Days 76 & 77: Camping Trip

We talked about taking the kids on a camping trip during the time we had in Utah before Ben's orientation started, but we almost chickened out.  I went jogging one morning near our apartment and it was cold out.  Okay, not "I'm going to catch hypothermia" cold, but cold enough that I wore a long sleeve t-shirt for my jog.  I told Ben that I was pretty sure that the kids would be too cold and wouldn't sleep at all and we would all be miserable, but I was willing to try it out anyway.  He wasn't as worried as I was and we decided to brave the cold August weather and camp anyway.

We had a hard time deciding which campground to use and since we weren't sure we were even going until the day we left, we didn't have a reservation or anything.  We just packed up the car, drove to the Mt. Timpanogos campground, and asked if they had a campsite that wasn't too far from a bathroom.  We lucked out!  We got an awesome site (#4 - just for personal reference in case we go back next year) that was a short walk to the bathroom and backed up to a stream.  The stream provided great background noise while we were going to sleep at night, and it was the perfect distraction for the kids while we were doing things to get set up.

Jack loved throwing rocks into the stream.  It took a lot of convincing to get him to throw things besides rocks (let's face it, he has the aim of a 3-year-old, and we were all in danger) but by the time we left, he was doing a pretty good job of looking for other items to throw.  I felt much better about the little sticks and pine cones than the rocks.  :-)

The kids got to help set up the tent and it was so nice to just go at a slow pace and not be on any kind of schedule.  You see, we cheated just a little.  Our ward had a BBQ that night, so we ate dinner before going to the campground.  We still had plenty of daylight to get things set up and nobody was hungry.  Perfect!

We were cold enough around dusk that Ben decided it would be prudent to build a fire.  Eagle Scout that he is, he managed to make a great fire even though we hadn't planned on making a fire at all.  He used one match that he found in the car and started the fire with some (clean) toilet paper.  Then he burned branches and twigs that he found around the campground.  I only wish I'd known we'd have a fire because we didn't bring any marshmallows to roast.  Oh well.  Next time.

I really thought that none of us would get any sleep that night.  It got down to the low 50s and we didn't have a lot of cold-weather gear.  We piled on the blankets and C & J each had a little sleeping bag.  And guess what?  They slept great!  In fact, Jack slept later in the morning than he normally does.  Cat actually woke up and hung out with Ben, Eliza, and me, then went back to sleep with Jack for a little while.  Crazy!  (Eliza, Ben, and I didn't sleep quite as well, but we still did better than I predicted.)

I really didn't have high expectations for this camping trip, since it was a little last-minute and we haven't done a lot of camping as a family.  I was nervous about trying to cook any meals, so for breakfast I brought some blueberry muffins and fruit.  Oh, and of course we had Little Debbies.  Because Ben loves Little Debbies and I never buy them for him.  I figured a family camping trip was an appropriate occasion.

We had fun exploring the campground, which was largely vacant, and taking pictures in the morning.

Then we packed up the car and drove on the Alpine Loop for a little while.  It was really beautiful.
The top left picture (below) is the Sundance Ski Resort.  Cool, huh?  And those wild Black-Eyed Susans are everywhere.  Up in the mountains, in the canyon, and around town.  I just love seeing them all over the place.



We stopped at a park on our way home and let the kids play.

Then we found a geocache.

And guess what?  We were all worn out by the time we got home for lunch.

Looking forward to the next camping trip!