The Great Outdoors

Logan & Will rock hunting

Ah, the joys I get from camping. From being in the great outdoors, fishing, swimming and loving nature as it should be - desolate and quiet, just the hum of the bugs and the songs of the crickets and birds to keep me company. I love sitting around a campfire at night, looking at the stars while drinking a cold one. Watching the sun come up in the morning and the fish jumping out of the water in the lake. I love to hear the blast of a good jet boat as their out for their first morning ski. I love looking amongst the driftwood for unusual pieces and rock hunting with my awesome hubby Will.

I truly believe that you grow up to take on certain traits of your parents. Things they would do and that they would expose you too, you tend to like. My parents raised me camping. In the dirt, in a tent, around the boats, skiing, riding motorcycles. And somewhere along that road, I became a dirt girl. I can camp for 5 days straight taking a bath in a stream and eating sandy potato chips and be okay with that. I don't need an outlet to plug in my blow dryer or curling iron and I don't need makeup on my face. I'll take the sun kissed cheeks over applying makeup any day of the week. Bottom line is, I was never a hotel girl. I could live in the wide open and actually ENJOY it without having all of the modern conveniences that many girls require.

I write about this now because it has been a long, long while since we went camping. Perhaps even 2 years now. I think we quit camping locally because we are getting a bit older, and as such, just really started hating the whole sleeping bag on the ground thing. Our old backs can't handle the dirt and rocks anymore.

The Vantastic

Recently though, we bought a van. The Vantastic to be exact. A vehicle that would allow us to throw a cooler and some pillows in the back and get out into those wide open spaces once again, without having to kill ourselves to do it. And boy let me tell you, that van is quickly becoming a much loved item in our family. What better way to travel? We have a bed, a mini fridge, a TV and VCR...some of the little comforts of home while being able to dip out of the concrete jungle for a few days.

Lake Pleasant

Our first trip out was the weekend we bought the van. We decided to try it out and took our neighborhood punk, Logan, with us. We just went for a quick over nighter to Lake Pleasant, AZ. Well, we had a few hang ups to say the least. It was still a bit 'wintery' for camping, so we froze. Had to start the van up and run it with the heater on throughout the night just to keep from freezing. My husband was uncomfortable and ended up sleeping in one of the bucket seats. We did not sleep well at all. Someone accidentally turned the fridge from "cold" to "hot", so our soda's were frying. And we caught no fish. Not one single bite. Not the best return trip we could have taken, but hey, the kinks had to be worked out you know.

Bartlett Lake

This past weekend, we decided to try again with another over night trip to Bartlett Lake this time. It's a little bit warmer and has actually been real beautiful out for Arizona this time of year. This time we took our friend Jeff with us and met up with our friend Flint and his girl Lulu.

Now Bartlett is a better lake and actually, Will had never been there so it made for a better trip right from the start. Will was a happy camper this trip, which made all the difference in the world. He slept well in the Vantastic and woke up in a great mood (must have been the beer) and we were surrounded by good friends, lots of food and a lake full of water and fish. Could we get it any better?

Flint & one of his "big" catches

We fished for bait fish the night before and even thought the morning was not what we expected (to catch the BIG one of course, at least we caught SOMETHING this trip. Fact is, we all caught fish and that was a plus. Small yes, but not a lost cause like the last trip.

We swam and had an awesome dinner and breakfast and just enjoyed being  in the wide open once again. And overall, the most important goal we had was met - we RELAXED with friends and had a fun time.

So I guess we're back "on" now. It's that time of year again. Time to start taking many, many camping trips like we did before we got 'old'. Just to get out of town, away from the noise, the traffic, the concrete...the people...it's wonderful.

Maybe city life is not for me as much as I think it is. I grew up in LA, yet hate big cities. I'm fine with no TV, no radio and no phones. Maybe at some point I will find that I need to live out in those wide open spaces. Nope. There's nothing quite like i.

Until next time :)