One And A Half Camping Trips

Halfway through August, and I'm finally getting back to the blog for a bit. We have spent the last few weeks getting back into "school rhythm," and we're slowly figuring out what each of our schedules looks like. Even though two of my kids are in school, I have still been finding my days busy (sometimes that "busy" includes wasting time on the Internet, but still!). Maybe that will change with time...but I somehow doubt it, knowing myself and my penchant for filling my life with Stuff. At any rate, I hope to add blog posts with more regularity during the weekdays, while I am still able to do so.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, we took a small camping trip on July 31st. We'd been planning to go camping as a family for most of the summer; in the past, all our camping trips have been with our LDS ward as part of the annual ward camp out. Although we have really enjoyed all those camp outs, we have wanted to be a little more adventurous and try camping in other locations, with other people. We finally got that chance this month with our good friends the Perrys.

For this camping trip, we chose to visit nearby Lake Patagonia State Park.  Lake Patagonia was formed when Sonoita Creek was dammed a few decades ago; today, it's a large-ish lake that is a quiet, pleasant place to spend a night or two. The girls and I visited the lake last summer with several friends and had a wonderful time, despite getting rained on. We have wanted to re-visit Patagonia ever since, and we thought a camping trip would be the perfect opportunity. Best of all, our friends the Harts lent us their canoe, so we could have some fun paddling around on the lake!

Another reason Patagonia appealed to us was its relative "civility"; the campsites all have parking spots right next to them (most with electrical plug-ins and water hook-ups for RVs), and the public bathrooms are shockingly clean for being out in the wilderness. I thought those things would appeal to Nathan, who (shall we say) is not the world's most enthusiastic camper and who likes his creature comforts. We were also lucky to have the Perrys accompany us; besides being our good friends, they are also much more experienced campers than we are and their relaxed, confident attitude helped us feel more at ease in the great outdoors.

We arrived at the campsite a few hours before the Perrys, though; they still had some business to attend to in town. Luckily, we were able to borrow a shade canopy from our friends the Nielsens, and we set that up first; it was a hot humid afternoon so we desperately needed a little shade to take breaks in while unloading the car. That warm afternoon almost broke us; we drank almost all the water I'd packed in just a couple of hours! We'll have to plan a little better next time.

Our new tent is on the left; the Perry's tent is on the right

This was the first time we've officially tested out our new family tent; we are happy to report it performed very well for us! Nathan was able to set it up on his own in just a few minutes; unpacking went very quickly after that. It did get pretty stuffy inside the tent in the afternoon, but that was more due to the hot day than any flaw in the tent. We cracked the windows that night and felt pretty comfortable for the most part. Unlike the deluge that fell on us last summer at Patagonia, we only got a small drizzle at two o'clock in the morning this time. No problem! We woke up for a few minutes and zipped up the windows, and we stayed nice and dry for the rest of the night.

Despite being hot for much of the afternoon, it was a fun camp out overall. Setting up our tents so close to the lake was wonderful; it was very quiet and peaceful listening to the water lapping against the shore (only feet away from our tent!). Once in a while we'd hear the far-off thrum of a motorboat, but other than that there wasn't much "man-made" noise besides the quiet conversations of distant campers.

See if you can spot the cows in this picture

There was a small herd of cows across the lake from us, and listening to their "moo-ing" as the sun went down was a very soothing experience for me; in a way, it brought back memories of my grandparents' farm. The cows on their farm would bellow all evening, and it gave me the warm fuzzies to hear that sound again in a very different location.

 

We all tried out the canoe, with mixed results. At first, all five of us rode in the canoe at once, but it was a little rickety and it made the younger girls a little nervous (even though everyone was wearing life jackets). It was a little tricky mastering the current and the paddling motion, but we eventually figured it out.

Over the course of the trip, all of us went out in the canoe multiple times. Nathan took Lorelai out once, and I made two long trips: the first with Celeste, and the second with Lorelai and Aurora. In both cases, I paddled the canoe clear to the eastern edge of the lake, where cows wandered and birds relaxed. It was too marshy to fully put ashore, but it still gave me a great sense of accomplishment! Of course, my arms were very sore the rest of the day.

