My first backpacking trip - The Ouachita Trail

So this post occurred from 12/14/10 - 12/17/10

One Saturday morning in December, Cam and I decided to get up early and drive to Round Rock for the REI garage sale, hoping to do some Christmas shopping. Well the only ones getting a present were ourselves. I got a nice backpack even though I had never been on a backpacking trip before. Well coincidentally enough, Cameron had the week off of work (he was suppose to go on a hunting trip that wound up getting canceled) so we were trying to figure out something fun to do or a cool place to go. On the drive back I joked, “well now that I have a backpack we should go on a backpacking trip somewhere”. I said this is a joke not because I didn’t want to go, but rather because I thought December was too cold of a month to go. Well that got Cameron way too excited. I saw the wheels turning immediately.

That same night, after a hint of research, Cam decided we were going to the Ouachita Trail, which spreads the Oklahoma-Arkansas border. At this point I was a bit weary. Isn’t it too cold for a backpacking trip? But Cam insisted it was fine. He was already starting to pack for our backpacking adventure. Well I had always wanted to go on a backpacking trip and now was just as perfect time as any before I start working again. The trail itself is 223 miles. We decided on a 30 mile, 3 day hike. Our friend John had done this same trail and recommended it to us. I have to say, I was very excited! I have always wanted to go on a backpacking trip, especially after hearing all about Cameron’s trips he has taken.

So that Tuesday we packed up and drove out to Oklahoma. I couldn’t believe how pretty that part of Oklahoma was. They are actually mountains! Small mountains, but since I live in Texas, small mountains are a delight to my eyes! We got to our campsite right as the sun was going down so we didn’t have a whole lot of daylight. We were the only ones out there. We quickly set up our tent and started a fire. It was chilly already and the temperature was supposed to drop below freezing that night. We sat around the fire, eating some “crackle barrel” which for those of you like me who don’t know what that word means, it refers to post dinner meal over the fire…in our case it was hot dogs. It was a cold windy night and I couldn’t wait to get in the tent to protect me from the wind. I slept in sweat pants, a sweat shirt, and a zero degree down sleeping bag and never really felt warm throughout the night.

That morning the wind had picked up. Cam got up early for the sunrise and took some beautiful pictures. I slept in. We ate breakfast, packed up everything and started on our way. I was so excited. Even though it was cold I was ready for our adventure to start. We almost started in the opposite direction we were planning on going. We stayed at one of the trail heads which was a big campsite so it was actually pretty confusing for us to find the trail start because it was separated from where the trail had ended by a few parking lots and streets. We read the guide book we had a couple times over before we figured out which direction to go. Phew. Now let our journey begin! My backpack weighed about 30-35 pounds (so Cam says) which actually felt good on my back. Day one consisted of going uphill for the first 1-2 miles, and then a steady up and down the mountains for the rest of the day. It was pretty tiring. We took lots of breaks to just enjoy the scenery. The bad thing about hiking in December is that the leaves have already fallen off the trees so the scenery is pretty mundane in some spots, just a bunch of naked trees. The good thing about it is that there are certain parts of the trail where you have just an amazing view of the surrounding mountain side that you would never get to see otherwise. We stopped at a creek for lunch which consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwich on pita bread. It was tasty and hit the spot. I finished one nalgene of my good purified water and then filled it back up with the creek water. We used iodine drops to purify our water in case anyone is wondering. Once we got further into the mountains we really weren’t affected much by the wind. I was surprised how warm I got during the hike and wound up shedding my warm clothes so I wouldn’t sweat and just kept on my wind breaker. It was grueling going uphill and almost as tiring going down because of the pounding on my legs. We hiked for about 5-6 hours that day and I was happy to get to the trail head we were camping at fairly early, around 4ish. We hadn’t come across anyone else yet. We collected wood and set up the tent while the sun was still out. We started our fire and made dinner, chicken and rice. We made yummy hot chocolate and sat around the fire until dark. It was cloudy that night so we didn’t have a good view of the stars. We were in our tent by 7 and I fell asleep very fast. It was a good hard day for me. Cameron had me lead most the day. There were also plenty of evergreen trees so that added color to the bland brown and yellow leaves that were covering the mountain. Because there were so many leaves on the ground there were actually certain parts of the trail that were hard to follow, which actually made it a little more adventurous! Good thing the trail was marked every few yards with blue paint. That was how we were able to tell if we had stayed on the trail or had ventured off.

