CAMPING WEEKEND

Two weekends ago, Jen, Vince and I headed north early on a Saturday morning to the Mogollon Rim to enjoy some cool mountain air and relaxation.  We like the Canyon Point Campground, and had a site reserved.  Lucky #13 was very spacious and behind us was open forest land. 

After setting up our campsite, which surprisingly only took 90 minutes even with the tent, we relaxed and watched the thunderclouds move in. 

The rains came, but we kept our firewood dry.
Vince and Jen went to Forest Lakes store for their fishing licenses to be used on Sunday.  I had prepared chili and cornbread the week ahead, so meal preparation was easy. 

On Sunday morning we left early for fishing on Canyon Creek...Vince tried out his 4-wheel drive on the truck (worked great)!  

They fished for a couple hours; I did some reading and watched for wildlife, mostly cows grazing across the road from the creek.  Fortunately, we didn't see any bears! However, as we headed back to camp on Young Road we were surprised to see FOUR beautiful bull-elk galloping down the mountain right in front of the truck...It was a thrill to see such huge animals so close, but also made me realize how lucky we were to not have been on the road a few seconds later as we would have been right in their path...they ran across the road and down the other side of the steep incline of the mountainside in a matter of seconds!

Mike, Corissa, Cailyn & Landon drove up for the day on Sunday, arriving around 10:30.  We enjoyed a leisurely walk in the fresh air; Cailyn loved playing in the dirt, and Landon loved "roaming" around! 

After a peanut butter sandwich lunch, we all headed to Willow Springs Lake for an outing.  Landon fell asleep in the car (naptime), so everyone headed to the Lake while I stayed back with Landon in the car so he would nap longer and I read my book.  When he awoke good naturedly, he and I went to the lake to find everyone...Jen and Vince were fishing and had both caught fish.  Cailyn and Landon both liked splashing their feet in the water and digging in the sand on the "beach"...typical children!

Back at camp, we warmed up our beef stew for an early dinner, and cooked some hotdogs.  Unfortunately, because of the rainy weather on Saturday, the gnats arrived on Sunday during our picnic supper.  It was a bit difficult to relax and eat, while trying to ward off the invaders.  We so appreciate Mike, Corissa and family driving so far for a one-day outing! 

Sunday night after the "kids" left, we built another campfire and enjoyed "somemores"...well, I enjoyed the traditional somemore...Jen eats her ingredients separately, and Vince eats ONLY the Hershey chocolate bar!  They don't know what they're missing!

Monday morning was to be our "big breakfast" before breaking camp...and we slept until 6:00 a.m. instead of 5:00 a.m. WooHoo!!  Vince cooked delicious scrambled eggs and sausage...and our old drip pot made the best coffee! 

We played a game of Yahtzee and relaxed a bit before tackling the tent. A friendly squirrel finally made an appearance on our last morning, and we had fun feeding him unsalted peanuts in the shell...

 I made more peanut butter sandwiches for our picnic lunch on the Rim trail near Woods Canyon Lake on the way home. 

Dairy Queen was also a required pit stop in Payson as we headed back to the valley.  We are thankful to Jen for encouraging us to go camping again and for wanting to "hang out" with her old folks for a weekend!