Posts
Nine beautiful days in Lancaster County, unfortunately tomorrow is our last day of our vacation but fortunately we decided to stay here and seasonal camp. Driving half way here you can feel the stress from life just melting away. As we drive pass horse and buggies we are reminded of a simplier life, then we go to our home away from home in the woods and enjoy the simple pleasures first hand. I have nothing more to say at this point except...ahhhh.
Here are my Happy Campers, Abby & Radar on our way to Happy Jack, AZ for a weekend of R & R with Friends.
We had just driven through the Strawberry- Pine area of the White Mountains when the rain turned over to snow. It was absolutely beautiful. I mainly had my camera phone to take pictures with so I was able to get a few shots before it conked out on me.
We met our friends out in the woods at Tonto State Forest. Their kids were already playing in the snow. Their two year old son had already mastered the joy of making snow balls and throwing them at people which was very cute. This was his first time seeing snow ever.
The downfall to camping in this weather was that the heater went out in the camper. Luckily our friends had a portable tent heater which we used at night. After a few snafus, which included the refrigerator going out in their camper and also not being able to get the generator started, we were all able to enjoy the weekend. We went through three pots of coffee Saturday morning due to the cold. In the evenings we bundled up and sat by the fire. Towards the end of the weekend we were able to see the stars up through the ponderosa pines which appeared so close and so bright.
In addition to the heater not working, our hot water wasn't either. On Sunday my husband Ruben heated up a pot of water, mixed it with some room temperature water and took a "bath" of sorts. Feeling kind of scrubby myself, I tried this method out and I couldn't help but feel like one of the cowboys in Lonesome Dove. It felt pretty good.
This Memorial Day Weekend camping trip will go down in history as the snowiest Arizona trip so far. I will never forget this one and this fluke snowstorm. Neither will Ruben or our friends. Let's hope the 4th of July trip produces some warmer weather. This is Arizona afterall.
This was a weekend warm up ride to check out our gear and to get ready for a much longer trip. We met some interesting people along the way. I think one of the biggest draws to doing these rides is the people we meet. There seems to be something that draws interest from all sorts of people when we are traveling on the motorbikes.
...is almost upon us. Is anyone doing any camping? :)
We are taking off to the White Mountains in Payson, AZ and I can't wait. Today it was grocery shopping for the trip. I think there may be a burn ban there as well but I'm not sure. I bought marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers so I'm hoping to create the first s'mores of the season (as long as there is no burn ban).
Last month we had a great time at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area in Texas. There are a lot of hiking and climbing opportunities available there, from easy walks to scary technical climbs. The tent camping area is lovely, the bathrooms are clean and nice, and there's a huge playscape on a grassy lawn in the tent camping area. Our only disappointment was that most of the state was under a strict burn ban, so no roast marshmallows for us!
Last year at the end of the good weather Ed Patton and myself squeezed in one more motorcycle camping trip to the John Day Fossil Beds in central Oregon.
I will be sharing some of my personal experiences while seasonally camping in the Lancaster area in PA. A little about myself, I am a wife and mother of one teenager with a full-time computer career and I just started writing books on the side.
Now a little about the way my family camps, we have a triple slide 5th wheel with flat screen TVs, computers, PlayStations, etc. Once we were told, "Camping is going out in a tent with only a sleeping bag. Just you and nature cooking over an open fire." Our reply was, "Oh, that's Survivor and we watch that on TV when we're camping!"
There are many funny and traumatic camping stories that all campers have and usually share around the campfire. I encourage you to share your experiences here, have fun and happy blogging!
