Big Lake

Last week we took advantage of another of Chad's three-day weekends, drove four hours into a part of Arizona that we've never been to, and went camping at Big Lake in the White Mountains.  According to Camp Arizona's top 10 list, the Apache Trout campground is number one in the state.  It was beautiful, with Ponderosa pines and Aspen trees all around.  The campsites were clean, and had nice gravel drives for the RVs (which did help cut down on how dirty the kids got, but it didn't prevent them from wallowing in the nearby dirt banks; Mason's dirty upper lip resembled a Hitler-stache for a while there).  There was free firewood laying all over the place for the gathering. 

Big Lake was just a short walk/drive away, and the kids got to try out the fishing poles Santa brought them for the first time.  Chad tried out his new pole too, but discovered that $20 at Walmart won't even buy you as good of a cast as a Bree's Disney Princess pole.  No fish were caught, but the kids had fun.  Especially Mason.  He's at that age where repetitive motion is right up his alley of delight.  We found a few geocaches around the lake too.  After the first afternoon of warm weather and A/C necessity, we enjoyed cool evenings, beautiful mornings, and a rainstorm that revealed the scary truth about the integrity of our camper's roof.  We have a leak in our living room ceiling.  But nothing that an empty cooler underneath couldn't handle.  Oh well.  What can you expect from a trailer that you found abandoned, covered in mouse droppings?  The rain only lasted a couple hours thankfully.  And I was thankful that I had a camper to cook dinner in, out of the rain.  Of course we enjoyed our S'mores each night, and I love cool weather because it lets me indulge in hot chocolate.  Camping is really all about eating.  And doing nothing.  And letting the kids play and do whatever.  Mason fell asleep in Chad's arms by the fire both nights.  The kids played hard and slept well.  It was a wonderful trip.

June 23-25, 2010