Remembering Valentine's Day in Tucson

For Valentine's Day we decided to drive south. It was a roadtrip day! We thought it'd be fun to drive around until we found a good spot to camp like we did on our last trip.

We specifically headed south because it was supposed to rain all over the state and the Tucson area was supposed to get the least of it. We drove and drove and drove! We fond a few state parks, but one was really expensive, and the other one only had an overflow lot available- which is basically just a regular parking lot that you pay $15 to camp at. I looked up neat off road trails in Tucson, and saw that there was an easy trail to the back of Mount Lemmon. We headed that way. The closer we got though, the darker and more rainy it got. We started getting nervous and we weren't even sure that we were on the right road.

We found a good place to turn around, and started back the way we came. We kept watching for turn outs or interesting looking roads, but nothing seemed good enough, so we just continued on. We found what looked like a pretty decent spot, but when we got out of the truck, a donkey yelled and scared me. Who knows what sinister plans that donkey had for us while we slept?!

We drove to the cutest little hotel, Chalet Village. All the buildings were these adorable little A-frames. Chris went and discussed our predicament with them, and they said they couldn't rent a room to us because of our dogs, but they would let us camp on their property. So sweet! The only problem was where would we use the bathroom?

I found a hotel online that was pet friendly, so we headed into town again our safe haven- The Catalina Inn! They only charged an extra $20 to the room rate for Chloe and Chanel to stay with us. Chris went to pick us up a pizza at Rosati's and I walked the dogs in the rain. Pretty romantic Valentine's Day overall- haha! I don't know if it sounds like a fun and funny good time- but it really was!

The next morning we decided to try Mount Lemmon again. The guy at Rosati's told Chris that we were ALMOST to good camping spots last night. But I was glad we stayed in a hotel instead of trying to set up camp in the rain. We headed back up Mount Lemmon Road. Right when we could actually see Pepper Sauce Campground, the landmark we had been looking for, we also saw a raging wash blocking our path. It didn't look too deep for the truck to get through, but we weren't too sure about the trailer.

We decided not to risk it, but the area was pretty so we decided to have a picnic. We got the chairs out, and started preparing food, when all of the sudden it started to rain. Like, quite a bit of rain. We packed up the chairs, food and dogs, and got in the truck. And then it stopped raining. Hilarious! Right when we were about to give up a Jeep came and drove through really easily. They stopped to talk to us and assured us that we weren't going to have any problems getting through. They said they would wait for us to get across safely before they left. With that vote of confidence, we crossed the wash- no biggie at all.

The payoff was amazing! We got to camp along side what ended up being not a wash, but Pepper Sauce Creek. We hiked around the area, and it was really cool. The trees there are so old and ginormous.

Chris set up the hammock right by the creek, and we took turns laying in it with Chloe.

We got great sleep that night. The next morning we took Chloe and Chanel on a walk to check out Pepper Sauce Campground. It's pretty cool! The creek runs right through the whole campsite. It's so pretty! There's a part where there's a small waterfall even.

We got in the truck and drove up a little further. There were lots of places that we had to cross the creek. It was fun to explore the area.

We got back to camp and played cards for a bit, and Chris caught me a couple of magic tricks. We started a campfire. It was nice to listen to the water and sit by the fire.

Remembering Camping or Bust Trip

On February 2, 2019 we headed out with the pop up, not really knowing if we'd be able to camp or not. The forecast was for rain basically EVERYWHERE in Arizona, and a sudden cold snap cam in from the east- so not the best of conditions. BUT, we had a ridiculously long week, and we had our hearts set on camping, so off we went.

We headed north and were thinking we'd try Schnebly Hill Road. No such luck. The road was closed. We took the Munds Park exit and headed to the camp site area- Closed! We parked in the lot and let the doggies out to explore.

We got back to the I-17 and tried some more exits- all closed.

So we text Veronica, and had her and her friend Sierra meet us for lunch at NiMarco's. It was fun to see the girls. We figured that even if we didn't get to camp it was nice to see those girls.

After lunch we headed down highway 89B toward Sedona. This drive was stunning! The clouds were touching the top of the mountains. It was beautiful.

We pulled off on the side of the road, along the creek. There was a bridge to cross the water, but it was locked. We hiked down a bit as low as we could go, but it was too steep and wet for us to reach the creek. We enjoyed listening to the water, and watching our dare devil doggies jump from rock to rock.

All the campsites we passed were closed, except for a cute one by the creek that was tent camping only. Shoot!

Then, we remembered a drive we took a year prior between Sedona and Cottonwood. We headed that way and SUCCESS! Not only was the camp site open, but the weather was perfect for setting up. We got the pop up set up and set up the our cool room that we attach to our ARB awning on the truck.

It was chilly out, but we brought our little propane fire so we were warm and cozy. It did rain some, but it never really stormed.

The next morning we got up and took a hike down the road. The weather was perfect! Chanel was having the time of her life. She loves being off her leash and exploring. She was running like the wind and grunting like a pig- so funny!

We stayed through lunch, but the clouds started to build so we figured that we should stop pressing our luck and headed out.

Remembering Schnebly Hill

On January 19, 2019, we drove to Sedona! We wanted to drive down Schnebly Hill Road as far as we could, and scope out cool places to camp as we got closer to Flagstaff and make sure we'd be able to pull the pop up there some time.

Here's Chanel looking insane peaking over the seat at us- She's not long necked enough to be doing this when she's laying down, but she somehow makes it work. Silly girl! Haha!

