We went camping... just the 5 of us. We knew it wouldn't be "as fun" as if we went with another family, but it was still camping, right?!
We were headed to our spot in the white mountains mid-morning on a Friday.
We stopped at the bottom of Salt River to stretch our legs and eat lunch.
We made extra stops when we realized we broke our lantern and didn't bring enough water.
When we finally turned the corner on mile 9 of the dirt road that leads to our stop....
we gasped.
It had been logged. Destroyed in my opinion. I didn't recognize anything.
I worried about our tree. I found it. (it's the tall, dead aspen tree in the middle of the left picture below)
But it used to be hidden at the edge of the meadow we'd camp by. Now it was in plain sight and next to a (new) road for logging.
I've been so deeply grateful that we were able to camp in our spot last year so the family could see it before it was destroyed. It hurts my insides... but that's life. I thought about just cutting down the tree and bringing our family time capsule home.
This was a picture of the tree last year. I was reduced to tears when I saw it.
After the initial shock and disappointment, we continued to drive a few more miles and ended up creating a new campsite. There was a burn ban anyways, so we just found a grassy, shady spot in the Aspen trees and claimed it as ours.
Later we went on a little walk and discovered that the spot we chose was really close to the base of Greens Peak.
After dinner and hot chocolate, we only played a few games before the kids wanted to go to bed. I was a little bummed that my family chooses to sleep (or do anything else, really) than to play games with me!!
After a super chilly night, Everett and I went on a hike up Greens Peak.
We hiked up, and then back down a different way.
I'm glad Everett was willing to come with me and enjoy the bright blue sky and fresh air!
We were bummed we couldn't have a fire and the kids (Everett especially) was sad we didn't have friends to play with, the BUGS/FLIES WERE OUT OF CONTROL!!!, and Jake was devestated that the kids didn't want to drive the kid razor.
BUT... there were butterflies and Raven, Lance, & Rowan came to spend the afternoon with us. It was the best having them come. Raven is HILARIOUS and we played games all afternoon (while Jake went on a dirt bike ride).
I sharpened some sticks for marshmallow roasting so the kids could at least make s'mores.
After another chilly night, Everett and I woke up and did the hike again. He realized half-way down yesterday that he had dropped his engraved Swiss army knife (we brought back from Switzerland last July).
So we hike up, super slowly, looking everywhere. We didn't find it. He was SOOOOOOOOO sad!
Jake took the girls on a ride, they sawed some logs, and found a cool fort :)
The kids were all ready to go home that afternoon. After packing and loading up the truck we headed home. The drive home seemed long. And Breckie puked twice (despite giving her Dramamine).
It was stressful and hot and we were all so dirty.
It seemed like too many unfortunate things happened. Camping is a lot of work for parents and it seemed like Roxy was the coolest, happiest camper of us all.
Jake was convinced we were never going camping again.
After I talked him off of that ledge, he decided he'd just sell the little dirt bike and razor since none of our kids are interested. I know that's really disappointing for him that he can't share that hobby with his family.