DAY 2: We woke up around 8 the next morning. I was feeling pretty achy and sore that morning. We ate our granola bars for breakfast, packed up and took off in search of water. We had finished most our water the night before and were counting on the river being just down the hill. This day was much easier than the first day. We stayed on flat ground most the day. My struggle was walking on the rocky trail. Seriously there were so many rocks on this part to the trail I had to keep my head down just to make sure I didn’t trip. Today was also much warmer than the first day. I was able to just wear my t-shirt and Cam actually went shirtless. The trail had us hike along the river most the day. We took a lunch break and feasted on hummus and pita bread and more granola bars. We pretty much hiked along the same river until we found a fun spot to camp at. It wasn’t a spot we originally planned on but the area looked too good to pass up. It was only 1-2pm when we set up camp. We enjoyed the sunlight, read, took pictures, took a sponge bath, gathered fire, and just enjoyed the quiet stillness. That night (as it was our last night) I started the fire. I watched Cam do it the first 2 nights and was ready to try one for myself. It took me a few tries to get it started but once I did it was the prettiest fire ever. Seriously, it looked almost fake. We made mac-n-cheese and tuna for dinner and drank more hot chocolate that night around the fire. Then I heard a coyote howl that was so loud we think it must have been on the other side of the river we were camped on. Freaked me out! Cam gave a good deep yell and that shut the coyote up and we didn’t hear it again. About 20 minutes later we hear the coyote pack just howling and yapping away. I was ready for the tent by that point. The mountains are much scarier at night. Cam tied all our food up on a tree branch (like a piñata) so no coyotes could get it. I was a little nervous to sleep this night. I made sure to fully empty my bladder so I wouldn’t need to get up in the middle of the night. It was a warm night and I slept well. My sleeping bag kept me nice and toasty and I actually got hot during the night and had to shed clothes.

DAY 3: That morning we got up, put up camp and made oatmeal for breakfast. I was even sorer today. The day started cloudy and quickly turned foggy in parts. The trail was a little bit of everything today, river trail, mountain trail, flat and hilly, smooth and rocky terrain. At this point I was ready to be done. It was physically my most exhausting day. My legs felt heavy and my back was super achy. We actually decided to trek on and not eat lunch because we were making really good time. I munched on trail mix and tried to ignore my grumbling tummy. Me and Cameron got to this part in the trail where we hit a small road and thought surely we were suppose to go up the road. Well we hiked ½ mile or so up this road only to get to an even bigger road and thought “hmmm, I don’t know about this”. We kept on walking down the smaller road, it was so foggy we really couldn’t see too much in front of us to know whether we were on trail. I didn’t see a single blue marking to show us we were on trail. All of a sudden we were in front of this huge phone tower that was so high in the air we couldn’t believe we hadn't seen it sooner. However it was so foggy you couldn’t see it until it was right in front of us. We obviously were not on the right path. We cut through the woods and get back to the main street and decide to hike back in the direction we had come from and find the trail. We got back to the point of the trail where we had got to the small road and saw that the trail continued on the other side of the road. All we had to do was cross the street. I was pretty irritated by this. I was so ready to be done and we had just walked an extra 1-2 miles in a circle. Maybe if we hadn’t skipped lunch I wouldn’t have been as cranky. We kept going, only 3 miles left. We were in Arkansas at this point. During the last 3 miles the sun finally broke through and the clouds/fog started to go away. I felt better once I saw blue sky again. There were some really pretty scenic views too. This whole trip we hadn’t seen a single person on trail. Solitude. I believe this was the first time I have ever gone 3 days without seeing more than 1 person (Cameron). It was pretty cool! When I finally saw the Queen Wilhelmina Lodge, it was a sight for sore eyes. I had completed my first backpacking trip! We ate a delicious meal at the restaurant and I used the toilet. I have such a better appreciation for little luxuries like a toilet. A park ranger drove us back to our car, it was only a 30 minute drive away. We stopped at some of the scenic turnouts for pictures. It ended up being a gorgeous day. When we got back to the car I couldn’t believe it was over.  30 miles in 3 days.  My first backpacking adventure under my belt! Until next time…

