Since my future father-in-law moved in with us, it has been non-stop projects. He is a true busy body and amazingly driven. He always wants to be working on something. Lucky for us! This past Memorial Day Weekend, we chose to go camping to escape the heat of Phoenix. Camping was a major part of Chris (my fiancé’s) childhood and I love the outdoors.

We chose to go to Big Lake in the White Mountains. We stayed at Apache Trout campground. Upon pulling in to checkin, the rangers said concernedly, “I hope you have warm clothes!”

We knew it would be cold. I did not expect it to snow. Hey, it’s Memorial Day, right? Thankfully we packed extra tarps and were able to bungee one on top of the tent to keep us a little more protected. We woke up to frost on the tent and the grass the next morning.

Speaking of cold, the drought and already raging wildfires in Arizona resulted in a state-wide campfire ban for the weekend. We ultimately decided to go to bed early because it was so cold outside the tent without a warm fire. And by early, I mean 7:30-8pm.

My favorite part of the camping trip was the food. I looked on Pinterest for some fun camping recipes and we ultimately decided on cast iron skillet nachos and jambalaya for our dinners. I chopped and prepped all of the food beforehand so we only had to pour it out of plastic baggies into the skillet. While the dinners were awesome, my favorite meals were breakfast. We made a Hungry Man hash brown potato skillet each morning.

It wasn’t all food through. We did hike out to the lake with the dogs. The sky was beautiful in this picture but eerily changed throughout the day. Gary comically noted, “Where else could we see all four seasons in one day?”

Either way, it was an adventure!