Greg and I haven't been camping since we went to Yellowstone back in
2008. I remember trying to pack and plan for that trip and feeling a little overwhelmed and scared. It was the first camping trip I'd planned and packed for by myself. It was a fun trip, but I definitely wasn't a pro. This past weekend we decided it was time to take Collin camping. I wrote my list a week in advance, so I could really think about everything and (hopefully) not forget anything. I think I did significantly better this time. Not perfect, but it went much smoother.
I asked my parents if we could go boating a while back, and this was the weekend that everyone had off. So Greg and I decided we'd make a weekend out of it. We were going to boat at Yuba Lake in central Utah, so we decided to find a camping spot near there. We didn't realize, until too late, that you can book campsites in advance! So on our way down, we found that campsites were full. In Gunnison, we decided to do some more research. Greg searched on his phone for lesser known campsites, and Collin and I played on the local playground. Greg found a site with availability just down the road so we headed there.
It was just south of Salina, called the Butch Cassidy RV park. There was a small area for tents with grass and trees that was pretty much empty. It also had a pool, showers, and laundry facilities. Sounds great right? I don't know exactly why, but we just didn't love it. So Saturday morning we packed up and called around to other campgrounds nearby. We found that Palisades State Park had some availability, so we headed there. On our way there we got a call from my family saying that they'd just arrived at Yuba Lake. (It took them less than an hour to get there! We weren't expecting that...) So the plan was then to hurry to Palisades and reserve a spot and then hurry to Yuba. When we got to Palisades, though, it was PACKED! Probably with mostly day users, but we didn't want to fight the crowds. We turned around and headed to Yuba. We tried a short cut down a dirt and gravel path which was longer than we'd thought, but cut 15 minutes off our time.
We met up with my family and changed into our swimming suits. When we went to put our clothes back in the car we noticed our back tire was f-l-a-t! We debated a couple of options while out on the lake. We were planning on camping another night, but knew that spare tires weren't supposed to be driven on for too long. Ultimately after calling the nearest tire repair place, which according to our GPS was in Nephi, we decided that Collin and I would stay and boat, and Greg would take the car to get the tire repaired. Upon arriving at Big O Tires, he discovered that because the treads were worn so thin, Big O couldn't just fix the tire; he would have to buy a new one. BUT (and here's the kicker) because the Rogue is an All-Wheel drive vehicle, they couldn't just sell him one tire, they had to sell him ALL FOUR!! Greg decided that was ridiculous and went to the nearest gas station to ask for local tire repair. They told him about a small no name place behind another gas station. The guy there showed Greg how bad all the tires were, and told him that the tires weren't legal. He said he'd repair the tire, but we should really replace all the tires asap. (So I have a project this upcoming week...)
By the time Greg got back to the lake, we were done boating. While waiting for the tire repair, Greg found a nicer campground near Nephi for us to stay that night. We headed there. We set up the tent, made dinner, and then Collin and Greg went swimming in the (nice) pool while I showered. Then after they'd taken a quick shower we went back to the tent. We had snacks and then read stories. Collin quickly went to sleep after that. The night quickly got colder and I worried that Collin wouldn't stay warm. During the night he flopped a lot, and eventually he couldn't sleep because he was so cold. So I pulled him onto our air matress and wrapped him in a couple of blankets. He went back to sleep, but I didn't.
In the morning, we made breakfast and then packed everything up. Collin was a good helper and brought the sleeping bags to Mama at the car, as well as took the tent bag to Daddy. We had a good time; Collin loved it! Now we know that we can do it, we'll have to attempt it again with more set plans.
Here's some pictures:
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| Greg and Collin setting up the tent |
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| Collin's breakfast of Angry Birds fruit snacks. |
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| We forgot something to flip bacon with. And the plastic fork got a little melted... |
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| Collin hanging out and eating chips while we clean up our first camp site. |
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| The flat tire.. |
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| Hanging out on the tube. We also took Collin for a little ride on this tube. It was...interesting. |
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| Our second camp site. |
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| Reading books in the morning. |
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| Collin helping clean up! |
