Family vs. Wild

Who doesn't love a good camping trip? We usually try to get one in each summer. We were excited because we hadn't been camping since Justin was two. Armed with a new tent, we loaded up the car last month and headed for the beautiful Wasatch mountains a short 45 min. drive away. Well, it seemed a lot longer than that with one child in particular asking (about every 5 min.) how long it would be until we got there. But we did make it after all, with daylight to spare to set up our awesome new tent, thus breaking the age-old Ivie tradition of setting up a tent in the dark. We unloaded, had dinner and sat around the fire roasting marshmallows, making s'mores and telling the kids stories about our childhood camping experiences.

We finally got the last particular child to sleep around 11 p.m. Just as I thought I might be drifting off at 1 a.m., it started to rain. The tent seemed to be taking the water well, but it was noisy with the rain falling in large drops off the pine boughs above us. About 2 a.m., (still awake) the fireworks started and thunder rolled through. Grace was awake and panicked within seconds. We tried to assure her we'd be O.K. and to go back to sleep but she didn't believe us. Then Darrel (panicked), decided the lightning was getting too close for comfort and we should go to the car. I was not a fan of this decision. I felt perfectly safe in our tent, but I wasn't going to ignore the protector of our family, Safety Dad, if he felt that strongly about it. So we woke Spencer up and Darrel hauled Justin (still asleep) to the car, sleeping bag and all. As soon as we got to the safety of the van, the lightning stopped and within a few minutes the rain had subsided to a sprinkle. We waited for a bit then I figured we might as well go back to the tent. So off we went, trudging up the muddy hill. Everyone finally got back to sleep (despite the drunken revel going on at a nearby campsite--at that hour and in the rain!), with drips from the trees still plunking down on the tent roof. Everyone got back to sleep, that is, except me! That's right, I got to live the dream of every child--I stayed up ALL NIGHT!

The next morning the kids were up with the sun. We had some breakfast and set off on a hike to nearby Doughnut Falls. It was a perfect hike for the kids, about a mile and a half, and even Justin walked most of it. The falls were impressive enough for the hike to have been worth it. We rested there for a bit then headed back to camp.

Our plan was to break camp then eat lunch and head home. Well...my plan was actually to take a nap in the tent, then eat lunch, break camp and head home. But the nap was quickly squelched when Grace came running down excitedly from the tent to tell us there was a moose by our tent! We went back up to check, and, sure enough, a bull moose was wandering around less that 30 yards away, browsing through the bushes. We had heard enough about moose tramplings to know better than to get too close, but we weren't sure if taking down our tent would aggravate him or not, so we sat and watched....and watched...and decided when he layed down to chew his cud he could be there all day. We needed to take action. Darrel had Spencer and Grace stand as lookouts (with strict instructions to run for the picnic table and dive under it should the moose charge) while he carefully pulled things from the tent then took it down. I stayed down by the picnic table loading up the car and trying not to be annoyed to death by the horrendous flies. I was very glad then that we'd arrived at our campsite just before dusk the previous night and avoided the pests.

Van finally loaded, we drove a little further up the canyon (with that particular child asking every minute or two "How many more minutes until we get there. Are we close? How much longer?" and any and all other versions of that same question until the ten minute drive was done). We ate lunch at Silver Lake (in the company of more flies) and headed home.

And which particular child was the first to say,"That was the best camping trip ever!"? You figure it out.

What boy doesn't love a campfire?

"Sleeping" in the tent.


Hike to Doughnut Falls

I love Justin's casual hands-in-pockets.
Taking a break.

We made it!




Camouflage at it's best.
Floating leaf boats down the stream.

The moose.

Some video clips Grace made. I had no idea she was shooting some of these until I downloaded the photos. One of these days I need to post some of the things she's filmed of herself here at home. She's quite the entertainer extraordinaire!