So, That's How You Cook Hot Dogs (The Story)

So, this is how you cook hot dogs at Chena Lakes....

Mike and I were sitting around the house this afternoon thinking of things to do. Not that we were bored or anything, but we wanted to do something semi-adventurous. We thought of doing a 15 mile hike, but quickly decided to wait until tomorrow to do that. So, we came up with the idea of going over to Chena Lakes, find a picnic site and grill up a healthy, low fat, low sodium, low calorie meal, hot dogs.

Feeling spontaneous, we grabbed the dogs from the freezer, the mustard and relish from the refrigerator, a bag of chips from the pantry and a bag of charcoal from the garage. Then, we headed to the Safeway in North Pole to pick up hot dog buns, dip, and cherry turn-overs. It wouldn't be a picnic without cherry turn-overs (at least that's what Mike told me). Hey, if we're eating hot dogs, we might as well go all out with the dip and the sweets!

After a short drive to Chena Lakes, Mike and I found a beautiful picnic spot with a table and a fire ring. Mike quickly got to work by lighting the charcoal and getting the grill nice and hot. My job was to find a strong, sturdy stick on which to cook our dogs. I was on it! Motivated by hunger, I found two nice sticks and gave them to Mike. He whittled a nice, sharp point on the end and it appeared we were in business.

While waiting on the charcoal to get hot enough (which seemed like forever), we snacked on some chips. After about 30 minutes, the charcoal was not even hot enough to cook our hot dogs. So, I snapped into action. I began looking for any sticks, bark, or branches that were on the ground so that I could get a fire going.

Mike said, "Sweet Pea, I'll just run to the ranger's station and get some firewood."

Barely listening, I mumbled in reply, "Okay, have fun...."
Meanwhile, I continued to search for anything that would burn and was legal to take. The woods were loaded with good treasures. I found lots of bark, lots of sticks and several dead branches. As I gathered armloads of these highly flammable items, I piled them onto the charcoal. Soon, I had a nice blaze. I continued this process until the hot dogs were cooked and ready to eat.

With the hot dogs ready, I kept them warm while waiting on Mike to get back from buying firewood. When he returned, he was shocked that the dogs were cooked and the fire was blazing. He grudgingly admitted that we could have done without the firewood, but thought we could use it next week when camping. Okay, I give him that. We can use it next week.

After enjoying our dinner, we decided it was time to put out the fire. Mike immediately went to collect water from one of the water pumps (a hand pump). Well, he tried and he tried to get water to come out of that pump. In frustration, he finally gave up. Then, he turned to me and said, "Well, I guess we'll just have to let it die out."

I smiled lovingly and replied, "Oh, honey, let's just put it out with some water from the lake."


Mike looked at me skeptically and retorted, "Just how are we going to do that?"


Still smiling sweetly, I rummaged through our cooler and found an empty zip lock bag. I made my way down to the lake and dipped the bag into the water. I confidently strode back up to the fire and doused it with the water. In one quick moment, the fire was out. To ensure that nothing was smoldering, I stirred the water in with a stick and covered it with dirt.


I thought to myself, "I knew those two days of girl scout training would pay off some day! I started a fire and put it out, all by myself!" My ego was a little inflated, but I didn't let it show.


With the fire out, Mike and I went for a stroll. We enjoyed the sights of Chena Lakes including gulls and different water fowl. A short time into our walk, storm clouds began to roll into the area. We decided to cut our trip short and head home.