We are Happy Campers.

We were going to go camping a few weeks ago, but no one was really prepared so we postponed our trip to this weekend that just past. I for one had a BLAST. Adam Autumn and I took one car and our friend Jon, (Better Known as Rocketpants) and his wonderful



We arrived late on Friday and instead of choosing a campground BEFORE we left we decided to wait until we got to the 3 sites we were interested in.







It seemed like a good enough idea, but no one considered that there would be no cell service when we got out there. Rocketpants was a little over an hour behind us, but we didn't really know if he was still in range so we went down to the little country store and called his cell from a really cool old payphone.


Since we didn't know if Rocketpants got the message we went down to the entrance to the campsite to flag him down. I am not sure if it would have worked, but fortunately he had already gotten our message so he knew which campsite to go to. That night we didn't have any fire wood and we thought about it after the country store was closed. It didn't matter much, we had fun drinking PBR in the dark wearing jackets.


That first night was freezing. It is hard to believe it can go from being so warm to being uncomfortably chilly. I grew up in the dessert so I SHOULD know this, but we didn't have enough blankets that first night. Autumn woke us all up pretty early, we had a yummy breakfast of bacon and eggs and made sure to pick up firewood and extra blankets. That day was spent climbing and hiking, and the evening was spent hanging out by the fire and drinking beer, but not TOO much beer. The people at the campsite next to ours were REALLY loud, but I slept fine anyway, and autumn didn't wake us up at such an early hour on Sunday morning.






On Sunday we packed up and wandered over to Jemez falls, where there is a great swimming hole that we couldnt find, but that was really OK since it was a little cool for swimming. I really wished we were not confined by Autumn and Melvin ( the awesome American bulldog pictured here) because it would have been a really wonderful place to explore.



From there we went to bandalier national monument, which I was super stoked about. Unfortunately when we got there we found out that they do not allow pets so Melvin and rocketpants headed on to Las Alamos and Adam, Autumn and I went into the park.





Bandalier is REALLY awesome. It is a historic sight where you can see some incredible adobe ruins and some native American cliff dwellings. It is in a canyon that still runs along a narrow creek, so while most of it is still typical desert landscape there is a lush green aria as well.



We ended up doing a little more hiking, and in Bandalier you are actually allowed to go in some of the caves, so that was fun.



There is also a very large cave at the top of a 4 ladder pitch. I think it is 140 feet or something. Adam and I took turns going up there because I didn't want to drop Autumn off a cliff. It was pretty cool , and it was not nearly as hard for me to climb up it as it was for me to climb down, but I am starting to feel like I am getting closer to mastering this fear of heights business.





So... How was your weekend?



XOXO

-Erica