Some Camping Pics...

I Can't Wait to Go Again!

When I was young I used to sleep in a tent in my backyard with my sister Regan during the summer. As I grew up I slept in a tent outside of our cabin in northern Wisconsin a number of times. That was my experience of the great outdoors until recently. This weekend I had my first real camping experience. Our friends Ben and Lis invited us to go camping with them in Gardener Canyon which is south east of Tucson near Mt. Wrightston. The four of us miraculously squeezed all of our gear into our Honda Element and headed out Friday night. We arrived to our camp site after dark and immediately lit up a fire and began to have our first camping meal- BRAZILIAN STYLE HOT DOGS prepared by our resident Brazilian, Lis. Delicious! After this we relaxed by the fire, drinking wine and smoking cloves, cigars, and pipes for the rest of the night. It was pretty windy so we kept our fire small and left some coals burning when we went to bed. Ben and Lis pitched their tent while Matt and I converted our Element into our camping home- before you laugh let it be known the Honda Element was made to be a camping vehicle and has many camping accessories made for it. In the middle of the night we awoke to a blazing orange light. Matt looked out the window and said, "Oh my gosh!" As I looked out the window I saw a fire blazing and was afraid the woods were burning down with us in them! In reality our camp chair had blown in to the coals and caught fire. Ben, dressed in his black longjohns and looking like a ninja, dashed out of his tent and pulled the chair out of the fire covering it with dirt. Close call!

We awoke Saturday morning to the sound of light rain and small hail hitting our car. We could see Mt. Wrightston had been dusted with snow. I was afraid our camping adventure was ruined but God was so good and brought the sun out a short time later. We arose and began cooking breakfast on Ben's Coleman stove; eggs, bacon, hash browns coffee and HOMEMADE CHAI TEA Ben had learned to make from a Pakistani friend of his. Delicious! After breakfast we packed up small packs and headed out for a hike. We left the road and headed down a ravine where there was a small running stream. We sat by a little pool for a while where Lis spotted the first wildlife which was a small frog sun bathing in a cleft of a rock. Lis- who hates animals actually cried when she saw the frog- she is so funny! We then hiked up the stream a ways looking for wildlife and having stick races. I spotted a turtle in the stream which we had to pick up and take pictures of. I also saw a snake about two feet long but he slithered away before anyone else saw him. Matt found a very nice log that he had to take back for our fire pit on the hike back. When we returned to camp we had lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon reading, gathering wood, and taking naps. Matt drug a 15 foot dead yucca plant back to camp. When Ben saw it he and Matt seemed to exchange ideas telepathically and they began digging a hole in order to stand up this yucca as the "camp mascot, Roger." They dug and rolled large rocks together to stand Roger up. Roger was a ferocious looking yucca indeed. They were proud. Shortly after this some very large cows with big horns were spotted just west of our camp. They hung out for a long time, chewing the cud. A mom and baby calf walked just north of our camp and joined the cows to the west of us.

After naps Matt and Ben built up the fire for the evening's main event, STEAK OVER THE OPEN FIRE. After rubbing them with rock salt the porterhouse steaks were placed on the grate over the fire. In no time we were feasting on some of the best steaks we had ever had along with beans and garlic bread. We enjoyed the fire for the rest of the night, with more pipes, cigars, and cloves. We also indulged in a camping must have, SMORES! We had chocolate graham crackers, marshmallows and Hershey's bars that were filled with peanut butter and brownie pieces. Delicious!

We awoke Sunday morning and whipped up some pancakes along with coffee and chai. We then packed up camp and headed out. Though another hike up the stream sounded good we were all ready for showers. Thanks be to Ben and Lis for taking us. I can't wait to go again!

Fresh from the Womb

This is my cousin Nichole's new baby, Luke. Is this not the cutest picture ever?!

Choose only 3

Let us talk books. If you had to choose only three books to be in your possession for the rest of your life what would you choose?

For me...
John MacArthur Study Bible
Valley of Vision: Puritan Prayers and Devotions
Trinity Hymnal

What would you choose?