A nice weekend in Old Orchard Beach – camping near the beach and enjoying some down time.

Over the fourth of July weekend Brendan and I decided to give camping a try.

We decided to work our way into the real rough stuff by starting in the living room.  We rolled out the Thermarest and the
Ridgerest mat on the living room floor and placed the bags on top of them. We fell asleep and for some unknown reason Brendan was wide awake when 1 AM rolled around. After an hour of negotiation and some discussion with mom, we fell back asleep. Around 4 AM we had to check the clock every 10 minutes while we waited for 5 AM – our official wake up time.

The next night we decided to move into the back yard. I dug the tent out of the attic, while Brendan raked the spot he picked out for us.  We worked together to throw up the tent and filled it with the mats and the bags.

In honor of our first campout Sara “forced” us to eat some smores that we cooked up on the back patio. Brendan referred to them as ”smurls.” I think that was because we were talking about smurfs a short time before the marshmallow BBQ. He really liked the marshmallows, but preferred to eat them uncooked.

Bed time finally rolled around and we crashed out in the tent. Thinking ahead, I went to the irrigation timer and adjusted it so the sprinklers would not come on. At least I thought I did . . . At 4:30 AM the sprinklers started up. Of course we had the tent windows open and the cover taken off because it was a clear night. The spot we picked happened to be position just perfect for the sprinklers – they sprayed directly through the windows. While the water poured into the tent I told Brendan to get under his bag and then I ran out of the tent. Not thinking clearly at the moment I did not mention to Brendan exactly what I was doing. So as I was nearing the timer to stop the sprinklers, I heard Brendan cry out in fear “Uncle! Uncle!” He figured I abandoned him in the water filled tent. Seconds later I stopped the sprinklers and ran back to the tent. We moved inside and fell asleep on the couch for another two hours.

The next night we chose to camp on the bed. We will have to head up to the mountains next time we go camping.

This weekend we took a night and hung out on Mt Graham in Safford, Arizona.  It was very cool in the morning and as we rode up the road to go for a hike we watched the temperature drop into the mid 30′s.  There was still snow and the ground and the road was closed.

So, we turned around and went back to the lower trails.  We hiked for a few miles on the Lady Bug Trail.  It was very nice.  The dogs loved it.  Too bad Brandon’s tender little feet started to get cuts and scrapes on them.  We cut it short and went back for some rest and relaxation at the campsite.  Brad read some in the hammock while Deanna did homework in the camping chairs.

Our First Hike Together . . . . This trip was awesome! We jumped in our new Jeep o­n Wednesday night and started our drive. We stopped in Casa Grande for some Arby’s and then drove until we were around the Prescott, Arizona area. We stopped for a nap at o­ne of the rest stops. We snuggled-up in our sleeping bags in the back of the jeep. After sleeping like babies, we finished our drive to Havasu Canyon. We arrived around 11 AM, which was a little later than we wanted. Oh well, we are always a little later than we want when we go o­n our trips.

The hike down the canyon was beautiful. We made a lot of stops and took it nice and easy. Partly to enjoy the scenery and partly to rest. This was the first time we backpacked together and it was quite tiring. We finally made it to the campsite after wearing our new headlamps for about 2 minutes. It is a good thing that they are pretty bright. When the sun goes down in the canyon, it is pitch black!

We grabbed the very first campsite that was available. O­ne more step could have killed us. O­nce we had everything set up we went right to bed and again, slept like babies.

In the morning, we woke feeling a little sore. We fired up the camping stove and made some pancakes with blueberries. They were dried blueberries, but still good. Camping food just always seems to taste good.

We just walked around the falls and took it very easy all day. I think we ate three times and took three naps too. The water was chilly, but we still took a little swim. We had to-it was a beautiful turquoise color (this is from the high lime content). We also took a few minutes to relocate our camp to a more enjoyable spot. We picked o­ne right next to the river with the awesome sound of running water. The last two naps were even better and then we slept the entire night looking forward to hauling our packs back up out of the canyon.

The morning came and it was time to head out. We stopped in the small village(Supi) o­n our way out and met a couple from Canada. They mentioned that they were going to have a horse haul their packs out so they could enjoy the scenery much more o­n the way out. This sounded like a great idea and it was just a coincidence that a horse could hold four packs. So we gave in a dumped the packs. The hike out was very nice. The last mile is full of switchbacks. Of course there was a lot to stop and look at in the last mile. I think we stopped at nearly every corner. Of course it was o­nly to take in the sights. Yeah, Right…

We finally made it to the top and started our drive home. We didn’t make it too far and decided to stop in Flagstaff to sleep in a cushy hotel bed. We limped up to our room and we each enjoyed a very long hot shower. We ordered some food, ate all of it, and fell into a deep sleep. I can’t remember ever sleeping so GOOD!

The drive home the next day was uneventful. We were just glad to be off our feet and o­n our way home. When we got home, Bailey and Brandon were there wiggling and waiting for us. They missed us as much as we missed them.