Alas, the past is the past and we live in the present and presently we have just returned from our summer 2015 4x4 camping trip which took us through California and Nevada before depositing us back home in sunny Arizona.
On previous summer camp trips it was our Adventure Camping friends, my tall drink of water and our 90lb model pretty meat-head Weimaraner Meeka. This year however the in-laws talked my husband into taking our two kiddos along for the ride....so long Meeka, enjoy staying with the in-laws cause there isn't any room in the FJ for you now!!
I admit I kind of sort of didn't want to take the kids with us, cause it's pretty much my only vacation from being "mom". While the trip was not as relaxing as our sojourns in the past have been, it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be with the kids either. You know....the "are we there yets", "I'm hungry", " I need to use the restroom", etcetera. All in all the kids did a fairly decent job of not being irritating due to long hours in the vehicle. They also got along with one another during the entire trip which was nice. Plus I'm happy they got to experience someplace new and they now have special memories to cherish.
After dropping of the pup we met up with our adventure friends and headed out of dodge around 6 in the morning. The border crossing from AZ to CA was uneventful and the kids commented on how CA didn't really look any different from AZ. Our first stop was cancelled due to literally being burned down, so sorry we missed you Big Bear, you sounded like you used to be lovely. So we continued on the road and eventually made it up into some forested area north of Joshua Tree National Forest and found a camping spot just off the paved national forest road. Now I personally did not manage to get a picture of this campsite so the picture is courtesy of our camping companions.
We had a quick easy camp dinner of hot dogs and brats with the little bit of Mac and Cheese I managed not to spill during draining. The next morning we actually slept in til about 9am. We woke and had a quick breakfast of coffee and pre-made homemade blueberry & strawberry scones then started to pack up in hopes of hitting the road before the oncoming rain came down!
Shortly after hitting the road we had rain, sleet, snow....it was at this point I started to think there was a theme happening, as we'd had snow in May at the Overland Expo. To experience snow in July in California it was...hmmm. So much for the no rain forecast, we ended up hitting spots of rain 5 out of the 7 days we were camping!!!
On our way down the mountain we came upon a pull off with a trail down to a small river and we took a little break from the cramped FJ to stretch our legs and enjoy nature.
Here is my adventure seeking friend Amanda as she listens to the approaching helicopter that momentarily disrupted our peace!
Below is the panaramic picture she took showing the river going both ways!
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| Myself and the kiddos |
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| The man as he tells the kids a story about a childhood river experience he had |
We continued on and drove through acres of citrus farms before climbing back up into the mountains.
Along the way we came upon the Trail of 100 Giants, a must see if you're traveling in the area.
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| The fallen giants root system |
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| Amanda taking a picture of me taking a picture of her |
For more about our adventure continue on to part 2!
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