples whom we are friends with, and their combined total of four kids stole away for a long weekend of camping there this past weekend.  And we camped on the far side of the lake, which meant taking boats across the lake with all our camping gear to get to our very isolated camping spot.

Ah, so many things happened, including the above pose. We would usually go out on our boats in the morning, when the lake was green and clear and as smooth as glass, to either fish or explore.  Later in the day, when it got hot, we would swim for a little while.  The brave ones had a swimming race out to the island one day. We also read, took naps, talked, and relaxed in hammocks strung between two trees. We did a lot of sitting around the fire, especially at night.  I made hobo packets for two nights using a variation of Emma's recipe, and they were so good! I'll definitely do that again.



Kelly caught a baby snake, which then bit her on the finger and was released after we had a good look at him. He was apparently a feisty little guy. Don't worry, she's still alive.

This is what "camping Karen" looks like, in case you were wondering.  Yes, my hair is in a weird growing-out phase.

 Our friends had to leave one night earlier than Kelly and Laramie and us, so the last night, when we were there by ourselves, we took the canoes out in the evening and caught the last of the sunset on the water. It was so incredibly beautiful.  --Karen