Remind me why we live in houses??

Every time I head up North, the nomadic life of tents, temporary homes, and outdoor living sounds better and better.  Sort of joking - but not really.

Look at that open sky and those green trees!

That's 29 miles of dirt road.  And 44 miles of DIRT ROAD.

It's great!

I hate goats.  They are evil.  And these ones - I kid you not - were bigger than any mini horse or mini cow that I've ever met.  They were crazy big.  I was not happy.  Thankfully, we weren't here for very long.

Taken in Kanab, Utah!  I've now been to 24 states.  Only 26 left to see, and my goal is to see them before I'm 30.  Likely I'll get to add Colorado next year.

Mountains and clouds.  I can't get enough of them.

That was dehydrated.  It was weird, but good.

Tows!!  They wander loose through out Kaibab.

(No Mrs R, I did NOT misspell it.  Tows.  And hopgrassers.  And Runroaders :)

Well then.

Welcome to our living room/kitchen/dining room.  After meal clean up = fast.

Cicada nymph shells.  So weird, but terribly interesting.

The next two pictures are taken from the same spot.

Before Rain and Fog

After Rain and Fog

Where'd the Canyon go?!?!

Completely unedited.  That's really what it looked like.

On top of the clouds.  (About 9,000 ft)

That's how much fog and mist was rolling in.

Have I ever mentioned that I love North Rim?  Oh I Love It Here.

He does, too :)

We had originally planned to hang out in Utah, but that didn't work out.  We stayed one night before heading back to the Grand Canyon.  It rained almost the entire time we were there.  Which was fine, except that we took some serious risks bringing The Imp down some of those roads.  We ended up being temporarily flooded in.  When the "road" was passable, we drove to a more reliable spot.  That meant packing out the remainder of our stuff the next morning.  So much mud.  SO much mud.  It was great, but I was very glad for a real shower at home.  The only reason to go home, ever.  Showers.  Not beds, not roofs, not even cell phone reception or internet.  Showers.

I wished all my favorite people were there to share it with me.  Mom and I agreed that we felt a bit guilty enjoying the beauty alone.  Maybe someday some of y'all could join us.  I'd like that and I think y'all would, too :)

Chicken dreams and stranger things

I love M&Ms.

I know what you're thinking.
You know that I'm particular about M&Ms, but isn't this just a bit overly OCD?
Yes, it would be, but fortunately, this wasn't just for me :)

My Chicken Man had a birthday recently.  I'm a bit proud of the quilt I just made for him :)

Behold the reason for sorting a pound and a half of M&Ms.

LEGO cookies!

Back to Blogger (and an inaugural backpacking trip)

I feel silly about all the bouncing around I've been doing - shutting my first blog down with out warning, moving to Wordpress, and now reverting to Blogger.  I needed to close the first blog and I've never liked Wordpress.  So it's hi-ho, hi-ho, back to Blogger I go!  Now I have to get all comfy and organized over here again :p

Osprey Ariel - the pack on my back

Speaking of organized - I tried backpacking for the first time.  I'm not much of a hiker, but I love to camp, so I wasn't sure if backpacking would be a really great camping trip or a hiking nightmare.  Aside from a few hang-ups (like not knowing how to prepare adequately for the monsoons), it was pretty great.  I've never - never ever - carried a pack before, so my biggest concern was having 30 lbs on my back.  I thought I would be really sore the next day.  A concern that never crossed my mind was how hungry I was going to be.  Apparently carrying a pack burns thru calories much faster than I'm accustomed to.

The pictures were all taken on my iPhone, so hopefully they're showing up alright...  We were "hiking" about in the Coronado National Forest.

I think he was taking pictures of flowers...

One of many, many forks.

The beginning of the monsoon which swamped us.

We visited an old cemetery.

And some old buildings.

And some more old buildings...

Happy dog :)

Believe it or not, this was almost all the food/utensils we had.

Mom's very, very, very wet shoes...