So last Wednesday night at about 8:00 pm, we decided to join a group of friends that were going to Zion National Park the next day! For anyone who knows Lance, this is kind of a big deal....'spontaneity' is not his strongest characteristic! :) He worked a half day on Thursday, came home and loaded up the camping gear and we were off. We said we were going to leave at 12:30 - which actually turned into 2:30...sigh....oh well, at least we were 'getting away!'
After many, many stops - getting ice for the cooler, stopping to get a late lunch, potty breaks, filling up the gas tank, pulling over because the luggage thingamajig on the roof opened up, more potty breaks and cleaning up Anna's puke (she frequently gets car sick....#somuchfun!) we finally rolled into the campground about 8:00 pm. And setting up the tent in the dark, that always brings a smile......It was at this point that I discovered we forgot: bowls and cups, socks for Noah, heavier coats for Lance and me, Lance's toothbrush, Lance's fleece pajama bottoms, socks for Joey and extra blankets. This is gonna be great. :)
Since we only own one cot, Lance let me use it on this trip - I know, such a gentleman :) - and the first night I didn't blow my camping pad up enough and it felt sort of like being in a hot dog bun. At some point in the night Anna got scared and crawled up in there with me...we became two hot dogs in one bun.
The campground was huge with lots of room to run and play. Joey, being the bug/insect/animal officionado that he is, found this guy and a smaller one as well.
All the kids were SO enthralled with this
blue bellied lizard - they all followed Joey
around for at least an hour yelling,
"Let me hold him! Let me hold him!
Please Joey! Pleeeeaaaze!"
Joey offered to let me hold it, but I politely declined. Ew.
We went on several hikes - Weeping rock, the base of The Narrows and Emerald Pools. Oh that hike was fun....Noah decided to run WAY ahead of the group and consequently got separated from the rest of us for over an hour. I was much more panicked than Lance, but after a silent but heartfelt prayer, we ended up finding him on our way down the mountain. There are few things as frightening as realizing your child is lost. But of course, in Noah's case - he wasn't lost - he knew exactly where he was the whole time. (grrrrrrrr...)
The kids had a Junior Ranger book they were filling out to become an official 'Junior Ranger' and they had to find certain wildlife and plants. Cactus was on the list. On the shuttle up the canyon we saw lots and lots of cactus. Anna was so thrilled to point out every single plant she saw! Cactus! Another cactus Momma! Cactus! Oh, there's some more cactus! They also had to find a tarantula - I thought, "Let's HOPE they don't!" But they did. On the trail up to the Narrows, there was a tarantula sitting right on the side of the trail!!
Lance took a quick photo and I strongly encouraged everyone to just keep moving along, please and thank you.
We camped from Thursday till Sunday and at the end of it all I felt tired and dirty, sore and stinky and did I mention tired? Oh, and dirty? On the drive home I found myself asking why, oh why, do we pack up so much stuff, clean up puke from a car-sick little girl, get so dirty, sleep like hot dogs in a bun, get so stinky, panic because of lost children, and stay up too late around the campfire?
I decided we do it for a few reasons:
#1 - Our children absolutely LOVE camping.
#2 - Our children absolutely LOVE camping.
#3 - Our children absolutely LOVE camping.
Quite simply - we do it for them. Now don't get me wrong - I do enjoy camping. Perhaps not to the level our kids do, but I do love being in the beautiful outdoors. I love being away from the distractions of 'the world'. But honestly, the reality is this: they love it and sometimes.... that's enough.
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