"A Camping We Will Go......"

Over a month ago, Wendy's Blog inspired our family to try our hand at camping. Now we're not expert campers and I probably could count on one hand how many times I've been camping in my life. Nicole has only been once before. So we first started to research "where" we wanted to go. Once we decided on Woods Canyon Lake, just East of Payson, I started calling around to reserve tent sites. I quickly learned that camping in Arizona is not like camping in Michigan. These die hard Arizonians make their reservations 6 months in advance. Since we were only going to go for 1 night and arrive on Saturday, we couldn't take the chance of a walk in campground where it was first come first serve. So out of 8 campgrounds, I found 1....YES only 1 campground (Aspen Campground) that had 2 sites available. I made my reservation 4 weeks in advance for site #95.

We started making our camping list a week early and would write things down as we thought of them. In the end, the one thing I forgot and had to deal with, was "tylenol". I had a headache that just wouldn't quit. We tried setting up our tent and airing it out the weekend before our trip. Once the tent poles sat in the sun for 30 minutes, they were untouchable. So that was a wasted idea.

Since we had time Saturday morning of our departure, we decided to take the LONG scenic route heading North on I-17, through Strawberry (if you blink you've missed it) and Pine. To our surprise, the Tonto Natural Bridge was opened. Their website said they were closed for the summer from the end of June, but it was misposted. The last time I had been to the Tonto Bridge, was when I was pregnant with Nicole 11 years ago. It was not a pleasurable experience and I was vomitting in the parking lot and could only make it to one of the lookout points. This time was different. We were destined to walk all the way down the ravine (2,200 feet) and climb the rocks under the waterfall. If you've never done it, it is a must. But what goes down....must come up.

As we finally made it back to our car from the Tonto bridge, Dan and Nicole kept looking at my face. I had this mysterious bright yellow sweat droplets. I HAD taken a shower that morning. I didn't have any makeup on and only applied sunblock to my arms. So I have no idea why my sweat was yellow unless it was from one of the prescriptions I'm taking.

As we headed into Payson, we stopped at The Beeline Cafe for lunch. This cafe was rated #1 on www.tripadvisor.com and it didn't let us down. Or maybe because we were starving from the rock climbing that we would have eaten and appreciated anything.

As we arrived to the Mogollon Rim lookout, the temperature was a COOL 84 degrees. Yes, in Arizona, that is "cool".

We setup our tent and ate dessert (ice cream) at the Woods Canyon Lake before dinner. (That's what vacations are all about). Nicole was disappointed they only had electric motor boat rentals and it was the end of the day. She really had her heart set on canoeing. No swimming is allowed in many of the AZ lakes. Saw a bald eagle. Dinner was grilled hot dogs, beans and corn. Smores for our second dessert. About 6 years ago, my sister made a craft activity for Jiffy Pop Popcorn. I thought the popcorn would still be good. Apparently not! It was defective.

Oh by the way, Michigan has flush toilets and showers in their campgrounds. The toilets here looked nice from the outside, but OH, when you open that door, it is basically a porta-potty. Need I say more. And of course, I had to make a trip at 2 am in the morning with only my lantern and there are no lights in it. Even for this 47 year old, that was a scary adventure. The toilets were just across the road from our site, but Nicole brought her scooter up there and really enjoyed riding it to the bathroom and around the campground.

Nature's alarm clock (Some crazy Ravens) woke Nicole and I up at 5:30 am.

We took our camp down and made some pb&j sandwiches while we attempted to go fishing at the lake. Nicole's fishing rod was all messed up and it wouldn't work. Then we headed over to Willow Springs Lake. There isn't camping on Willow Springs, but it is a much calmer quieter lake.

On the way home, we took Hwy 87 which is a definately a quicker route. Ate at the 260 Cafe in Payson. Good Pizza. From the campground to our house, it only took 2 hours and 20 minutes. We're so glad to be home and in our own bed. We're glad we only stayed 1 night. We all ran and took showers once we got home.

I liken Camping to having a baby. It is a painful process, but afterwards, you only have great family memories from it.