If you woke up to this, you wouldn't remember that it was Valentine's Day, either. Or that Valentine's Day even exists as something important. This spectacular desert is far more worthy of our time, attention, and love than anything I can possibly imagine. I know my husband agrees with me. I mean, just look at it.
The weather was so perfect we slept basically open-air in our new tent which both of us are insane for. If this isn't a picture of the best day of your life, we will need to agree to respectfully disagree because I can't think of anything better.
I'm not gonna lie, we camp like kings these days. Our new four-person almost all-mesh Big Agnes tent that is tall enough to stand up in is about as good as it gets. We have a killer REI double sleeping bag system that I scored a few years ago which is two mummy bags of different temps that zip together to create a 20 degree or 35 degree heaven. On top of that, we got a queen-sized three-inch memory foam mattress topper for Christmas from Brian's parents which is like sleeping on clouds. We do camping like rich women do Manolo Blaniks. In spite of these luxuries, this gear (while bulky) has cut our packing time since I have fewer "pieces" to pack. I love how simple it is.
It wouldn't be a true wilderness experience without birding. Fortunately we had my sister and brother-in-law to join in the fun. This is at the Quitobaquito springs which has been closed to visitors for ten years due to border politics. Thankfully it opened in September and we were happy to claim our right to this public land, even if it meant driving alongside this for many miles.
Thoughts of work we left behind and exhaustion from the hurried preparations for the trip took time to shake, but within a few hours we were on
Cactus Wren/Gila Woodpecker/Phainopepla time. Waking with the sun, riding in the sunset, basking in the starlight. Wish we could stay there forever.