Thankshunting

It’s my first holidays being married and so for Thanksgiving I decided to do it the Reynolds way (you know, since I am one now)...HUNTING! I went with Cameron, his dad Ted, and sister Caitlin to a cabin in East Texas near Henderson for 4 days (Caleb and Ron, Caleb's father in law, were there the first day as well). This was to be my first hunting trip. It was great! The first few days started out pretty warm with high’s in the 70’s and then we got our expected cold front which brought the temp down to the 30-40’s. I got to experience hunting in the warm and cold weather, I think I preferred the cold. I went on 2 morning hunts, 2 evening hunts, and one spotlighting hunt at night. The first morning we woke up at 4:30am (madness), we got dressed, ate something quick for breakfast and started walking to the blind. We had a full moon that night which was so bright we didn’t even need to turn our headlamps on. We walked for about 20 minutes until we got to the blind. I was pretty excited. This blind was a single blind so it fits 1 person comfortably, not two. I was pretty loud getting in there, my gun hit the metal blind a few times making quite a lot of noise. Oops. We opened all the windows to the blind, put an extra chair in it, got our guns situated, and sat and watched. Since it was still dark outside we had to wait a good 45 minutes or so before the beginning of daylight to start so we could actually make out what we were looking at. I quickly discovered that shifting in my chair certain ways caused a rattling noise of the blind. So now I was trying to be even more still than I had to be so the rattling noise wouldn’t occur. I had wind blowing in my face through the window that kept making my eyes water (and hence the visual field blurry). I would close my eyes to only find sleepiness summoning me. This hunting stuff is a lot harder than I realized. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair, for an uncomfortable amount of time (this morning we were there for 4-5 hours), wind blowing in my face, feeling cramped, staring into the land, and not seeing anything. But then I see something. Far in the distance. But as soon as I saw it it was gone. I asked Cameron if he saw anything but he hadn’t. “Maybe it was just a bird” he said. But I knew I had seen something walking. So I watched (with my binoculars of coarse) the other side of the brush to see if anything would come out. Sure enough it did. A bobcat. I didn’t really care that it wasn’t a deer. I was excited to see something. My heart started racing just to see an animal walk by. I think I would have gotten really nervous if it had been a deer. I still don’t know if I want to watch one be killed (much less kill one myself). That morning the bobcat was all we saw. I was ready to get out of the blind and move around. My body was achy from trying so hard to be still. The rest of the day we hung out at the cabin, rode the four wheeler around the land, went on a walk to see some of the other blinds. Later we did some work to fix up one of Cameron’s blinds that we found toppled over. We all worked on trying to camouflage it and put it in a really good spot. It was great teamwork. That night, Cameron and I went on a spotlighting hunt. I had never spot-lighted before. It definitely gave me a rush every time I turned the spotlight on, hoping to see something. Well we didn’t see anything, except the cows on the land. But I have to say that Cameron described it perfect when I asked him what I was looking for. He told me, “you are looking for their eyes, they light up like Christmas lights”. Well I got to see this with the cows and he was exactly right, their eyes at night with a spotlight shining on them were bright green. It was really neat to see that. We didn’t see any coyotes either that night. But the next day while me and Caitlin were in a blind (this time a double blind so we had much more room) we saw a coyote walk from far in the distance all the way right in front of our blind and go behind us. The coyote never seemed to even know we were there. It was then that I found the hunt to be exciting. It was so amazing to watch these animals in their normal environment doing what they do (and not even know we were there). I felt like the discovery channel. It might not be the most exciting thing to watch, yet so interesting to see the life of animals. Well I didn’t see any deer or hogs on the other hunts, but it was a very fun trip. We ate like champs every night. We deep fried a turkey for thanksgiving dinner. Other items on the menu consisted of steak and baked potatoes, chicken wings (ranch, parmesan, lemon pepper, and spicy), and ribs with mashed potatoes. The Reynold’s family sure does know how to eat good. It was a wonderful thanksgiving. I am so thankful the Lord has given me such an amazing husband and family. Even though hunting was a lot harder than I ever thought it would be, it was so very peaceful. I can't wait to do it all over again next year. Plus, as a friend told me, "every hunting trip is a success. It's all about the hunt, not the kill".



