I've been on camping type trips several times throughout the past few years. Usually our "camping" involves my parents motor home or someone's cabin. I know it's not really camping but it's still fun.
I really do love camping. It's wonderful to be in the great outdoors and really enjoy God's creations. My best friend mentioned that she was going camping and invited us for the day. My husband said that he didn't want to go for just a day due to the distance from home. We ended up just being part of the whole trip.
Our trip was not as expected at all. When we got off of the freeway exit, my husband's truck stalled. He was able to get it restarted but the truck was running roughly. It was hesitating and did not shift as normal. When we turned on the dirt road to the campground, we noticed a LARGE cloud of smoke. As we went to the campground, the cloud grew larger. We finally got to our destination and were informed that the area was closed and being evacuated due to a
forest fire. It was getting late so we turned around and headed back home. My friend and I were making frantic calls to find an alternative camping location. I was also dealing with the stress of trying to figure out what was wrong with my husband's truck. We made a dinner stop at a little diner in Oakley. I was honestly surprised at the menu selection and prices for such a remote location. I wasn't prepared to spend $40 on dinner so the kids split a sandwich and fries. Rich and I did the same. The trip home was pretty uneventful until we were almost home. The truck started acting funny again. It was the general consensus that the issue was bad gas. We got a fuel treatment and added some high octane gas.
Day two was much better. My husband went to the auto parts store to have them check the check engine light code. It said that there was an issue with either loose hoses or the water pump. We disagreed. If it was the pump, the truck would have been overheating. Anyway, we met back up with our friends and headed out in search of another camp site. As we passed by the lower campgrounds, I saw that they were all full. I figured that we'd have to head back down to our family property in Mountain Green. I knew we were heading to Monte Cristo but did not realize how far up we were going. It was a very steep crooked road. I was beginning to wonder if we were in Idaho yet. (It really wasn't that far but seemed that way). We got to an elevation of 9000 feet for Mount McKinnon. The campground was right by there. The first site we found was on a hill. It was beautiful but not the best for two little girls or any of our tents. A few people drove the site to see if any other better locations were available. We found a bigger flatter area. It had less shade but worked for us. There was lots of tall grass so we sent the kids out to stomp down areas for the tents.
We did
walking tacos for lunch. It was perfect for camping. Tacos is a messy meal. I love that everything was contained in a bag of chips. We chose the little corn chips, I added cheese first, then the meat, and veggies. I was wishing for some sour cream or salsa but it was still delicious. The kids enjoyed exploring our campsite. We dealt with a swarm of flies at lunch. I decided that we needed to make an area away from our main living area to rinse off dishes and store the grease. We got some visitors including a squirrel. The kids loved it.
Dinner was wonderful. We did chicken and veggies with apple cobbler for dessert. The camp stove was a necessity for our meals. The saute pans were large so cooking was in pretty tight quarters. It worked well though! I was grateful for the dutch oven. I lined the dutch oven with foil and dumped in three bottles of apples. In hindsight, I wish that I would have drained off some of the juices. I added a spice cake to the top with butter and poured lemon lime soda over the top. It was delicious. The coals were not hot enough though. I ended up putting the dutch oven in the fire pit. Thankfully that worked better.
Our third day, we decided to try to go play in a nearby lake. The first one was packed and had absolutely no beach area. We headed down to another lake only to be turned away after 30 minutes of waiting because the beach was full. We ended up going to a park for the kids to play and eat lunch. We made enough chicken for dinner the night before to use the leftovers for wraps.
We decided on an easier meal for dinner which worked out great. We did hot dogs and brats ( I bought some precooked ones from Costco). S'mores were for dessert. That night it rained for a few hours. We did not have a rainfly on our tent but it was under some trees so we were okay. We chose our spot away from the other tents to be in a more shady area so that we could nap during the day. The boys put the rain fly on their tent since they were cold the night before. I was grateful that we had added the fly. I had told the boys to turn their shoes upside down outside their tent. Their shoes got soaked. Thank goodness they had flip flops to wear.
All in all, our camping adventure was lots of fun. I'll add another post with my favorite camping supplies. We are looking forward to the next time.
