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Camping: A Thanksgiving Tradition part one

You guys! What a weekend! Am I right? How’d yours go? I ended up with a big ‘ol fat lump on my forehead and an equally impressive bruise on my shin.  But on a brighter note, the Autumn decorations are put away, I created and painted, I hiked, napped, played with the camera and the dog.  I snuggled that husband guy, explored the wilderness, watched some epic sunsets and sat on the edge of the forest.  We had such a great time camping, and then we got home and had an equally great time getting stuff done and relaxing.  Since this is our second excursion to the Mogollon Rim for Thanksgiving weekend to camp, I’m calling it a tradition now.  That’s how these things work, right?

I am still trying to get all the pictures set up to share, but in the meantime, here is the first batch.

Fire Thanksgiving Camping Mogollon Rim

this was the only thing that mattered come sunset.  it was 30 degrees overnight. yea. 30. warmer than we anticipated, but freezing ass cold nevertheless.

Jones Fireside LL Bean Pet Parka Mogollon Rim

jones wasn’t messing around when it came to keeping close to the fire! the ground was freezing and he ended up loving the pet parka we got him from l.l. bean. it kept him nice and cozy and he didn’t dare fuss to try and tear it off-it was about the only part of him that was warm!

Jones LL Bean Pet Parka Thanksgiving Camping Mogollon Rim

this is his “mom, i’m serious – it’s effing cold/you people are crazy/where is our warm house?” face.

Amy Thanksgiving Camping Mogollon Rim

and here is my “let’s pretend i’m good at this selfie thing and we’ll ignore my squinty eye” face. 

Joe Mogollon Rim Camping

and since we’re on a roll, this is joe’s half-drunk so he probably didn’t give a shiznit about the cold face. 

Relaxing at Mogollon Rim

daylight hours brought amazing weather. we started the fire early so we could roast a turkey for the holiday.  this was my position for the better part of that afternoon. SO relaxing!!

Dutch Oven Turkey Roast

the end result: a dutch oven roasted turkey that had a little crisp to it.  but c’mon, now.  it’s campfire cooking, after all! 

Potato Packets Campfire Cooking

if you’ve been following along a while, you know that every camping trip has a potato packet. (new around here? this is the link, just in case you need to catch up! go ahead, we’ll wait…)

So, I’m going to go ahead and prepare you for the next set of pictures.  I think I might have a slight addiction to silhouettes.  I took so many silhouette pictures on this trip, it’s kind of silly.  In my defense, our view was pretty fantastic.  We were quite literally on the edge of the Mogollon Rim.  It was crazy exhilarating to be so close to a cliff, and also pretty freaking nerve-racking with the world’s clumsiest dog.  And if you know me well, you know I have a slight obsession with sunsets.  Mogollon Rim + Sunsets =  a crap-ton of silhouette pictures.  OK? Don’t judge me.

Thanksgiving Camping Mogollon Rim Sunset

Thanksgiving Camping Mogollon Rim Sunset Silhouette

here, let me save you some time and show you a gallery real quick:

And one more, just because. I’m telling you – it’s a sickness.

Jones Mogollon Rim Sunset Silhouette

this dog. oh, man.

So, the lump on my forehead? Yea, total cartoon move.  As we were getting ready to leave the campsite and get home, I’m busy keeping Jones busy while Joe’s busy getting the truck packed up.  All that busy distracted me from the rake sitting innocently in my path, perfectly positioned to smack me in the head with it’s solid wood handle when I step on it’s business end.  This was, of course, right after Joe accidentally dumped an entire cup of steaming hot coffee all over me and the dog while we sat there waiting for… well, waiting for the fun to begin apparently.  It would have been comical, if I wasn’t seeing stars and doing the owie dance all over the damn campsite with a wet bottom, wailing and holding my hands over my forehead with Joe chasing after me to see if I was bleeding.  Yea.  Tell me I don’t know how to go out with a bang.  HA! Cartoon move, amIright?

Stay tuned for more pictures and details from our Thanksgiving camping trip this year! Click here for last year’s trip.  And have yourself a great Monday 🙂

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