Weekend Camping it Dardanelle's (Major!)

I got to recently experience camping up in the Sonora pass a couple of weeks ago with Neil's mom and his bro. The weekend included fishing, horses, beautiful scenery, amazing fires and just an overall amazing time.

I love spending time with Neil and his family and I couldn't have asked for a more fun weekend. If you are unfamiliar with Sonora Pass, here's a map of the area we were staying at...



I took many photos and was fortunate enough to be able to create a picture diary of my weekend at Dardanelle's:

Here we are driving there... Got the boys in the back and mommy and daddy riding up front :)




As always, Rocco is trying to get up in the front seat. Man he's spoiled!


This is where we spent our weekend.. here's a little scenery footage:








I know I said we went camping, but we really stayed in a cabin. Here is the cabin that belonged to neil, the dogs and I:


It was hard sleeping at night in here... I would have almost rather have been in a TENT! There were bugs of all sorts inside the cabin, all of them doubled in numbers as the night arrived. It was by far the freakiest shit I have ever dealt with. The biggest ants dude. I slept as if my blanket was a stray jacket, I let nothing in and nothing went out. Sorry for farting under the blankets doggies!! It was Major!


We spent a lot of time doing a bunch of things, here are some family moments I caught on film... wait, can I call it film anymore? Do I call it digital? Whatever.


Neils bro Josh and his mama:


Little Shaelyn, josh's youngest with Darryl (Linda's BF). I hope Shaelyn picked a winner!


Aiden was all about fishing. Here he is ready to go hours before we even went!!


Bro's for life. Neil and Josh doing god knows what.


Neil and his little buddy Aiden (josh's only son)


here's a pic of Lauren (darryl's daughter) getting tickled by the rug rats


Kelly getting the fish ready for din din


Little kids being dorks


Daddy's girl:


Give a baby a Popsicle, and she'll turn into one! :)


but she's so freaking cute!!!


Here's cutie pie Madison posing for me :)


Neil and I decided to take a little private fishing trip with the boys on Saturday afternoon..

here we are getting ready:


the boys LOVING life in the wild... (on my lap as always)


we hiked a little and it was pretty intense. I don't know how people walked on non-trail hikes back in the days. I wish we took the trail path!


nini leading the hike with Peezy taking role as security


rocco taking a water break


Here is the spot we chose to chill and fish for the rest of the time. It was ABSOLUTELY Major. it was gorgeous! I think this was the climax of the trip for sure.


sweet rock picture I had to share with my readers


Neil fishing at our spot


as neil fished, rocco, Peezy and I just watched in absolute amazement. neil caught a fish in less than 2 minutes. hot!




we felt really bad killing the fish. Neil gently unhooked the fish and after kissing it, we let it go... Hopefully we taught that fish a lesson. Dont bite the bait!!! just stick to eating things at the bottom of the lake. ok?


Neil taking care of Peezy while i got my fishing game on. Don't mess with me when I fish. I take it majorly serious.




its not easy when you have 2 dogs who just want to sit on your lap. Boy are these boys lazy or what!


The fishing pole kept getting caught and the string got tied in these complex knots. Thankfully I just handed the pole over to Neil and he would fix it... it was nice of him (minus the mumbling that went on under his breath)


Peezy loved being by the water. he was running around and I swear I saw him smile as he ran around:


Rocco and Peezy loved the hike and they had a blast fishing but they didn't like the fact that they had no peace and quiet when they were ready to sleep. I don't think either of them realized it was like 5pm!


Here are some pics we took at Kennedy Meadows, about 2 miles north of Dardanelles. There are campgrounds, restaurants, rivers, hikes and horseback riding things going on all the time!!



Rocco drinking more...


yeah yea.. i took a picture of a horses ass. it reminded me of someone's face.


The funniest thing happened at dinner on Saturday night. The kids were all infatuated with the fish they had caught and they were really excited to eat them. Darryl decided to tell them that if they eat fish eyeballs, they'll be cool. Everything thought it would be next to impossible to get the kids to eat fish eyes. BOY WERE WE WRONG!! The kids loved them, especially Aiden. He begged for more and was upset when all the eyes were consumed. Here are some pics of the fish EYE eating fiasco:

Aiden was all about the fish he caught. here he is deciding who's eyes he wanted to eat first. Thankfully Darryl helped him make all of his wishes come true:




You can actually see the fish eye being sucked into his mouth. THAT IS NASTY!!!


The fire we had going that night was pretty amazing. We had about a 5 foot pile of wood stacked up ready for burning.. It was a perfect evening:


Here is where we spent the rest of our evening Saturday night. Chilling with friends and family by the fire, with some beers and great conversations. You can't ask for more. The doggies loved laying next to the fire since they were the most tired I had ever seen them. I don't think wiener dogs were made to be in the wild although I have read that they are amazing badger hunters. Don't cheat their wiener strength!!



I look forward to more camping trips in the next coming months. I love spending time with people in a place of natural beauty. If anyone wants to go camping this summer, hit me up. Neil, myself and the boys are always down. Happy Friday! Muah!!