Camping Virgens

Happy Evening to You -

You're getting two Virgens for the price of one tonight, because I'm combining both the Virgens I made while camping with my partner and friends this weekend.

We arrived just as the sun was setting on Friday night, so had to race the receding light to get our tent up before the blackness settled around us. Needless to say that night's Virgen is pretty straight forward - a beer label from one of the beers I had - Boulder Beer Never Summer (notice the nice pine trees and falling snow surrounded by cool shades of blue - all important visuals when camping in southern Arizona in the summer) and a border of ribbon from one of those hotel bags - not bad for art created on a forest service concrete picnic table by light of flashlight.

At 5,000ish ft., Parker Canyon Lake is decently cooler than what we currently have going on in Tucson right now (103, 107, 100-bazillion). Besides the elevation gain, the good-sized lake creates a nice swamp cooler effect with the breezes that come through the canyon. We slept outside without sweating - something we can't even say about Tucson inside right now.

Once the sun got busy on Saturday, though, the heat was back up to rotten and miserable, so we spent the day in the lake. I used to fish this lake all the time, but had never swam in it. Unlike a lot of water down here (the few bits and puddles you can find, what with this being a desert and all), it was actually cold and felt delicious.

We were hot enough that we just walked right into the water in our shorts and t-shirts and spent a good bit of the afternoon bobbing around, sitting on shore to dry off for a bit and then wading back in when it got hot again. One of our friends brought her canoe, so there was also some paddling adventures (side note - I learned this weekend that canoes have paddles, while rowboats have oars. Who knew?).

Saturday's Virgen again uses the cool blue Boulder Beer label, but it is layered with a little fish image from the kid's pole our friend bought for the trip, a bit of alligator pine needles, and some of the bark. Again, this Virgen was made on a picnic table, but by headlamp, not flashlight, because I couldn't find the flashlight at the time and knew that I was running out of energy quickly so used my new headlamp instead. I'm sure I looked ridiculous in it, but I was thoroughly delighted by having the ability to light up whatever I looked at while having my hands free to create art.

Here's a shot of our little weekend home, complete with lake in the background. It's not quite tall pines, lush green and verdance abounding, but it beat a weekend of sweating at home in Tucson.

Our canoe-owning friend went for a dawn ride this morning. Fantastic.

Here's to finding cool wherever you are able.