Here is the only video we took:

A month as Mrs.Reynolds

I wrote this blog a few weeks ago and forgot to post it. So I'm posting it now!

11/16/10:
Well I have been Mrs. Reynolds for 1 month officially now. I am in wedding bliss. I finished my last 2 weeks up at Parkland after the wedding and am now 100% settled in Waco, Tx. The wedding was wonderful, the honeymoon simply fantastic. So far the married life has been everything I ever wanted. I have never been so happy. I didn’t have any crazy expectations out of married life. Like most people, I wanted to love and feel loved every day. Yet even before I married Cameron, I loved him and felt loved by him everyday. So what changed? The promise. Well as best as I can explain it, there is a deep rooted level of intimacy that I desired from a husband that a boyfriend and even fiancé could never fulfill. The promise of forever (or for as long as we both shall live). It may be just simple words heard by some people, but to me this brought forth a deeper intimacy than I could ever know otherwise. I trust and believe in this promise. They are a part of God’s beautiful design for this world and humanity. Throughout the dating/courtship process, I knew me and Cameron had the same views on marriage. We had talked about it several times. But it was our love for Christ that kept our hearts in love with each other. And I know that if we both place God first in our lives, our hearts will always be one. I can’t thank God enough for opening up my heart to hear His truth.

All about the S words!

I am back in the swing of work and wondering where did august go? It's now September, my favorite month. It's the month I was born. It's the first month of Fall, my favorite season. "Septem" means 7 in latin, and I was born on the 7th day of September (I think that is pretty cool). And it's now the month before our wedding. Usually I am really looking foward to September arriving, yet this year I can't help but long for October. October 16th to be exact. I still can't help but be amazed every single day how great God is! How thankful I am He has brought Cameron into my life, a man whom continues to lead me, continues to love me, no matter how crazy or stressed I get, still has this huge smile on his face and says "soon". Soon we will actually be living in the same city. Soon we will see each other everyday. Soon we can stop having static phone conversations that drive us both crazy. Soon I will be able to give him a big hug and kiss before he goes to class and he will be there for me after a long hard day at work. "Soon", he says. Soon we will be getting married!!! SOON.

Our engagement has been pretty straining on our relationship, emotionally, physiclly, spiritually. Will "strain" go away once we get married...probably not. There are always new trials and tribulations that enter into life. But as we continue to live life it becomes so evident to me that we can make our life as simple or complicated as we want it to be. I choose the simple life. Cameron has this t-shirt that has a picture of a guitar with only one guitar string and reads "live simply". A guitar with one string is a lot easier to play than a guitar with six strings. It probably won't sound as pretty, or attract a lot of attention. It won't make the hall of fame, or even earn a passerbyers spare change. But what a simple life it leads. SIMPLE.

September, you're a great month. As eager as I am for SOON to come, may I still enjoy you this year as I always do.

