When Marc and I got married 16 years ago we got the bright idea to move from Alaska to Phoenix.  We figured the best way to travel was in my 2-seat car with the cat and to camp out along the way.

Combine this with us not knowing each other very long and me coming off a cigarette addiction, it's a miracle we survived the trip, let alone 16 years.... we even have the same cat.

The point is that since that time, I haven't camped.  I have actually refused to camp.  I have wonderful memories of so much of western North America from this trip, but the camping part was not something I wanted to revisit....

But I was feeling that I was missing out on something.  My kids had only slept out in the tent in the backyard, but they had never had a real camping experience.

The weather has been unseasonably cool here so we decided to surprise them with a trip to Cloudland Canyon.  We had done day trips here, and thought it would be great for an overnighter.

It was wonderful and beautiful, and the kids had a great time....

I just don't remember the ground being quite so hard....