The Camp Trip that was Super Fun but had Some Non-Super Fun Things Also

Alright guys, this weekend was a doozy. So much so, that I haven't blogged about it until now, Monday...or probably Tuesday considering it's already 8pm and it takes me foreverrrr to write posts lately, so blog world probably won't see it until Tuesday. I still have camp gear spewed across my house, two coolers that haven't been unloaded, and a duffle bag of clothes/toiletries/etc. that haven't been unpacked. I need to get this laziness under control. But I don't even care cause the mess is worth the weekend we had. My family and I went camping and it was the bomb.com. It was even more bomb.com than usual because we had kayaks this year. And we took them. And we used them. We kayaked and camped all in one weekend.

However, for as much fun as it was, there was also some non-fun things. For example:

We were almost an hour late getting on the road in the morning cause my parents had issues strapping down their kayaks on their vehicles...
...AND THEN the new tires that Nate put on his truck the previous night started freaking out and shaking like crazy once we got on the highway. So we stopped at Discount Tire in Fountain Hills who couldn't help us because we didn't have the correct lug nuts...
...SO THEN we had to drive all the way back home to get the correct lug nuts to avoid an unnecessary $80 extra bucks to get the tires fixed...
...AND THEN once we got the correct lug nuts from our house, we took the truck to a Discount in the valley, waited 45 minutes for them to balance the tires, then we were finally on the road...
...AND THEN when we got up north to where we would be camping, Nate and I spent 2 hours driving around trying to find where everyone else set up camp (cause duh, no cell phone service)...
...AND THEN two hours later we found them at the lake and they took us to their camp site...
...AND THEN we discovered why we couldn't find them, because they were camping in a designated no camp zone...
...SO THEN they all had to tear everything down that they set up and find a new campground (cause duh, expensive fines and tickets for breaking the law)...
...SO THEN we found a good camp spot and everyone set up camp...again (except for Nate and I cause duh, the tire fiasco).

So needless to say, the first 24 hours of our trip was a little rocky. And I'm pretty sure my mom was about to boil over in frustration but fortunately that didn't happen. Because a boiled-over mother is never a good scenario for anyone.

BUT THEN, Saturday came around and we were like, "Yes! Finally! It's time to kayak!" So we loaded up the kayaks (herein referred to as "'yaks") and drove down to the lake. Five campers, five 'yaks.

BUT THEN when we got down to lake and onto the water, holy mother of Anemoi - greek gods of wind was it freakin' windy. Like, hold onto your hat cause it'll blow right off your head windy. Like, paddle for 30 minutes straight just to stay in the same spot windy. Like, windy enough for Nate to complain about it...and Nate never complains about anything. Except for me asking too many questions. He always complains that I ask too many questions.

My parents and I made it about 15 minutes before we needed to pull over and take a break. Literally, 15 minutes. It was that bad. And I'm really not even being dramatic this time. Ask Nate, he'll tell you. So the first cove I spotted I motioned my parents over, got out of my yak and sat down on the first rock I could find. And didn't move my arms. Cause they were tired after just 15 minutes of paddling. Fortunately, the consolation prize for a terribly windy day was the absolute gorgeous scenery.

After our first pit stop, we got back in the 'yaks and gave it another go. ...only to give up a short while later cause you know, SO. MUCH. WIND. So instead of fighting the losing battle of mother nature, we found a shady spot, pulled up a chair rock, ate our picnic lunches and watched the rest of the poor souls trying to kayak on the lake.

I said, "Nate smile" and this is what I got...

...SO THEN when we were loading up, trying to leave, one of my parents 'yaks fell off the roof of their SUV. Whoops. Add another to the "non-fun things" category.

But we shook it off with a game of cornhole that afternoon.

Or if you're me, a game of scoring cornhole while enjoying a cold beer in the best .99 cent "America" coozie I ever spent.

Do I know how to score cornhole? No. I just wrote down whatever they yelled at me cause my eyes were closed and I was trying to take a nap.

Saturday night we ate like kings since Nate and Adam were brave enough to go back out on the 'yaks and brave the wind to catch some trout. And catch some trout they did:

...and eat them we did. Nate also grilled up some of the deer steak he brought up, so it was a true surf and turf for dinner Saturday night.

Sunday morning our fate was a little bit of a mystery; would we kayak? Was it windy? Less windy than Saturday? What should we do? Should we go home? Nate had the idea of going up to Woods Canyon Lake, which is a little bit higher in elevation and isn't situated in a canyon so the wind isn't as severe. So that's what we did. That Nate, he's full of good ideas. So we packed up and headed up to Woods Canyon. And I'm sure glad we did. The wind was like, a million times less than at Knoll Lake, despite the occasional gust, but it was actually enjoyable. I could actually take a moment to stop paddling and reach for my camera without drifting all the way back to the end of the lake.

There was even a little grassy area where we beached up and took a few minutes to eat some Doritos and Chips Ahoy....cause junk food is what you eat when you're camping right?

I've decided to name my 'yak Cinnamon (you know, cause it's red and everything). Middle name, Spice. Cause then when I sit in it, it adds the "everything nice" part. ...See what I did there?

My view for the afternoon:

Considering all that went wrong in getting the weekend started, I couldn't think of a better way to end Father's Day weekend than in calm waters, in the 'yaks with my dad and my family.

Just be on time, secure your tires properly, strap your 'yaks securely, read the signs, and avoid the wind and you'll be A-OK on your next camp trip. The whole time things were going wrong my family kept being like "Well this will make for a good blog post!" and "Rissa will have fun blogging about this!" so I was starting to feel a little pressure to make this post a good one. Hopefully I captured everything. And hopefully it's a good one. Cause I'm ending it now. Cause I've been at this for a couple hours now and there's still camp gear spewed across my house and two coolers that still aren't unloaded. Ugh, recovering from awesome weekends are hard.