Towards the end of last summer, we went camping with Gwen and Tim and loved it. We hoped to be able to do it again this summer, but it was tough to coordinate schedules with swim team, baseball, vacations, etc. So, this past weekend was one of the first weekends we have had with absolutely nothing planned. We were debating on whether or not to go...lots of packing, no spot reserved, etc...but we know the kids really love it, so on Thursday night at about 8 pm, we made the decision to camp. We quickly made a list and I headed out to Walmart to buy everything. (Everyone knows how I thrive on last minute planning :)) Wes went to work Friday morning and I packed up the car. On Friday afternoon as soon as Wes got home, we were off!
We planned to go back up to the same campground that we camped at last summer. They have six first come, first served spots, so we thought maybe we would get lucky...
...then we hit some horrible highway traffic and crawled up the mountain. We drove so slow for about an hour that I could roll down the window and take some great shots of the mountains!
Needless to say, when we arrived at the campground an hour or so later than we had hoped, all of the spots were full. We asked the campground host for some kid-friendly suggestions. She recommended a spot about two miles further up the road. So, we headed to Hefferman's Gulch and found a great place to call home. It wasn't an actual campground, so no bathrooms or picnic tables, but a great wooded flat spot close to our car and gear and a nice rock fire pit. Given that it was free and it was almost 7:00 pm, we were very happy to call it "home".
So, we got busy setting up our tent hotel. A monstrosity, yes. Perfect for our form of "roughing it", yes. We're actually getting much faster at setting it up.
After the tent, air mattress, pack n play, sleeping bags, etc. were set up, it was time for dinner! We got the fire going (thank you lighter fluid) and settled in for some chili dogs. Crazy how some things that sound gross can taste so good when you're camping.
Brady's belly (and mouth) are full.
Dinner!
Landon showin' off his hot dog.
Of course, no campfire is complete without some smores. We each had our share, then the kids headed off to bed. Wes and I talked by the fire for another hour or so, then called it a night as well.
We awoke to a sunny but chilly morning. So, a morning fire and some breakfast were first on the agenda.
After breakfast, we headed out for an exploratory hike. We camped near Idaho Springs and Mount Evans. It is so pretty!
Climbing some rocks.
Wes brought along his sling shot, so all three kids had fun learning how to use it. Brady wanted me to take some action shots of him jumping and shooting ninja style :)
After hiking a little further, the boys needed some entertainment. All of the dead trees were perfect practice for karate chops and kicks. It doesn't matter how old they are, boys and sticks are a perfect combination.
Talking about life.
Still chopping big sticks with little sticks.
We got back to the campsite after our hike and did a little more sling shot practice.
Then we had a little cheetos snack and decided to drive down into Idaho Springs.
Payton's Silly Selfie.
We parked in town and did some more exploration. This train was built in 1896 and is the only one of it's kind left in existence. It was neat to see a little piece of history.
We hiked under the highway to the Clear Creek Water Wheel. We always see it from the car, so it was cool to get a closer look. A man snapped our photo, I thought it was funny that Payton had her arm around "Grandpa Charlie", the builder of the water wheel.
From there, the boys went and played a few video games at the arcade while Payton and I explored a fossil and mineral shop and checked out the river.
Then it was FINALLY time for some fishing! The kids probably only asked us to go 546,870 times between Friday and Saturday at noon. But, you have to spread out the activities while camping, especially when you are up at 6:30 AM!
We have three poles, so each kid got one. I helped Landon cast his line, and within the first five minutes, we caught our first fish!
Nice work buddy!
The fish swallowed Landon's hook hole, so we cut his line. From that point on, Landon fished with just a weight and a bobber. It was much safer that way, and since we were paying for fish by the inch, insured he wouldn't catch another one :)
Payton and Brady were very patient.
About 30 minutes later, it was finally Payton's turn! She caught this huge, 15" trout all by herself. She cast her own line, reeled it in, and helped put it on the stringer line. Way to go PR!
And then, not ten minutes later, Brady made his catch. Wes got it on the hook, but Brady did the rest. Nice catch!
Our haul for the day.
Then it was time to clean the fish. As you can imagine, Payton did not want to cut open her fish. If she had her way, it would probably be at home in her five gallon tank. :) But, she eventually came around and took part in the process.
After fishing, we headed back up to our campsite to get ready for dinner, some chocolate chip grilled bananas, and our second night in the tent. We had a great taco dinner, and then it started to rain. And I mean really rain. Thunder, lightning, and lots and lots of water. We sat through it for about an hour...we had even purchased a sun/rain shade after our experience last year. But, we got pretty wet and cold, and as soon as we saw water coming in to the bottom of our tent, we decided to pack up and head home a few hours early. No sense sleeping in the wet, freezing cold since we were going to get up early the next morning and head home anyways. So, that's what we did. Shoved every dirty, wet, stinky thing into our car (including our kids) and were home by about 8:30 PM. We had a great night's sleep in our own beds and got up the next morning to wash, dry, and air out everything in our car. I swear it takes longer to pack and unpack than it does to camp! But, we had a great time in spite of the rain and love making these memories with our kids. Until next year!
