Location: Blue Ridge Reservoir
We decided at the last possible second
to hurry and do a quick camping trip!
Taylee was still in Colorado with Sophie.
So that meant Anden got to grab a friend to come with us!
We took off for the mountains and cooler temps!
I remembered this pretty river area from long ago that I had been to.
Somehow Ryan had never been there (yes he is the AZ native!)
So I showed him the map and off we went for an adventure!
Taylee was still in Colorado with Sophie.
So that meant Anden got to grab a friend to come with us!
We took off for the mountains and cooler temps!
I remembered this pretty river area from long ago that I had been to.
Somehow Ryan had never been there (yes he is the AZ native!)
So I showed him the map and off we went for an adventure!
I was a good sport and let the boys have the front seat
Which meant I got to play with the girlies in the back!
Well 5 minutes into the drive.
Trusty Laiky was fast asleep!
Which me and Eastlie goofed off by ourselves!
Gotta love camping...it requires half of your household to be brought along!
Plus the RZR and kayaks!
Awwww finally green and mountains!
We're out of the desert!
Well the rest of the drive I would prefer not to document.
It wasn't pretty! lol
I assumed Ryan had actually looked at the websites with the directions that I had sent him earlier.
He didn't.
I didn't think to ask him until we were out of cell service area.
So neither of us could pull up the directions on our phones.
I knew it was a quick drive. Maybe 1.5 hours max.
He was certain he knew the way.
He's "been to this area before".
I was certain he had no clue.
And I was certain we were no longer going to find a campsite before sunset.
(of which I was correct on both accounts! ugh)
Well I think we drove through New Mexico and Colorado.
Heck we could have picked up Taylee on our way! lol
4 hours later....we found Blue Ridge Reservoir.
Good thing we had a token neighbor kid in the car...to keep our frustrations contained! haha
So we set up camp in the dark.
Then got the fire going.
Made dinner.
Got out glow toys.
And suddenly everyone was in much better spirits! :)
The kids all loved just being able to finally play outside in the cool woods.
Summer is a LONG HOT time for us desert dwellers!
Eventually we called it a night.
The parents and littles were in one tent.
The boys were in another tent.
Surprisingly everyone slept pretty well!
We were up with the sunrise and made breakfast.
The boys shot guns a bit.
Then we loaded up in the RZR to go check out the reservoir.
We came back and told Ryan and the girls to get the kayaks into the truck and let's go play!
We knew the forecast had called for monsoon storms all weekend.
But that didn't deter us.
It was sunny and gorgeous outside.
So we were making the most of it!
The water was chilly!
And definitely not as green as it looks in pictures! lol
My little kayak co-captain
We paddled along and would pull off and hike and explore.
The kids were all hiking the cliffs so I got to just chill on the water and watch them!
Soon they decided to cliff jump!
Then back to paddling the lake
Anden decided to ditch his kayak and test his skills on a log! haha
Waving to Mommy!
Daddy getting in a picture with me and the Diva
The kids were getting hungry so we headed back to shore
Our little kayak crew!
The dark clouds were coming in hot and heavy!
So we hurried and loaded up the kayaks into the truck.
Ryan took the little girls with him.
I went with the boys in the RZR.
I decided to let Anden drive us back to our campsite!
Hope we don't drive off the cliff back into the lake!!
We knew we were racing against rain time.
So we packed up what we could in totes and under tarps.
And then the thunder opened the skies and it started raining...and raining...and raining!!
We hunkered into our big tent
and enjoyed nature's show and smells!
I figured it would be the typical 10 minute downpour.
It was still coming down hard.
The boys started a flip toss game
The rain was now flooding our campsite.
EWH muddy mess!
I had hoped Eastlie would take a nap during the storm.
Wishful thinking!
She was hyper as ever!
But of course the twinsies fell asleep instead!
So the boys and me and Eastlie just played games and hung out.
That storm poured so hard or over 30 minutes!!
I kept asking Anden..."Are you sure you packed up your bag and put it inside the truck??"
"YES MOM!!"
Well when the rain finally stopped and we emerged from our tent.
We saw the river that had formed in the middle of our campsite.
In fact it was right smack in the middle of Anden's tent!!
Yes my Boy Scout pitched his tent right in the low spot of our campsite! lol
And the water was running straight through their tent!
So the boys went to check it up.
They opened up the tent and it was a lake of water inside.
With Anden's bag floating in the middle!!
Oh child.
So we started the joys of trying to pack up to leave when everything was wet and muddy.
We camp like once every year. Maybe 2 years.
EVERY SINGLE TIME we get rained out!!
And they wonder why camping isn't my fave! lol
The sun came out and started to dry things up.
I naively told the boys to go take the RZR for one last drive before we loaded up.
Uhhh they returned 6 minutes later like this!!
And then I told Anden to go line it up by the trailer so we could pull it on.
He backed it up into a tree and ripped the front tire fender off!
Oh child.
So we loaded up the muddy wet mess into the truck.
And literally had to strip off our clothes, shoes before we got inside.
And then we started the drive back down the mountain
with the entire rest of Phoenix.
But hey at least we still got home way faster than our drive there!! lol
What an eventful little camping trip! :)
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