Camping

We went camping up Big Cottonwood Canyon a few days ago. It was a fun time. It seems to get easier the older the kids get. Noah had a hard time on the hike but we stuck it out and made it to the lake. We had tinfoil dinners, a first for the kids. Isabella and Zoe liked them but Noah, not so much. He was nice enough after he said so to apologize for not liking them. Always the polite boy. We roasted marshmallows after dinner and Isabella created a new treat by putting her marshmallow in the middle of an Oreo cookie, which I then dubbed Smoreos. I know, someone has probably already invented Smoreos but we're claiming it for our own. It was peacefully uneventful in the tent that night. Despite being extra cold and our air mattress going flat from a slow leak. Like I said it was fun but nothing especially crazy happened, which is a good thing. So I thought I'd share some noteworthy events from past camping trips.

Back in 2000, Zoe was about 9 months old and Isabella was 2 1/2. We took the girls camping for the first time. Zoe went to bed before the rest of us since she was a baby. We were getting ready for bed and we went across the street to where the water was, leaving Zoe sleeping in the tent. While we were over there we saw a skunk wander into our campground, taking it's time exploring the area, looking for food, I guess. I was very worried about my baby being asleep with a skunk just feet away from her. Fortunately, the skunk soon left and we went back over to the tent where Zoe peacefully slept.

The next year we ventured out again. Around 2 a.m., while we were asleep in the tent, a loud bird started chirping. It sounded exactly like R2D2 from Star Wars. It woke up me, Brent and Zoe. Zoe starts saying loudly in her almost 2 year old voice, "A biddy Mommy, A biddy Mommy". It was so cute, the way she said it, that I couldn't help but laugh. Well between the bird and Zoe and me laughing we couldn't go back to sleep. Meanwhile, Isabella is peacefully snoozing away. Brent gets impatient when he can't sleep, so he talked me into going home in the middle of the night. We woke up Isabella (she's now 3 1/2), she starts crying and continues to scream and cry the whole time Brent is packing up and the entire two hour drive home. Gee, that was much more fun than laying awake in the tent for the next three hours! We never did that again.

We didn't make it out again until after Noah came along. Two years ago we were up Blacksmith Fork Canyon, above Hyrum. This is the same place we went in the two previously mentioned camp outs. We roasted hot dogs as usual and there was one left over so Brent threw it in the fire pit after the fire was put out. I asked him if it would be okay to just leave it there. He said sure, so we went to bed. Well, I guess this campground has a few too many skunks because around 3 a.m. we hear a scuffle outside the tent. We hear a bunch of growling followed by the strong smell of skunk nearby. It was very smelly and I was extremely freaked out by the growling sound outside of the tent. I'm not too big on growling forest creatures. Somehow we managed to fall back asleep for a couple of hours. Around 5 a.m. we wake up again because it is pouring outside. We lay there for about an hour listening to the rain until I talk Brent into getting up and driving into Logan for breakfast at the IHOP, since none of us can sleep. As we left the rainy campground I noticed the hot dog was gone. I guess the mysterious growling creature and the skunk were fighting over it! It continued to rain the next day off and on and I admit I just wasn't in a camping place at that time, so we packed it up and stayed in a hotel the next night. Which may or may not have been a good thing since Zoe decides to throw up in the hotel. Much easier to deal with in a hotel than in a tent. Although she may not have thrown up in the tent because one or another of my kids seem to throw up almost every time we stay in a hotel.

Last year we decided to try somewhere new since we always end up camping in either Blacksmith Fork Canyon or Big Cottonwood Canyon. So we went up to Albion Basin at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon. This time we were sitting in our campground at night, enjoying the fire, the kids are frolicking about with marshmallows on sticks, when a young woman of about 23 comes into our campground. She was from Seattle and was traveling the country seeing the sights. She wanted to meet the locals I suppose, so she decided to join us for a bit. Well she starts asking us if we are LDS. We tell her yes. She tells us she recently visited Temple Square and we were like, that's great! Then she starts asking us about gays and lesbians and how the church feels about them. We then figure she is a lesbian herself so we're trying to be polite. No the Church isn't too big on that.... Meanwhile my kids are keenly observing the nice stranger who is visiting our campsite and I'm looking around from her to them, and I think she gets the picture that maybe this isn't the best conversation tho have around the campfire with the children. So we talk to her for a few more minutes and she heads back to her campsite. Nice girl but kind of a strange conversation. So the next day we leave, no waking up in the middle of the night this time around. We head out and want to do another hike before we go home. We stop at this trail and get out of the car. As we head to the trail Brent quickly turns around as I see a tail take off in the other direction. We get back in the car because we really don't want to go hiking with a mountain lion.

Just a few camping stories I share with you tonight. Take them, share them around the fire at your next camp out! Okay, maybe they weren't that exciting!