I’m currently sitting in my parent’s living room in Seattle finishing up this week’s letter after a long day of visiting with Grandma and welcoming my sister home from the UK. We’re in town for a friend’s wedding, which has been a great excuse to visit with family and friends!

I’m a little behind on catching you up with our travels, but we’ll be a ~smidge~ boring for the next few weeks running errands and waiting for Bruce to get an oil leak fixed (hello warranty!) so I’ll skip over a good chunk of time in the coming letters!

Last letter we finished up just outside of Phoenix, Arizona camping with friends in the Tonto National Forest. After running errands in the city, we ended up in the same general area but along Lake Roosevelt + arrived after dark making camp at a paid campground (a rarity! 🤯)

The $25 ended up being worth it though because we managed to complete a few errands in one location — we filled up on water, dumped the 💩, and cleaned the dogs (!!).

Tonto National Monument outside Roosevelt Lake, Arizona

The next day we drove to the unpopulated side of the lake, driving on dirt roads mostly frequented by side-by-sides. It was a bumpy ride with one severely washed out area my partner had a blast off-roading down, but it was also where my boundary was found + passed so we ended up turning around to camp for the night 🫠

But at least the views were 360 at the top! —

To get to this area we had to pass several running washes, and there was unfortunately several inches of rain in the forecast. So we packed up camp and drove several hours to an area we could escape the weather enough that I could work outdoors.

The Middle of Nowhere

At this point in our trip, escaping weather wasn’t really possible. The winter weather was incessant. Normally in March, Arizona weather is sun + 80 degree weather. This year, it was lots and lots of wind, rain, cold temps, and flooding. We were secluded to the southern half of Arizona as a result, and had to begin picking our next locations based on wind and temps rather than scenery.

Unfortunately, that means a lot of the places on our bucket list for Arizona we weren’t able to see. Sedona and the Grand Canyon will have to wait until next year!

But this brings us around to the spot we chose: Gila Bend. A middle of nowhere location that’s consistently the hottest place in the US at any given time (it was 75 degrees while we were there).

What mostly prompted this location though was the rain — instead of an inch of rain in one day like most options for the week, Gila Bend was only forecasted to have a quarter inch (which means far less muddy sand).

There was not much to do around the area but I got a lot of studio work done, finishing up some new necklace designs and making way on some earrings (which I’ll be updating the shop with in a few weeks)! The only true downside of the week: the sun decided to give me a sneak attack sunburn 👍🏼

Heading North

Gila Bend marked our last week in Arizona — we weren’t originally planning on leaving Arizona at this point but two factors played a role in the change of plans:

We missed trees
+ we missed rock climbing

When my partner and I downsized our belongings, one of the things we let go of were our bouldering crash pads (crash pads go underneath a boulder to soften a fall while rock climbing outdoors). The pads we had were a lot larger than what we had space for in the camper, and we figured if we really missed rock climbing we could buy a crash pad on the road!

So there we were: missing rock climbing with the crash pad we were interested in buying on backorder. Which meant a trip to Los Angeles to snag one of the only crash pads still in stock among all Arizona and California REI’s! 🙃

Six hours later, we had our crash pad and high hopes for climbing along the route north back to Seattle. Unfortunately it later became clear that all the climbing areas on our way north were covered in snow or too cold (or in too populated of areas for Bruce to be safe). But at least we’re ready with a pad the next time an opportunity to boulder outdoors presents itself!

We made our way through the LA traffic and found camp at the most gorgeous spot only an hour and a half outside of the city. There was a sketchy road to get in (there were multiple road closures due to flooding, leaving the cliff-side skinny dirt road as the only option), but the views were worth it 🌼

Cue annoyance because all the wildflowers in Arizona and California are now in super bloom — we experienced the poor weather without reaping the rewards 🥲

Carrizo Plain National Monument, California

We only ended up staying one night here because rain was in the forecast and the dirt road was not one we wanted to navigate when wet, but this spot is one of my favorites so far. It’s called the Carrizo Plain National Monument and it’s protected as an example of what the agricultural valleys of California looked like before they were farmed. This area is known for its wildflowers and is home to several endangered species. I highly recommend this spot if you’re in the area! Just wait until the ground is a bit more solid — we ended up spending our afternoon helping two cars out of the two foot deep mud on the valley floor.

With multiple roads washed out surrounding the monument, it took an hour upon exiting to reach the nearest gas station — but the detour was through grassy + blooming hills, so the scenery was so so worth it!

Rain in California has been ~difficult~ because it’s been so hard to find campgrounds that are open. So many of the roads have been washed out or are snowed in that many areas are completely closed — including most of the National Parks on our route north. So campsites have been difficult to come by! We got lucky though and found a spot only a few hours away that is out of the way for most + is usually only frequented by hunters.

Enter: Trees!

There were only 5 campsites in the entire camp, all of which cleared out once Monday rolled around. This area was so gorgeous, but the wet weather has made some visible flooding damage to the road and surrounding properties. Rain was in the forecast for the week, so we made sure to go on a small hike with the dogs through the area before we hunkered down —

We ended up stuck inside for 3 days 🙃

We knew rain was in the forecast, but this was a torrential downpour — not the misting rain we’re used to in Seattle — and then came the snow (which was not in the forecast).

We cozied up in the camper and I ended up converting the kitchen into a workspace, so it was a-okay — the dogs just got a bit wet and muddy at potty breaks (and smelled like elk. Yay 🦌).

All in all, there were highs and lows throughout the last few weeks (per usual) but it was so nice being amongst the land of trees again!

Next letter:

My partner and I celebrate our 5 year anniversary in wine country, we spend some time camping with friends (+ 4 dogs), and start our final leg to Seattle!