• Family - Fun

    Unplugged

    May 27, 2019 - By 

    Chris and I haven’t been camping since before the kids. (I mean, assuming you don’t count the two times we set up the tent in our backyard so our oldest could have a night under the stars with dad while I stayed inside with the baby). I’ve always loved camping, especially tent camping. But with little ones it seemed like it would be a lot of work. It’s probably not, but like anything can be intimidating until you’ve gotten the routine down. This Memorial weekend we pulled the trigger. Even though our version of camping was setting up our tent…

  • Fun - RemoteDance

    Camping Miracles

    July 10, 2009 - By 

    And now we have come to the finale of this Fourth of July Camping Adventure. Next to our campfire, left behind by the previous campers, was a giant log. Someone had obviously dragged it there, with the intentions of burning it, because there was a tie strap still twined around it. They had gone to a lot of trouble to get that giant log next to the campfire, but never ended up burning it. We had a theory. We figured they had been sitting around the campfire late at night (there was almost definitely alcohol involved) and two or more…

  • RemoteDance

    Best. Campsite. Ever.

    July 9, 2009 - By 

    Part 4 of this Adventure was foreshadowed early on in our trip. It began with the fact that thunderstorm activity in the region meant we had to drive, instead of fly. And was compounded when we arrived at the suspiciously unclaimed campsite and announced it to be the “best campsite ever.” And it was. Until the rain began. See that draw there? It’s basically channeling all the rainwater from higher elevations down through the Mogollon rim. What’s also important to note about this draw is that it runs directly through our campsite. You can probably see where I’m going with…

  • RemoteDance

    It’s So Easy, a Child Could Do It

    July 8, 2009 - By 

    Welcome to Part 3 of our Fourth of July Camping Adventure. One of my best friends has a fantastic recipe for Monkey Bread. She happened to mention in passing that she would like to make Monkey Bread during the camping trip, but was stuck on how to cook it without an oven. “Monkey bread?!” I said, “Monkey Bread?! I will *make* you an oven out of a cardboard box and some tinfoil if that’s what it takes to get monkey bread on this trip.” As it turns out, you actually can make an oven out of tinfoil and a cardboard box. I downloaded…

  • RemoteDance

    Because Matches Aren’t Good Enough

    July 7, 2009 - By 

    And so begins Part 2 of our Fourth of July Camping Adventure. Sometimes my husband surprises me. Like, when we’re getting ready to start the campfire and he brings out the blow torch. Yes really, the blow torch. We are so classy. Thus, please enjoy my pictorial essay on How to Light a Campfire With a Blow Torch. Somebody should post this on WikiHow so I can get my 15 minutes. (Well, maybe not, because it’s probably a bad idea for people to be running around our national forests with blow torches. Smoky the Bear would be crying himself to…

  • Fun - RemoteDance

    Camping: an Introduction to our Fourth of July Adventure

    July 6, 2009 - By 

    For the Forth of July, Chris and I planned a camping trip with four of our friends (and their 3 Chihuahuas). The average temperature in Phoenix that week was 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and Southern California was hitting the 100’s, so everyone was ready for some 75 degree weather. Due to thunderstorms clouding the skies from LA to Phoenix, we opted to drive instead of fly the plane. (Read: small aircraft and thunderstorms do not mix well). Aside from a brief moment of panic when the air conditioner cut out in the middle of the Mojave desert (it came back on)…