we went camping

On Friday afternoon, we left town, went up north and went camping. It was, technically, my 2nd time camping. We went in September of last year and it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. So I, being the brilliant person I am, decided we should go again while it was still cold up north. I should have taken the hint when I went looking for campsites and most are closed until May. But I searched and found a place that is open year round. It was the Yavapai campsite, near Granite Basin Lake, outside Prescott. When we camp, we use a tent and an air mattress. I thought I would bring lots of layers and lots of blankets and we would be fine. We even checked the weather and saw that it was going to get to around freezing at night, but I still thought that we would be ok. Can you guess where this is leading? Yup - too f-ing cold. When we got there, it was nice. We set up camp and had a nice night. It got chilly, but we just put in jackets and sat around the fire. We roasted marshmallows and had a great dinner. When it was time to go to bed, we got all tucked in and tried to sleep. It wasn't working. It was so cold. We tried to sleep for about an hour and then made the only decision we could make. We slept in the truck. We grabbed all our blankets and tried our best to get comfortable. We put the seats back as much as we could recline them. At least we were able to sleep without freezing to death. By the time I fell asleep, I was covered in 3 blankets. I was wearing flannel pants, a t-shirt, a fleece pullover, my corduroy jacket, my scarf, my hat and my gloves. Maybe I am a wuss, but I was really cold to be outside and trying to sleep. I think I managed to sleep for like 4 or 5 hours in total. I was really stiff, but at least we slept. We had planned to stay for two nights, but yesterday morning we decided not to stay another night. We had a relaxing day yesterday. Well, if you don't count our attempt to walk around the lake. We drove from the campsite to the lake, because it was about 4 miles away. When we got to the lake, we decided that walk around it, not realizing that you can't get all the way around. We discovered this about 2/3 of the way around. And after I had fallen and scraped my hand and wrist on a rock. It was nothing, but still slightly painful. So, we turned around and walked back around the way we came. I am really out of shape, but Chris is all about hiking and being in the outdoors. He is a freaking Eagle Scout. So, I did the little hike for him. I don't know why he wanted to do it, because earlier he had stepped wrong and twisted his ankle. It is swollen, but not too bad. He said walking on it loosened it up. Whatever. So we stayed last night until after dinner. I didn't want to miss out on the good food that Chris had planned to make. He is such a good camper. He knows what we need to have and gets stuff done. He did make me gather firewood and help set up and tear down the tent, but otherwise he took care of everything. I am way lucky to have him. He takes care of me. We had a good time and it was an experience, that's for sure. It was nice to be away and be away from the heat. Even though it was so cold at night, the rest of the day was gorgeous. When we left camp last night at 7:30pm, it was 57 degrees. When we got home at 9:30pm, it was 74 degrees. See why we wanted to get out of town?

There are more pictures on my 365 blog and here.

04/02/07 8:40pm MST
edited to add: WE SLEPT IN THE TRUCK!! Did anybody catch that part? No comments? Is there anyone alive out there?