Camping

Flagstaff, Arizona - October, 2008

This past weekend, Bear and I got through another “first” without Steve when we went camping for the first time. Steve and I both grew up in families that camped a lot and while I hadn’t been since 1986, it was something we wanted to do with Bear as he got older. Bear went to preschool with a little boy named Dane and we’ve become friends with Dane’s family so we all went camping together this weekend in Flagstaff, Arizona – about 2 hours north of us. Bob and Melissa have three boys – Dylan (10), Austin (9) and Dane (4). Bear had a wonderful time with all of the boys.

We stayed at a KOA in Flagstaff and had side-by-side Kamping Kabins which were perfect for us. I’d do it again in a heartbeat – and if you want to go camping, but not stay in a tent and you don’t have an RV – a kamping kabin is the way to go. They’re very basic but have a double bed and a set of bunk beds – we just threw our sleeping bags on top. It also had a small table, portable heater, a small porch with a swing… Just perfect…

It was hard without Steve. He would have LOVED being up there – it’s a beautiful location in Flagstaff, at the bottom of a big mountain, clear skies… I felt him around – I know he was with us. And I didn’t burn the forest down with my little red propane stove so all was right with the world It felt good getting out of Phoenix for a day too—it was about 20 degrees cooler which was a nice change. On Saturday night, we made a big campfire, roasted hot dogs and made s’mores and filled the kids up with hot cocoa before putting them to bed. After that, the three grownups sat around and drank our cocoa with butterscotch schnapps. Paul introduced me to cocoa with butter shots probably 13 years ago and it’s been a favorite ever since. Bob & Melissa hadn’t had it before, but I definitely converted them on this trip! We’re looking forward to our next camping adventure – we really did have a good time. We didn’t bring Yogi on this trip, but he’ll go with us next time.

We stopped at a pumpkin patch on the way out of town -- the name of the place just called to us :)

Dirty fingernails = good campin'!