A New Year's tradition

It's become a bit of a tradition for us to head to Derby Reach on New Year's Day for a bonfire. We decided to do it again this year. As you can see, the weather was COLD and misty. Which felt right for January 1st.

Thankfully, Denis suggested that he head down to the river early to secure us a spot. We arrived shortly after at about 10:15. By 11 there weren't any spots to be had. When we first started doing this, the communal pit would fill up, but the sites were pretty empty. I guess the word is out.

Once we got the fire started, I took pictures. I love the moodiness of the river when the mist rolls in. And the ice.

As always, we had LOTS of food. BTW, I totally recommend skipping the chocolate bar and graham crackers when making smores. Buy yourself some milk or dark chocolate hob nobs and you get a nice chewy cookie and melted chocolate AND the roasty marshmallow.

Our site is the one with the log at the end. Mostly because of this:

However, Andrew walked to the end of the campgrounds this time, and it seems like the very last few sites actually get sun (ours never does because the trees are so tall, and the sun is on the other side of the trees.We might have to change our usual site.

Dave showed up for a while.

The kids kept climbing.

And the frost never melted.

It's really cold, can you tell?

Anyway, this is one of our favorite things to do. Good food, smokey fun, and lots of photo ops.
I love it.