This is a little late, but here it is- our first camping ventures of the summer. Dan and I love camping and now that we have just bought ourselves a pop-up trailer, our camping ventures are only beginning. I use to think that it was cheating if you camped with a trailer of any kind, but now that I am getting older and much, much wiser, I realized that if you are somewhere in the mountains away from home, and you have to cook your meals over some kind of open flame, and you have to pee in some weird fucking place, then that counts as camping whether it’s in a tent or camper. I suppose some people would like to argue with me, and you know what, I was there- I thought as you did my dear friend, but when you have the luxury of heated mattresses and dry shelter during a rain storm, come talk to me then.

Okay, so on to our first camping adventure- Cochiti Lake. Just a few miles out of town, and quite the little get away. It was Memorial Day Weekend and my birthday. It was a nice little way to celebrate another year of turning 30. It has been eight years straight that I have been turning 30 and it never gets old. Literally.  It was a pleasant celebration not only because I was in my natural habitat, but also because my sisters joined in the fun. I am fucking grateful for those bitches and it was nice to hang out with them and eat, drink and laugh.

Dan and I were a bit nervous taking our rambunctious toddler along with us, she can be quite a handful and a little needy- okay a lot needy and I wasn’t sure how she would respond to a new environment. Turns out she loved it. When we took her down to the lake she had no problem walking right into the lake. No fear. No care in the world. On she went with her little watermelon swimsuit and walked right in. I thought about letting her go and live with the fishes, but I don’t think Dan would have appreciated that much, so I grabbed her and kept her safe. In fact, I think she wanted me to let her go and live with the fishes because she was a bit moody and fussy after I grabbed her. I hope she blames her dad for that one, because I really do want her to achieve whatever it is she wants in her life, even if that is living with the fishes in Cochiti Lake. I blame Dan for that one too, because I knew I wouldn’t hear the end of it if I had let her go-so I had no choice but to keep her safe. The rest of the trip was absolutely fantastic though. As you can see in the photo, Avery is having a blast.

Ahem- see, doesn’t she look pissed that she didn’t get to live with the fishes? Well, at least daddy is happy to have her home with us. I guess that’s why he wants me to fill up his big black tub he uses for panning gold with water and let her splash around during the hot afternoons. Feeling a tad guilty there Dan? It’s okay, I am happy she is home safe with us too, and one day we will have our canoe and Avery can watch the fishes swim. Cheers to a great start of our camping venturers.

Stay tuned for the next one coming soon.

Until then enjoy some of these pictures taken by the famous Dan.