First 2008 Camping Trip

We haven't had a lot of successful camping trips since we moved to Colorado. There was the time we drove almost 2 hours to go camping with our friends the Griffiths, only to have turn around and drive back home that same evening because of the absolutely torrential downpour that ensued the moment we arrived at our sites and started putting our tents up. We probably could have survived the soaking wet tents, but we had brought tin foil dinners to cook, and knew we would have no luck getting a fire going, and the lightning was a little too close for comfort. Then there was the time we tried to go camping with our friends the Olivers. We wanted to stay on the side of Rocky Mountain National Park where the campsites don't take reservations. So we drove at least two hours, only to find out that all the campgrounds in the park were full. Then we proceeded to drive back the way we had come, stopping at every other campground we could find, all of which were also full. We ended up arriving in Winter Park around 9:00 pm and sharing the cost of a hotel room. At least we didn't just drive back home, right? But I was in tears as the realization that we would not find a site, after checking about a dozen campgrounds, sunk in. Going camping is a lot of work -- getting all your gear loaded in the car, packing for the kids, packing all the food. And then to have it fall through was very disappointing.

Last summer we only attempted to camp once. It was the weekend we camped in Aspen. It went pretty well. I didn't sleep great with Reagan next to me, but that seemed minor compared to our fiascoes the year before. At least we had been able to camp.

We have a Golden Eagle pass this year, so our hope is to make it up to Rocky Mountain several times this year to get some use out of it. We decided we would kick off the summer with our first camping trip of the year. After church on Sunday, we headed up to Estes Park, and then into the Park and to our campground. Our friends the Jensens were already there, and all set up. We had reserved our spots on line, and they were in a really nice location. We set up camp, cooked hot dogs and smores over the fire, and the kids ran around and had a great time together.



There were a few issues. Reagan did not want to be held, but kept falling, and totally scraped up her face a couple of times. Then she got super tired, and we weren't really sure how would be the best way to get her to go to bed. So, I went in to the tent to lay down with her till she fell asleep. But she would not wind down. She was rolling all over the place. After an hour or so I finally just pinned her down and made her lie still, and she finally fell asleep. Then Sam and Elle and Bennett came in. We are still using our little three man tent we got when we first got married. It just doesn't make for a great night's sleep with our family of five. I don't think I would have slept great with Reagan next to me anyway, or with all of us in such a small space. But then the rain started. It rained most of the night. It was almost impossible to sleep at that point. So I really didn't sleep. And it was super cold. I kept checking the kids to make sure they were covered and warm. All three of them seemed to be sleeping really well, which is amazing. I remember when I was little and we would go camping as a family. My parents would almost always have the kids sleep in the tent, and they would fold out the back of our Vanagon into a bed and sleep in the car. I remember my mom saying that she just didn't sleep very well in the tent. I wonder why it seems to be easier for kids to sleep in those circumstances than adults.

Anyway, when we got up the next morning, it was very cold. I had only brought sweatshirts for us as our warm layer. Brilliant. We seriously needed winter coats and gloves and hats. It was frigid. We huddled as close to the fire as possible during breakfast. And then while we took down camp, we put all the kids in our van and turned the car on and ran the heater for them. Kind of miserable. We had such great hopes of spending the day in the park hiking, and then driving through the park on Trail Ridge Road, which had just opened for the season. But it was too cold to get out and hike anywhere. And Trial Ridge Road was temporarily re-closed due to poor visibility. We hung out a bit with the Jensens. We took them to one of our favorite little hikes around Bear Lake, but it was super cold, and still covered in ice and snow.

We went to one of the Vistor Centers and warmed up a bit and then they decided to head home. But Sam was so optimistic that maybe if we held out long enough, Trail Ridge would be reopened and we could drive through the park. So we drove around a bit, and stopped and took some pictures at a really nice spot.




We took that closeup of Reagan so you could get a taste for her scraped up face. She looks a bit silly in that picture, and I don't think it is because of the scrapes!

Around 2:00 we gave up on the weather clearing, and decided to head home. All in all, I think the camping trip was a success. We were able to camp. We were able to cook our dinner. Reagan survived all of her falls without too much damage done, and nobody fell in the fire. That is always my greatest worry when we go camping. Ellery did bump her calf into the fire pit ring, and has a burn mark that we are trying to get healed. Fires are so dangerous, and so scary with young kids running around. Anyway, we hope to camp several more times this year. I just hope we get a bigger tent first.