You may have noticed that the name of this blog is "I'd Rather Be Camping". You also may have noticed that there has been very little camping mentioned here in the last two years. Unfortunately a really crappy summer followed by a summer with a newborn will do that to you. We decided to remedy that in a major way this year. Plus, it was time Nora learned what her parents do for fun. And honestly, what would be the point of a pathetic little weekend trip in humid, bug infested Wisconsin? Oh no...we went all out. We did a week in the Rockies. In the spirit of blogging more than once a month, I'm going to break down our trip into daily-ish chunks. So enjoy. Or don't. Whatever.
Day One
We somehow manage to find room for Brendan in a car that barely has room for me, Mike, and Nora. As we are camping with one year old, I am taking no chances and have packed for every weather situation and every minoro illness or first aid mishap. We also have enough dehydrated food to last a traveling circus for a month (including the elephants). Two and a half hours after leaving Denver, we arrive in Buena Vista. We've only had one minor car issue. The area around Buena Vista is a sort of lunar scrub. Unfortunately, this means there is almost no shade. Oh well. We're camping! Who cares!
Nora discovers rocks.
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Nora discovers dirt. Nora discovers that she loves dirt. Nora discovers that she loves being covered in dirt.
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All is well.
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We cap off the night by scaling a climbable boulder and having drinks at the summit (and yes, we're within hearing and sight distance of the sleeping baby, in case you were wondering.)
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Day One
- 7:30am: Leave an hour late
- 7:45am: Have trouble locating a Starbucks in Coralville, IA
- 9:30am: Fall off I-80 somewhere around Des Moines
- 10:00am -12:00pm: Get a up-close-and-personal tour of the flooding in southwest Iowa while attempting to locate I-80 and not end up in Kansas City.
- 1:00pm: Happy gleefulness ensues upon locating Nebraska.
- 1:05pm: Gleefulness fades as we realize we are in Nebraska
- 1:05 - Middle of next century: Nebraska
- 2113 (approximately): Arrive in Denver
We somehow manage to find room for Brendan in a car that barely has room for me, Mike, and Nora. As we are camping with one year old, I am taking no chances and have packed for every weather situation and every minoro illness or first aid mishap. We also have enough dehydrated food to last a traveling circus for a month (including the elephants). Two and a half hours after leaving Denver, we arrive in Buena Vista. We've only had one minor car issue. The area around Buena Vista is a sort of lunar scrub. Unfortunately, this means there is almost no shade. Oh well. We're camping! Who cares!
After finding that Brendan's favorite camping site is taken, we find another that will work and make camp. Then we crack open the beer (or in Brendan's case, bourbon), the dehydrated Pad Thai (don't laugh, I love it) and do very little until the sun starts to set and the temperature drops below 85.
Nora discovers rocks.
Nora discovers dirt. Nora discovers that she loves dirt. Nora discovers that she loves being covered in dirt.
Once the sun makes its way toward the horizon we pack our pajama clad (and slightly less dirty, thanks to baby wipes) baby into her pack and take a short hike out to see the buena vista.
Climbing rocks + playing in the dirt + a hike make for a very tired baby. Thank goodness! (Although I have absolutely no idea how she can sleep like that).
She doesn't even notice when we put her in the tent.
We cap off the night by scaling a climbable boulder and having drinks at the summit (and yes, we're within hearing and sight distance of the sleeping baby, in case you were wondering.)
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