April 20th, 2022

We awoke in White Spar Campground and just got to chill again. No plan. No rush. Just made it up as we went. Sometime mid-morning, we decided to go for a hike. There's a bunch of trails that begin at this campground. We had sort of a map this time, on Mandy's phone, but didn't really refer to it all that much. We just kind of went where we felt like going and tried to keep our bearings relative to the campground.

I have to shout out the Mercedes app again here. Not that we needed it, but there's a feature that could come in super handy. I'm hoping we never DO need it, but it's great to know it's there if we do. So, if you have your device's GPS antenna on, and you open up the map in the Mercedes app (side note: we've learned to call it "M-word" in the van, because if you say her full name she's all "How can I help you" and then we're like "NO SHUT UP"), you can see two dots; one is you, one is the van. If you ever get lost and need to get to your vehicle, this is really handy to know. You just have to walk in the direction that connects the dots, then you're there. Just wanted to spread that knowledge in case.

So, I couldn't really tell you which trails we did. We learned that one of them goes to a lake which we'll definitely be checking out soon, once it gets just a tad warmer. Hopefully we can swim there. We'll see. Eventually, it was coming up on lunch, so we made our way back to finish up the leftover ziti. We reheated it in the oven and it was so good. We also had a wobbly-pop each, and just relaxed in the sun at the campsite. I sat in my new chair which is awesome. We highly recommend the Nemo Stargaze chair. I tried to adjust the passenger's side power step on the van to alleviate a retraction issue, but it didn't seem to improve any. It's just annoying. When the weather is too cold, it doesn't work properly. I think the van and the step have different thermal expansion rates that causes binding.

This beer, while not a top favorite, is really good and widely available.

When we felt like we wanted a change of scenery, we lazily picked up and set out in the van. We made the short jaunt into Prescott and parked to walk around Whiskey Row and the courthouse. It's such a cute little town, and super dog-friendly, which is awesome. We picked up some post cards for family, and Loki literally just laid down inside the store. He's so lazy. The shopkeepers were laughing at him. Not AT him, but like, in a nice way, you know? Laughing with him, if he could laugh. Eventually, we agreed to find a patio to get a beer. We were wicked picky for no real reason, but we ended up at Ad Astra. It's a tiny brewery in town. It's also dog-friendly. We sat on their patio which is so adorable. Mandy got a strawberry-something sour that was really good, and Rob got an imperial IPA. Also delicious.

Loki found his happy spot in the dead grass. He was very pleased to be able to hang out outside the van.

We made our way back to the campground, and split up. Rob set to making a fire in the pit, and Mandy made us dinner. We had steak tips with roasted broccoli and home fries. We sat on the ground next to the fire pit and elbowed dog so he couldn't swipe any off our plates. When it was nearly dead, we put the fire out so we could walk Loki around the campground, and then we went inside to avoid the nightly chill. We caught an episode of Ozark and passed out immediately afterwards.