Into the woods

For the long Labor Day weekend, we decided to get out of Phoenix and see what else Arizona had to offer. A camping trip in the mountains was just the escape we needed from our adult lives! Liz's good friend, Lindsey, joined us for the trip. We drove about 4-5ish hours northeast to Big Lake, in the Apache National Forest. At 9,000 ft elevation, it was a gorgeous, green, and cool change from what we're used to seeing everyday - buildings and desert! The lake was huge and surrounded by open meadows. Edging this was the evergreen forest, where our campground was located.

Upon arrival, we followed the

basic rules of camping:

Step 1: Set up your tent (bonus points if its guarded by a dog to protect from bears)

Step 2: Make smores, no matter the time.

Brad also proved he was a man by building excellent fires for every meal.

We had plenty of time to relax over the weekend and enjoyed being outdoors for long periods of time without feeling the intense burn of the sun. We took a drive to explore the area and found:

plenty of cows... open scenery...

another huge lake....and even a waterfall!

And no long weekend would be complete without a large purchase, right? When we returned home, we went car shopping for Brad. Not exactly what we had planned so soon after buying Liz's new car but unfortunately, the Impala has been having a lot of difficulties. It's one thing to have no AC in Arizona but when the window is stuck in the door, that is a sign! So we found a new vehicle for Brad - a 2010 Jeep Patriot. We are excited to both have cars we no longer need to worry about breaking down on us and also to have more space to haul stuff around. We are already looking forward to our next camping trip!