The Summer of No Camping

We have taken a long camping trip up north (Utah/Colorado/California) since 2010.  This is the first year in 8 that we will not.  It feels odd.  Why, you ask? Well life happened and priorities shifted.  Mike started competing with his Chevelle and we've been busy at race tracks.

But a good friend went and built herself a log cabin in Utah.  And she was so generous to invite us up over the 4th of July.  Life has been busy and sometimes stressful and we desperately needed to recharge.  We left Rommel with a good friend to be pampered (getting old sucks), packed up our girls and headed north.

Hope has never travelled before, outside of her journey from Texas to Arizona from the rescue to our home.  We were nervous on how'd she do.  She panted for six solid hours until she finally gave in and napped with Elly.  

We crossed the Arizona/Utah border and stopped to explore Mexican Hat.  We've been through here many times but never really poked around the area.  We went down to the river and let the girls explore and were shocked when Hope, who refuses to walk on a wet patio, willingly followed Elly into the river.

With a breeze, it didn't seem as hot as it was.  We found a good couple of spots that would be perfect to spend an afternoon in the water and would fit our teardrop.  Next time...

We kept motoring through the area, just happy to explore and decompress.

It was really cool to watch Hope explore.  Elly has been everywhere with us and has always been my adventure buddy.  She'll even boulder with me.  But to Hope, this is all new.  And she loved it.

Exploration completed we drove north and finally landed at our home for the week:

We could get used to this.....