I just got back from two weeks on the road–camping across the south and stopping in places like Louisville, Memphis, Shreveport, Dallas, El Paso, Las Cruces, White Sands, Phoenix, Joshua Tree, and Palm Springs.
It was a trip. I got a lot of reading, knitting, and sun in. It was magical. My field bag kept me company. And you can see snaps here.
Roanhorse Canyon, Navajo Nation, norther New Mexico–Sean’s grandma’s land. It’s the most perfect camping spot and the only one we got to hit up this summer as part of our cross country journey from Phoenix to Boston, where we are now together, putting our house together.
Summer, why do you ever have to leave? See more snaps from our trip here.
After a successful 2014 trip to Catalina State Park in Oro Valley, Arizona, Sean and I decided to venture back to the beautiful campground and hiking spot for another go around last week. It’s a gorgeous spot. Plenty of trails (which allow dogs, hurrah!) and campground facilities, all the while making you feel remote and alone at your campsite.
We pitched tent on Friday early evening and settled into a relaxing evening of margaritas and snacks. A black widow scare later and breakfast the next morning, we set out on our first hike of the weekend. Little did we know, a dog would come out of no where and maul our poor pooch Jack, forcing us to scamper down the mountain and to an emergency clinic. Jack is lucky to be alive; we are lucky to have him, and a few hours of surgery later, we were packing up our campsite and returning to Phoenix.
I don’t know how I feel about ever going back to Catalina. It held such fond memories, but now, all I can think about is that dog, ripping Jack’s throat, and the panic that ensued. For me, living in Boston, an escape to 85 degree Phoenix was plenty enough. All I wanted was sun and warmth, cocktails like Sean’s famous Moscow Mules in the copper mugs I bought him last year…. and of course cacti. I got all of those things.
This summer, I spent most of my time on various amazing, life changing trips. Nights in a moon roofed tent, days hiking in canyons and swimming in secluded lakes. If I could go back and start them all over again, I would. If you want to see some snaps from my jaunt through the southwest, pictures are here but have yet to be organized. Oh, and we did that whole east coast, Tennessee, and Smoky Mountain thing, too.
Can we please go back to summer vacation?
I spent my spring break on two camping trips–I began in southern Arizona, surrounded by more than 5,000 saguaro cacti, and then flew to Savannah, Georgia to meet my mum and sister to camp along the eastern seacoast all the way home.
It was a blast; the weather in Arizona was delicious, and I managed to read 3 books and knit 2 sweaters in all the relaxation.
You can check out snaps from the trip here. Or, wade through last year’s cross country camping trip as well.
This summer, I spent two weeks in the southwest, where my guy lives. Naturally, facing oppressive temperatures in Phoenix during the month of June, instead of simply sweating it all out in lethargy, we opted to chase cooler climes on a series of camping trips across Northern Arizona. Camping, after all, is how we first met.
Traversing the stunning, and vast, Navajo Nation, we stopped through the Tuba City Reservation, where my parents used to live, camped in the tranquil high desert of the Grand Canyon North Rim (for the non-tourist types), and enjoyed splashing in the low, but cold waters of Lake Powell at Wahweap.
It was a trip I wish I was still in; away from it all; great talk and beautiful landscape, playing cards, and cold beers, and tents, and camp stove cooking. It’s the way summer is meant to be observed.
This was the corgi’s longest hike yet; and he did splendidly, but subsequently passed out, dirty feet to boot, at the campsite upon arrival back some many hours later. The hike was so densely wooded, we didn’t get a drop wet but were the only ones on the trail. Literally.
We followed it all up with some warming herbal tea…
Before, of course, downing jugs of coffee (after all, if you’ve learned anything in this space, this is the Wolf Clan, and we are, ahem made up a cool 90% of coffee…and that’s fact)…
…and naturally, we had to test it out using an old school tin percolator on the camp stove (procured by my parents circa 1976), as well as a new fancy JavaDrip contraption. Campsite coffee making is quite the endeavor…
But oh, the nectar, is that much sweeter….
…made even tastier yet by a stash of Dunkin’ munchkins for a much needed post-hike sugar boost…
Followed up by even more sweet, albeit downright healthy, doses of local native strawberries…
to quickly be replaced by the sweets of another…
…and this is where things start to become a bit more “blurred”…
with plenty of “cheers” to camping…
Plus, wine will make you bet on cards. Fact.
…and gorge on a quickly, and masterfully, cooked cheesy bean dip concocted over the wood fire to tide you over to the main course.
That main course was a delicious packet my Mum calls “hobo pie”. Filled with lemon dill haddock filets, lemon, fingerling potatoes, greens, and carrots, the entire thing caramelized and blackened a bit deliciously over the wood blaze, and all you had to do was crumple up the tinfoil remnants for clean up!
Which was nicely rounded out by listening to tunes from Jenny Lewis, Stars, Bon Iver, the Eels, Jarvis Cocker, and The Blow around the campfire. This campfire was perfect for roasting marshmallows, a time honored camping tradition.
I hate marshmallows. Always have. But clearly, I enjoy photographing them…immensely.
Of course, those marshmallows had to make up s’mores. I took s’more snaps instead.
And after all the sweet, we needed a bit of salty. Jiffy Pop is quite fun when camping…especially accompanied by a night cap…
…and one last boozy look at the bright night sky before passing out in tent. Cleaning up is much easier than setting up, mind you. Getting off the grid is splendid. I say you try it.
At the weekend, I traveled off the grid into the depths of Chocorua for a camping excursion with my family. Arrival on Friday evening included setting up the tents and various campsite needs; the corgi, Sir Winston Churchill, loves to work, so he helped organize the sleeping bags.
We ate simply the first evening; carrot and celery sticks for an appetizer…
Iron skillet cooked tortillas filled with cheese and our homemade re-fried pinto beans, a delight in the Wolf family very often consumed, for the main. One of these bad boys will carry you through and it goes down smooth…
We woke up to a pretty steady rain and gray cloud cover, so quietly nodded off to a cafe about 8 miles down, Chinooki in Conway, for bottomless cups of coffee and a sustaining breakfast of poached eggs and wheat toast before our planned 7 miles hike of the Liberty Trail to Mt. Chocorua despite the rain.
…and much to my pleasure, there was a cheeky sign in the bathroom by the toilet. I took two trips, just so I could get this snap. We subsequently returned to camp for the arrival of my brother, Bryce, and his wife, before packing up the lunches, putting on the rain gear, and heading out for the hike.