-Michelle-

3 Week Staycation

I just finished having 3 weeks off of work…paid time off!!!! I called it a staycation. If any of you ever get a chance to have a long staycation it is far more refreshing and rewarding than a destination vacation. I got so much done I have needed to accomplish. This break came at just the most perfect time for me. So back in February I had requested this time off in hopes of going to Germany a couple weeks to watch my sister Monica participate in the U-20 woman’s world cup. She plays with the U-20 girls Mexican national team and my parents, sisters, and several other family members were going to go to Germany to watch, including me, until I realized there was just no way I could afford to go to Germany with an upcoming wedding to plan. But the blessing was that I already had the time off approved and now could use it to help me play catch up with my wedding TO-DO list. Before my staycation, I had been having a lot of anxiety about all the wedding plans and was worried that I was not capable of planning a wedding. Since I don't have a wedding planner, my future sister-in-love Reagan has taken on that role and has been my sanity in all this. I found myself at a place where there are so many decisions, most of them depending on how much it costs, that I was losing my excitement in the wedding planning. There was probably one week where I was convinced me and Cam just needed to elope. But after my 3 weeks off I now feel so excited about the wedding and know that everything is coming together!

So what exactly did I get accomplished. Let’s see:

-I changed one of our wedding colors from yellow to lime green. So now we have chocolate brown, watermelon pink, and lime green.

-I met with Bambi, my reception coordinator from Chateau at Forest Park, and figured out all my centerpieces and other reception decorations.

-I booked a florist, Angela of Inspiration Blooms, and met with her to figure out the wedding party bouquets and boutonnieres.

-I met with my Capstone Church coordinator Rhonda, and was able to get a better idea of ceremony decorations needed.

-I got started on ceremony décor with the help of Reagan. We decided to do the DIY (do-it-yourself) method and bought urns and flowers to make into ceremony centerpieces. They are looking great so far!

-I bought a candelabra or two…or 42! (I’ll save this story for another blog)

-Me and Cam decided on a honeymoon location and booked it!!!! Riviera Maya, Mexico here we come!!!!

-Me and Cam took engagement pictures. We used Mallory Kulak King, one of Cameron’s friends in Waco to take them for us. We went to several locations around Waco that were just precious. Minus the humidity (and therefore my hair becoming frizzy), I think they went perfect!

-I bought a new car!!! A 2008 Honda Civic, black with grey interior. It was such a real experience for me and Cameron, we did it together, just the two of us, no parents involved. Probably one of the most “grown up” things I have done yet.

-Me and Cameron found an apartment in Waco for him to move into this month and then me to join after the wedding. We love it! Really close to Baylor campus. It’s a 2 story town home, 1 bedroom, 1 ½ baths. Such a fun thing for us to pick out what is going to be our first home together! I can’t wait!

-We went and registered for more stuff at BedBath&Beyond.

-My veil came in! Still waiting for the dress.

-I am having my friend and co-worker Advent be the videographer for our wedding. I am super excited to have him. His excitement to be able to shoot our wedding is priceless!

-Our DJ is also a co-worker of mine, Curtis…or should I say DJ Props! So fun!

-I met with Diane, one of Cameron’s managers at Ninfa’s, who is going to make our wedding cakes and gave her some of our ideas so far.


As you can see, things are coming together for us! In this 3 week staycation I also moved out of my apartment in Dallas that I have been living in for 3 ½ years and moved back home to Southlake with my parents. Getting 3 years worth of stuff back into my bedroom at home is quite the feat. Most my stuff is still in boxes, and will probably just remain in those boxes until I move to Waco. As much stuff as I got done, there was play time too. I went down to San Marcos and floated the river for my friend Valarie’s bachelorette party, and soon after got to attend Val and Coby’s wedding. I went to the Rascal Flatts concert, went country dancing a couple times, and hung out with friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better 3 weeks!

Well that’s the update. I will try and not go so long next time. Like I mentioned earlier, I was really stressed and updating the blog seemed last on my list of things to do. I hope all is well with all my readers out there. Love you guys!

-michelle-

webisode II

So this week i thought it would be a good idea to surprise Michelle with the camera running to do our webisode... so the very short scolding in the beggining is meant for me, do enjoy :)

Its all about the dress...

A lot of things happened this weekend, Michelle and I felt a little like we were in a pinball machine but it was very much worth getting to see family, friends and for her to make a little holiday cash by working on Sunday.

So Michelle picked her dress out last week, I hear its white and that it looks super good on her :). I am such a lucky man to be marrying her and I can not wait to see that woman walking down the aisle.

