Anniversary Weekend: Clam Gulch

For our one-year anniversary Mitch and I headed out of town for a long weekend trip. I could hardly wait that morning for him to pick me up from work and could already feel myself relaxing before we had even left Anchorage.

And then of course there was the scenery--a perfect start to our getaway.

For our first night we drove down to Clam Gulch which is about 20 miles past Soldotna. On the way there we listened to "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" which some friends had lent us. Before we knew it, we had reached our destination and knew the difference between assets and liabilities. Thanks Robert Kiyosaki!

Clam Gulch

We camped at the bend straight ahead.

When we arrived, Mitch drove the car right up on the sandy beach. I was a little nervous that we were going to get stuck, but I should have trusted more in the amazing power of my husband's driving skill combined with the raw force of his beloved car's pure ruggedness (and 4-wheel drive).

Safe and sound, I breathed a sigh of relief
and smiled for the camera.

A kiss for the driver!

We quickly hopped to it and set up the tent...

...and then for the most important element of the evening:

THE FIRE!!!

Campfires are just one more manifestation of why Mitch and I were meant for each other. We both LOVE them! Here's how it works:

Mitch gets the fire started with assistance from yours truly.

Oh, and the help of a fire dance.

He then continually stokes and feeds the fire.

And we both enjoy the warmth and poking at the fire with sticks.

During the fire-creation process, I got our foil dinners ready. It was a bit tricky as the wind was blowing pretty strong (most of the salt and pepper didn't really land where I intended), but Mitch jimmy-rigged a little platform for me so that I had a surface to get them put together on and was able to avoid sand-foil dinners!

And of course, no campout is complete without S'mores! YUM!

The next morning, we awoke a bit bleary-eyed ,
but not too worse the wear for a night on the ground.

And headed up the beach to check out the clammers in action!

We got some great instruction on proper clamming technique and had fun trying to help find the "dimples" in the sand.

What a fun start to our anniversary weekend! The weather held for us so we were able to stay dry and we both had a blast camping right next to the ocean--something neither of us had done before. It was really neat to hear the sound of the ocean while falling asleep. And so refreshing...

...well, at least refreshing for the person who didn't wake up early to get the fire started!