An ideal trip? Not so much

Camping was great. Nothing really went according to plan, but when does it ever? We headed farther south than we had wanted because everywhere else was below freezing at night. And since there weren't any guys going with us, cuddling would have definitely been out of the question.

Where we ended up, though, near St. George, was gorgeous with blue skies and not a cloud to mar the view. Heaven on earth, I say.

After that first day, though, things went downhill fast. We got kicked out of our campsite. (Don't even ask. We're still bitter about that.) Luckily we found another one near a beautiful little lake. But then we couldn't find any good hikes in the area. By that time we were so frustrated we just spent the rest of the day wading in the ice-cold lake and playing Skip Bo.

All in all, I had a lot of fun, but I think my friend was really frustrated. We definitely learned some good lessons, though.

1) Plan a little bit better before we get there.
2) Have several good backup plans in case things go wrong, which they probably will.
3) Don't trust the camp hosts when they leave a note on the campsite saying it's open.
4) Keep a first-aid kit handy when hiking, as I learned when I had an allergic reaction to a plant. Lucky for me I'd just bought one and decided to stick it in my camelback, just in case.

I am happy that I got away for a few days. No work, beautiful weather, good book, yummy food. It was great. I'm learning to be better at going with the flow and not freaking out when crap happens. It usually does, so why worry? Now that is one very important lesson to learn.