Jeremy's bday trip

(WARNING THIS IS A LONG POST ) 

So this past weekend I decided to give Jeremy his birthday gift.....yes I know his bday isn't until Sept 27th but we will be traveling on the actual day of his birth.....

Since we have moved to the lovely state of Arizona - Jeremy has mentioned multiple times he wanted to go camping -- Me being the princess that I am considers camping to be  "let's stay in an RV and go out to eat" (i haven't had a ton of tent camping experiences) However I decided for the man I love I should embrace my outdoorsiness. So I proceeded to research the most amazing camping sites in AZ, weather, what to bring, what to cook, etc. 

Luckily the outdoor recreation department at Luke AFB has a ton of camping  equipment for rent super cheap. They were really helpful in helping me choose where to go and what I needed.

After much research, I settled on Oak Creek near Sedona, AZ. Apparently it was THE place to go tent camping. The only problem was the campsites are first come first serve and Jeremy was scheduled to work until 5-6 pm on this particular Friday.

My lovely friend Krystal offered to ride with me to Sedona that morning to help me set up camp.  We would then drive back and I would grab Jeremy and we would return for the weekend. 

The morning started off great. No traffic, good weather. It was around 75 degrees in Sedona MUCH cooler than 110 in Phoenix.

After my research I determined Bootlegger campsite would be the best site for us because there were only 18 spots available. It was suppose to be a quiet and small campsite. A would be perfect weekend getaway.  Little did I know the website had not been updated in a long time and Bootlegger is now for day use only. I did have backups site and we settled on Cave Springs campsite. Once Krystal and I had set up the tent, we noticed large dark clouds lingering overhead.  After a few raindrops, the largest thunderstorm that I have seen in the last 2 years rolls up. During one LOUD crack of lighting, Krystal and I both screamed and ran for the car.

We waited out the thunder, lighting, and hail storm for 45 minutes. We then resumed to set up camp only to discover where the tent was setup had become major mud puddles. We moved the tent to "higher" ground and unloaded the car. Finally we got in the car soaking wet, cold, and starving we returned to pay for the site. The lady informed us that the lighting had struck their credit card machine and they could only take cash...yeah like i ever have cash on me! She was very understanding and told me to just pay in the AM. SHE ALSO told us the loud crack we heard was the lighting downing a tree..........Glad it wasn't on top of us!

We start heading back to find that the one road in Sedona has been stopped because of a mud/rock slide. ANOTHER 30 minutes pass and we finally have food and are on I-17 heading towards Phoenix.

I drop off Krystal, run home, shower, and then Jeremy, the Rio Dog, and I are in the car heading back up to Sedona (Man i must love this man to do this for him)

We get to camp around 8:30 - start a fire, hang out, and start to head to bed

 (Rio dog is freaking out at every little noise and doesn't quite know what to do with himself) 

At around 4am....Jeremy gets up to use the restroom. when he returns to the tent he forgets to relock the tent. about an hour later I roll over only to see Rio's back two legs escaping from the tent and Jeremy running after him without any shoes. Apparently in Sedona when it storms, Skunks come out of the wood works! Rio just couldn't help his curiosity. Jeremy catches Rio and we lock the tent so that won't happen again. 

The next morning we wake up and have coffee, eggs, toast and fire smoked (delicious) bacon! We enjoy the goodness of God's creation and simply relax with many walks, trips to the creek, and napping. The weather is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! High of 80, Low of 65......It was splendid! Rio finally got a grip and became a true camping dog. (he slept real well after the creek extravaganza trip) That night we had another fire and completed our dinner with legit camping Smores. We called it an early night and went to bed around 9.........

Around 10:30 pm, I awoke to the tent  being lit up by lighting and the sound of the red rock mountains tumbling down all around us (actually just thunder). It had to be the scariest yet coolest thing to experience a MASSIVE thunderstorm in a tent. It lasted close to 2 hours before it calmed down. The next morning we packed up and headed back to smoking hot Phoenix to unpack and relax. (oh yeah Rio vomited yellow liquid all over everything in the car on the way home) 

Needless to say it was an amazing adventure and I hope Jeremy enjoyed his very unique birthday present!

(the pics aren't great -- forgot my camera (fail) all I had was a phone) 

Setting up the tent with Krys 

Rio the Camping dog

On a Walk

Rough looking camping pic

Oak CreeK

Lots and Lots of planning!

Sere training really paid off! :)