Chris and I went on our first camping trip together less than a month after our first date at Public School 702.. Actually, sometimes he tells people that Flagstaff was our first real date. I say he invited himself to my Fourth of July camping trip. After the Running with the Devil half marathon, we were talking about plans for the upcoming Fourth of July holiday. I mentioned that I wanted to go camping in Flagstaff, but hadn’t made any reservations or plans. Later that week, I texted Chris that I was thinking of just doing a day trip somewhere instead because I was worried about finding a spot to stay. He replied that he thought we could find a spot, and that if not, we could always stay in a hotel (separate rooms is also what he said). And with that, we started planning for our first camping trip. Looking back now, my memories of the weekend are a jumble of excitement, anticipation, nervousness, anxiety, and joy all set against the backdrop of the Grand Canyon, aspen trees, and volcanic rock.
We left early in the morning, and I slept at least halfway there. Trying to find a spot to camp was first priority for me, and I couldn’t relax until I knew we had someplace to sleep. We first tried a remote and rustic campground in the mountains, but it was full, so we headed down to another campground in the volcanic soil and pine trees and found a huge, quiet site. I set up my tent on one side of the site,and Chris put his as far away on the other side as possible. I found out later that it was only the second time he had ever set up that tent, the first being at his house after buying it at REI for the trip. That afternoon we set off for the Grand Canyon entering from the east side. We had our first discussion that we didn’t see eye to eye on while heading there. Chris tried to deflect the subject and I pointed at him and told him we are arguing, funny enough we both just started laughing. We did a long walk along the rim trail and left just as all the people who wanted to see the sunset were heading into the park.
We had dinner at a funky Mexican restaurant then went to bed pretty soon after getting back to the campsite. After a 16 hour day we were pretty beat. The next day we did some more exploring at a couple national monuments and did a hike about halfway up Humphreys Peak. 
Then we drove over to a lake and went swimming,. It felt great after the hike, although Chris wasn’t too fond of the cold water. And it was as close as we got to bathing on our first weekend together haha. Afterwards we headed into Flagstaff, which is a really cute little town. We walked around and grabbed some American Gelato. As we were heading over there our hands hit together a few times and then they just “happened” to enter lock. (First time we held hands), anyways also on the way over to gelato we were talking about what flavors we were going to get. Chris loves peanut butter and chocolate together and said that’s what he was going to get. I told him there is no way it would be there, they don’t make gelato in that flavor. Sure enough I couldn’t believe it when we got there they had it! We sat down and listened to some local bands play concerts in the courtyard area and then decided to head back to make some dinner. Later that night we stayed up late, talking and enjoying the stars. (It was the perfect spot for our first kiss). It took Chris long enough to get the hint but it eventually happened. As it was rolling into 4th of July we decided to get some shut eye. Chris woke up in his tent with a two giant spiders and a big bite on his stomach….it looked pretty nasty, but he made it through. We went for an amazing hike that 
morning in the aspens and up the mountain into a big clearing.
Afterwards, we headed back to downtown Flagstaff to grab some lunch. We both tried our first burger on english muffins (pretty awesome, by the way, and something we recreate fairly often now). During the drive back we just talked, and I actually stayed awake for the ride, which was great. We love to talk about this trip as it was filled with so many great things that really taught us how compatible we are and how we handle unknown situations together.