Easter Camping 2020

This year's Easter was both exactly the same as every other year and also not the same as life ever was before Corona.  I mean, we usually camp on Easter.  We spend most of our holidays away from the hustle and bustle of usual consumerism and chaos.  But this year?   This year, there was no chaos to escape, only the mundane daily life we've grown accustom to in quarantine.  We met with close friends, who've also been isolating and remained probably more than 6 feet apart in the fresh desert air.  We stayed up late talking under the stars, we watched the dogs play in the wash and dust, we were attacked with wind and rain by surprise, we ate breakfast burritos for brunch on Easter Sunday and enjoyed our home away from home.  It was the most normal anything has felt in the past couple weeks and we're grateful for our time outdoors, with family and for the wild fresh desert.

Hope you had a wonderful safe Easter if you celebrate.

 Vera asked me to get a picture of the heart shaped cactus.

 the blooms were so beautiful as well.

 the dags.

 camping chef.

 Easter Brunch.

and my Sonja Sass.

What's the most normal feeling thing you've done this isolation period?

Camping Season Witches

To close out summer we spent the weekend in the cooler weather with our camping crew. We opted for Prescott since it was a close drive and just far away enough to sleep under the stars. We haven't really been camping at all this summer since it's so hot in AZ and traveling anywhere else wasn't an option due to funding and scheduling.  But we wanted to make a point to get out every couple weeks to be outside and enjoy nature, so we met up with our family and friends and sat under the trees for a couple days. 

 Starting the morning with summer brew and orange juice.

 camping life is a lot of this, moving around finding the shaded spots cooking delicious food, we don't just do granola bars and MREs friends.

 It was actually cool enough to have a fire during breakfast.

 as the evening winded down we found ourselves attacked with loud buzzing bugs.  Here's one that died flying into the jeep light.  Maybe it was just stunned but either way, no thanks.

Moving on.  This is breakfast routine.  Sam makes eggs and hash browns.  I take my vegetarian cut and then they add in chorizo.  We try to cook over the open fire when possible, although sometimes we opt for the tiny gas stove.  It completely depends on the weather and amount of effort anyone is interested in putting in.  Our dutch oven is too heavy for the small stove, so anything big gets placed in there for a longer cook time.  Sort of like a slow cooker.  

My favorite part of camping is getting the kids to disconnect, they get technology on the ride out and home but once we're there, there are no devices.

 My oldest always talks about how much she doesn't like camping but once we're out there, she's exploring and entertaining herself.  The younger one is a wildling and always finding treasures and magic.  She found a bunch of stones and made a fairy ring.  She also found this stone with a chunk missing and was talking about how it was made and formed.  Little archaeologist + witch.

Anyway that's us and camping, if you haven't read more about our adventures you can find them here and here.  And, if you have any suggestions on where we should explore next, drop them in the comments or tell me on instagram.

Autumn Camping Trip 2018 {Flagstaff, AZ}

Kicked off our Fall Camping Season this weekend.  Phoenix is still hitting the hundreds but just a little north is sweatshirt weather.  So we met up with our friends and spent the weekend among the pine trees drinking Oktoberfest beers and listening to music around the campfire.

 //old man brut, our camping dog.

 beermosa anyone?

Eggs, Bacon and Frozen hashbrown scramble for breakfast.

 //wildflowers.

 cuddle pups.

 sling shot engaged.

 BB gun target practice.

another day another breakfast in the back of the jeep.

 full mouth, full heart.

the only photo of me from the whole weekend thanks to my new remote shutter.

//and then back to the desert we went.