Packing for me is such a pain. Need to bring warm clothes, since the mountains of Montana/Idaho/Wyoming get really cold even in late July. Then the next day, I will literally be stuck in Death Valley. So I need clothes for hotter then the hinges of hell. Toss in
I am limited to how many bags I am allowed to bring along with my tent, sleeping bag, air mattress (not gonna sleep on the hard ground or worse yet, wet ground), and then my makeup. Which MUST fit in my carry on bag. Not going to lose that in the airport we have misplaced your luggage!!!! Since where I go is usually 2-6 hours from the airport. Then once on site, the group leader will decide to limit even further how much can go up past the base camp.
My P's love their grand dogs. My brother's wife claims my Mom cares more about the grand dogs then her. Which is actually true. But that is another story. No grand kiddies from me or my brother. The P's are fine with that!!!! As my brother has said, dogs don't drunk, stoned, and since our dogs are so huge, don't make it much past 10 years. They do cat around if not fixed.....but no concern since once their show career is over, so usually are their puppy making days. Or in the case of the males, frozen puppy making works well. Dead dogs since making puppies.
Sounds like a heck of a trip Ash. I would suffer PTSD if I were restricted as to how much I could bring----I'd be tempted to wear several outfits en route, just to get to
bring them.