Camping

I own a bag that says "I Love Not Camping".  I took it on my first ever camping trip...just a few short years ago. 

I still love not camping!  But I have come to dislike it less.  Okay, maybe I actually kinda like it.  Or aspects of it.  For ONE night...please...let's be clear.

Wine, camera bag, Betsey Johnson bag, crackers and fresh goat cheese...my camping necessities!

This weekends camping trip was actually my idea.  I wanted to try to capture some shots of the Perseid meteor shower.  We found the perfect camping spot just north of Pine and Strawberry that had an opening in the skyline to allow for great meteor viewing. 




Before setting up camp, we stopped at a little goat farm / creamery and visited the goats and llamas and bought some fresh goat cheese and crackers to enjoy by the campfire.

Goat Scratch Fever at Fossil Creek Creamery in Strawberry, AZ

Once settled, I set out to photograph the wild columbine and mushrooms while Eric prepared a wonderful salmon dinner.  The temps dropped enough to warrant sweatshirts and a campfire...a nice reprieve from the 90+ Phoenix nights.

My favorite flower - the columbine

Eric's salmon dinner

After dinner we crawled into our sleepingbags in our tent, Cyrus included, and slept for a couple of hours until my "meteor alarm" went off at 1:30am.  We got up and went to the clearing where I already had my camera set up.  The night sky is, I have to say, one of the very best parts of camping.  I have never in my life seen so many stars as when camping.  And we could hear the elk bugling in the near distance which just added to our little adventure.  Unfortunately, I didn't have luck with getting ANY good sky shots.  I did see 4 meteors streak across the sky, which was cool.

Shroomie

 

In the morning Eric made some coffee and I went to try to get some shots of the wild mushrooms in the morning sun. 

Mushroom or toadstool?

At one point, I was lying on my stomach photographing a mushroom and I heard a very loud snapping of branches.  I knew immediately there was an animal nearby.  I stood and looked and saw an unidentifiable black animal between two trees.  My first thought:  "Oh shit!  A black bear!"  My second thought: "Do I run or risk a photo?!!"  THAT should prove my dedication to my photography!  :0)  Third thought: "Are there even black bears in this area??"  And then, the black animal revealed itself:

Scary BearCow!

Yes, a cow.  But, seriously, it was a very large cow that COULD have been a bear!

Hmph.

I love not camping!