Camping on the Rim - Part 1

This is the only family picture

we have from this trip.

Oops!

We were so excited about getting Zelda, the new travel trailer, that before we'd even brought her all the way home, we'd already booked our first true camping trip, a few weekends hence.  Back when we had Arlene, we'd hosted the girls in the rig a few times, to mixed reviews (Zoe says yuck, August doesn't really care one way or the other).  However, we are bound and determined to make them good campers, so in mid-October, after work on a Friday, we loaded everyone up in the truck and headed northeast to Houston Mesa Campground, just outside the city of Payson.  Payson is close to the area of Arizona known as the Mogollon Rim, and it's around 5000 feet in elevation; it's a gorgeous part of our state, and we couldn't wait to spend some time in the pines!

Arizona has a huge amount of land designated as National Forests, and there's tons of great camping all over the state.  While you can crash for free on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), we normally prefer true campgrounds, as they have services and infrastructure the free parking areas generally don't.  We also figure while we're learning the in's and out's of this particular trailer, and we're still teaching the girls to be good camp puppers, an established campground is the way to go.  When we booked our trip, Houston Mesa was the only campground in the area with availability and only on the Elk loop; we went with site 3, and overall, it worked pretty well.  Houston Mesa isn't far from town proper, and the Elk sites border the major road that runs through Payson (albeit with several large swathes of trees in the way).  Thus, our site was a bit loud at times, but hey, we lived in Southern California for three years - road noise is pretty much a lullaby to us now.  

The drive was only about 100 miles, which took us just under 2 hours.  While it was on a nicely paved, four lane road, there were several elevation changes, and I'm sure Chris was done with the constantly adjusting steep up and down grades by the time we made it home on Sunday.

Four Peaks, seen from the road,

around the Fountain Hills area

"Mom, when can we go home?"

This child only wants to be two places:

1) home, in her poofy bed and

2) doggie daycare.

Anywhere else is greeted with this face.

Making it to Houston Mesa around 5 or so, we stopped at their dump station/potable water location to fill up our fresh tank.  

The new rig has a panel inside the storage bay

for water hookups, which is different for us.

Auggie kept an eye on the process,

but someone was a bit too short...

"Guys!  What's going on?!?!?"

Finishing up the water fill, we found our site and Chris did an excellent job backing in, aided by the much improved, factory installed trailer backing system on the truck (seriously, about 1000% easier than it used to be).  We set up things up, then pulled the girls inside for some dinner:

This former Mexican street dog

doesn't normally have problems eating

"Dad? I would like to go home now, please."

Once the monsters were fed, it was time to make our own dinner, steak tacos on the Camp Chef grill box (instead of marinating our own steak, like we normally do, we tried out the pre-marinated stuff from Sprouts, and it was delicious).

Noms!

Post-dinner, we sat around the campfire, enjoying S'Mores and star gazing.

Hanging out with the girls

They look pretty comfy...

...just kidding!

Auggie loves to lay on the ground instead

of all the cots and beds we provide for her.

You can take the dog off the street...

Before too long, it was time to turn in!

Sweet dreams, ladies!

PS - see the round thing above Zoe's head in this shot?

That's the duct for the heater -

she may be cranky, but she's no dummy.

On upcoming blogs in the series, we get in some high elevation trail running, eat (and drink) more delicious food, and try to convince Zoe that camping is fun!  You'll all see how that goes!

Later!

Amy