The bridesmaid's dresses were picked! So many thanks to Jessica and Cory for their input and help with decision making. This picture is of Cory modelling the first dress for us that they chose. We couldn't have this one, David's Bridal apparently doesn't carry it any more (we didn't want it anyways..) but we found one just like it at Alfred Angelo's. HA! We finally make a decision and they tell you that they don't carry it anymore even though it is on the racks. Weddings will make you crazy!

We finished moving Caleb and Reagan in last weekend into their new house in Grand Prairie, it is so surreal to think that they own such a beautiful home. I am a proud brother. Caleb is so handy; he has already fixed the water heater, put in new appliances (fridge, overhead microwave), repaired several leaks in the sprinklers and numerous smaller projects. And Reagan is such a sweet heart to go into a "fixer upper", I am crossing my fingers that Michelle will be so patient with our first home (I get really excited thinking about sharing a home with her).

This weekend we went on a triple date with my old roommates, Josh and Autumn Lockett and Caleb and Reagan. We have missed them so much since they left us for Law School at OU. The evening started with a little Uncle Julio's in Uptown and then we went to have a drink at Caleb's new house and relax a little. That couple just makes my heart warm with memories.

Also this weekend we attended the church we plan on having the wedding at, Capstone Church in Benbrook. Before we booked them for sure we just wanted to attend at least one service and make certain they don't practice voodoo or sacrifice small animals on the same stage I want to exchange vows on. But is does turn out that this church loves the Lord, it was a good change of pace for both Michelle and I to see a proper charismatic church again. We might have even found a little Holy Ghost :). So things are coming into order. We have a church for sure, a reception cite, Michelle's dress as well as the brides maids and I went to Men's Wearhouse Saturday and I picked out the Tuxes also. Now, we only have about 4,092,982,872 more things to consider and October 16th will be here!

Here are a couple of the pics from the Memorial day party at the Alvarado's.

Love.

Monica giving a little peace and joy.

playing with the new camera, taking pics under water is just cool :)

Thanks for checking us out and look for a new webisode shortly. God speed

-cam

Sorry this webisode is sideways, give us a break, it's our first one!

And pre-appologies for being shirtless (water is involved), rated PG.

We will try hard to make a video each weekend, thanks for watching friends.

God Speed

-cam and michelle

In the begining...

In the beginning she said YES!:
"Yes I will go on a date with you!"
"Yes I will go on a second date with you!"
"Yes, of course I will marry you!"

Between Cameron "the go-getter" and Michelle "the indecisive thinker" we thought it would be fun to start a blog together and share our life and wedding planning mayhem with all of you. It has been hard to catch up and contact everyone (as we would like to) and fill you in on new and exciting wedding details, so now you can come to our blog. We are so excited to start this planning process. It will be a journey for sure, because lets face it...planning hasn't been a thing that either of us have excelled at, so now we learn together, which could get us in double trouble.

We named our blog "this might seem random", as this was how our relationship started, randomly. Or was it? We don't really think it was all that random anymore. But we have to admit that if you were to trace our relationship from the time we first met until now, we would seem to be a pretty random pairing. For those of you that don't know, Cameron and Michelle met at A&M-Commerce our sophomore year when we had a class together. We became good acquaintances during the year and a half we went to school together, but no lasting friendship seemed to arise from us. We exchanged a few (and random) facebook messages over the remaining years but nothing significant. That is until Michelle's 24th birthday when this facebook message popped up in her inbox:

from: Cameron Reynolds
September 7 at 1:14am
howdy do mam, hope you have a great bday! this might seem random but nonetheless i would really like to take you out on a date some time if your not too busy on the weekends. i'm sorry i still dont have your number to call and ask and no worries if you cant. stay well. God speed.
-cam

It's fun to go back and re-read some of our pre-dating messages to each other. It reminds us that even the most simple or random event that occurs may circle itself into your life at a latter time. We find this mysterious yet exciting. This is just one beauty of life. Come join us in experiencing some of our life's random moments.

-cameron and michelle