 

In between the canoe rides, we made a delicious campfire dinner that night: spiced sausage foil dinners, with potatoes & sliced vegetables. Mmmm!! We also made banana boats (basically, a banana sliced partway open, filled with chocolate chips & marshmallows, and placed the fire for a few minutes), and the ever-popular S'mores. We were very full and happy that night!

The girls and took some time to go swimming in the roped-off wading area in the evening; I joined them again the following morning. Since it was overcast for most of our trip, the water was a little cold, but it was still refreshing after our warm night in the tent. Amber and Brad nicely made breakfast for everyone...pancakes, bacon and sausage, yum! Amber had also printed up a "scavenger hunt" for the kids; they were encouraged to find small items throughout the park like flowers, stones, etc.

 

By 11:00, it was time to check out of our campsite. We broke down the tent and loaded the car, while also munching on some sandwiches for lunch. After that, it was time to head home. We felt pretty proud of ourselves for managing the trip; Brad and Amber were a great help and we were so glad to spend the time with them. After the drive home (and after dropping off the canoe at its rightful home), we collapsed in hot sweaty piles at home. I spent the next two days doing laundry!  But it was worth it.

As luck would have it, our annual LDS ward camp out was scheduled for just two weeks later! For the past couple of years we have gone up to Camp Zion in October: this time, the ward leaders elected to move it up earlier in the year, so as to avoid the chilly nights. Which was a good idea in practice, except that the monsoon has been going full steam this summer, and showers were predicted for Mount Lemmon the night of the camp out. And since we had just gone camping two weeks before...well, you see how our minds were working at this point. We held a lengthy family council the night before, and Nathan and I eventually decided against camping the following night.

However, the girls cried and begged and pleaded to go, so we eventually made a compromise...we would drive up to Mount Lemmon on Friday afternoon and spend some time with our friends. However, we would not spend the night on the mountain. We even bought Subway sandwiches to take up with us (Nathan and I were doubtful we would be able to start a fire, due to all the rain). This compromise seemed to satisfy everyone, so that's what we ended up doing.

We had only just arrived at Camp Zion when the rain started falling. And it didn't stop for about an hour! It made the air very cool and comfortable, but it also made it very hard to set up tents and cook meals. Our family spent much of that time huddled under the lodge's porch, eating our dinner. Aurora became very fussy with all the rain; at one point, she went back inside our van and refused to come out, tearfully insisting that it was "time to go home" over and over.

 

But we persisted, and waited out the rain. We got to see some beautiful rainbows and cloud formations afterwards! And more and more friends kept showing up, so we were able to share some dessert and have a lot of fun visiting with many families. In fact, our friends the Powells (who moved out of our ward last fall) decided to "crash" the activity, to my daughters' delight. They had lots of fun playing with Hyrum and Ella that evening! Nathan took all the girls and their friends on the hike down to the lookout rock, and they found the trail well-built and the going easier than last year.

As the evening wore on, both Lorelai and Celeste started regretting our decision to not stay the night. Nathan and I felt a little disappointed too, but we held firm and we drove back down the mountain for the night.

Relaxing at the lodge at Camp Zion, just before our trip home

We promised our family that next year, we'd be sure to stay the night at the ward camp out. We also promised one more family camp out before the end of the year (here's hoping we can pick a good date!). Although we had a lot of fun on Friday night, we did miss out on the fun and games the following morning...not to mention the yummy breakfast! Next year, we'll do our best to make the ward camp out a priority on our schedule, so we can fully enjoy it.

I guess Nathan and I are "not ready for prime-time" campers; we were too skittish of the rain, and two nights in one month was too intimidating for us! Maybe with a little more practice, we won't be too afraid to camp more often. And with time, we might even be able to camp completely on our own; that is probably the next step in our evolution into "proper" campers. Pray for us, friends; my husband and I are city slickers, but perhaps someday we'll be able to survive the wilderness without so much hand-holding! In the meantime, we're grateful for all our wonderful friends who are willing to loan us their supplies and give us encouragement as we work on improving our outdoor skills.