It was a really pretty drive! There are a lot of Jeep tours that go down that road. There was one tour company that painted their Jeeps in tiger stripes, and every time those drove passed us, all the passengers would "Wooooo!" It was pretty entertaining. In contrast, one of the more popular Jeep companies had folks in the back looking unimpressed or texting in theirs. Funny!

 We had been driving for awhile, and rounded a corner, and boom- the road was closed! Oops! Chris had even checked to make sure it was open all the way to the Flagstaff side before we left. But it was no biggie. We still got to see so much of the pretty Sedona side. We stopped where the road closed, and hiked up the hill. There was a pretty sweet climbing tree that I scurried up for a minute. Chanel was super excited to be able to stop and smell EVERYTHING. And we can always count on Chloe to be our little adventure pup, jumping from rock to rock. 

The view at the top was beautiful! Chris and I were taking a selfie, and a nice man asked if we'd like  to have him take a picture for us. I gave him my phone, and let him know he just had to touch the little white circle on the screen. We were posing, and he was messing with my phone, but said that he wasn't sure if he had gotten it to work. We thanked him anyway, and he gave me my phone- turns out he had somehow taken 30 pictures! Haha!

There was a whole family up on the mountain and they were having a great time. The kids were trying to make their voices echo, and it was comical to hear. The little girl saw our dogs and was obsessed with them. She and her little brother were barking like dogs to them. It was pretty cute. 

We left Sedona, and headed to Payson through Camp Verde. That drive is so pretty! 

We spent the rest of the weekend in Payson to celebrate Nana's 83rd birthday. That next morning, me, Chris and Veronica went out to go pick up Dutch Bros. Then we picked up treats for Nana- we went to Mackey's Grill to pick up a whole coconut pie, and then to Country Charm to pick her up some Jelly Bellies. 

Joey was in town hiking Horton Creek with his dog Jack. He came over after and we all ate pulled pork sandwiches together and played Loaded Questions. 

Remembering Snow on the Rim

On October 4, 2018, we drove up to Payson after work. As we drove past the golf course by Green Valley Park, Chris asked me if I wanted to use the flashlight to look for wildlife. As soon as I turned on the light, I spotted a whole herd of elk! What great timing!

We had the whole Payson house to ourselves because Susie was house-sitting. We got to town too late to start camping, so we stayed there for the night. The next morning, we hit Rim Road, and found an amazing spot to camp right on the edge of the rim. There was this crazy cavern in the ground, like a sink hole. We kept looking in from all different vantages with flashlights to ensure nothing scary lived in there.

We set up camp and enjoyed the scenery and the quiet for awhile. It was so beautiful!

That afternoon we headed into Pine so that we could meet Mike and Edie and lead them back to camp. We stopped in the market for drinks and firewood. We were super impressed with the selection from such a teensy small-town market. They had such fancy beers too!

We were waiting in the truck and saw a little elk family across the street. The baby was SO cute! Then they just decided to cross the road and come toward the market. It was funny how the locals just reacted like this was just a totally normal thing to have elk hanging out in the parking lot. 

When M&E got there, we hit the road. When we pulled onto the forest road, a deer darted out right in front of our truck! That was really a close one. Edie was laughing about how a deer almost took us out! Haha!

We made some stops on the way to the campsite. There was a specific lookout M&E wanted to see. The views are just breathtaking on that road.

When we got to the campsite, they loved it! They set up their pop-up right next to the spooky cavern though, so Edie was a little nervous about creatures crawling out during the night.

Chris started a campfire near the edge, and it was so windy that we burned through almost all of the firewood we bought. Chris and I were telling stories about the Mogollon Monster, and we blamed every noise that came out of the forest on him. The Mogollon Monster is Big Foot, essentially. It's a big local lore. I guess the show Finding Bigfoot even came to the Rim area to look into the Mogollon Monster. Just scary enough to help scare our friends that decided to camp next to a cave in the ground. Haha!

The next morning, me and Chris had to run into Payson to help Susie with something. We saw some more nifty wildlife driving into town. 

Driving back to camp, we were able to spy our little camp spot from way far away-

The four of us had a wonderful time. The landscape was just amazing, and clouds kept rolling through changing the light. Gorgeous!

We had been watching the weather forcast and it was supposed to rain a little on our last day, but it was becoming clear that it was going to rain that night. We weren't worried though. We played games and hung out until the weather started to change. At that point, we decided to call it a night and head in for the night. 

AND THEN THE STORM CAME. Holy moly! It got freezing cold, and insane wing was blowing through. Chris barely slept at all. I would wake up, and he'd be all sweet and tell me everything was fine and to go back to sleep, but I finally figured out by his tone of voice that things were NOT fine. We went out and took the canvas off our easy up, and threw the generator in the back of the truck. The rain turned into snow. And more snow. And MORE snow.

We kept having to get up and shake the snow off the canvas of the pop-up because it was packing up and weighing it down. We were so exhausted, we tried to get a little sleep, but cold water started dripping on us from the snow above our bed. 

We gave up on sleep, and just started packing up instead. Chris had to help M&E get out of their popup because their awning had blown down and was holding the door closed.

Packing up the aftermath of the destroyed easy ups was hard work! We were all soaking wet and miserable. But once everything was packed, we could take a second and let it soak in how beautiful the forest looked. 

The road was a muddy mess, but the snow was so pretty. The clouds were touching the tops of the trees. It was a winter wonderland!

Chris was so tired, so once got out of the mud, I drove. We stopped just beyond Mount Ord, to give the dogs a little pit stop and found and interesting overpass with tons of graffiti on it. It was nice to just take a breather and count our blessing that we didn't blow off the side of a mountain.