Bonito Campground at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument - 8/12/17

Bonito Campground at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument - 8/12/17

Full circle, back camping at Bonito Campground in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.    We truly enjoy camping here, even if we have to go completely dry (no electricity, no water, no sewer … only what we carry for water and use of our batteries for electricity and propane gas for cooking, heating water and maintaining our refrigerator).

As we drove down from Utah, we realized that for the first time in weeks that we saw blue skies, really blue, with white cumulonimbus clouds billowing in the distance.  We left the smoke and haze behind and regained our blue skies on our way home.  We had rain last night in Panguitch (Paiute for “big fish”), Utah and that must have also cleared the skies … no dust, no haze, no smoke … just deep, cyan blue skies.  And, in the far distance, we could see the summer monsoon storm building over the San Francisco Peaks and knew that we’d be entering a rainstorm when we arrive at Bonito Campground.

We’re at approximately 7,000 foot elevation here, rain showers have arrived, thunder is rolling around the mountains bouncing off of Sunset Crater and the surrounding San Francisco Peaks.  We actually have cool, bordering on cold, temperatures … first time that we’ve both been in jackets … so close to home and we’ve found cool.  Rufous hummingbirds are whirling around the campsite and Stellar’s blue jays inspect each campsite.  Abert’s squirrels are also about harvesting pine nuts.  Some opportunistic flowers have flowered trying to catch a last chance for pollination before the summer ends.

Home tomorrow … perhaps we wander for the richness of gaining new experiences … and, if that is the case, we are quite wealthy.   And, we appreciate your willingness to go along for the ride … so does Bambi.

Bambi enjoys harvesting new experiences … the javelinas enjoy going along for the ride.

Shout-out to Anita:  A shout-out to Anita, my mother, who will be celebrating her 90th birthday later this month with family and friends in Tucson.  She has genuine “sisu” (it’s a Finnish thing …)!