Back from camping

So this was our third summer camping with the twins club at Snow Mountain Ranch near Granby, and like the other years (2014, 2013), this one had its pluses and minuses. The trip was supposed to be Friday and Saturday nights, but Rocket Boy came down with a flu-ish sort of bug last week and for a while we thought we wouldn't be able to go at all. Then it turned out that the club's reservations had gotten screwed up and were for Saturday and Sunday, not Friday. Some people stayed in cabins and the lodge on Friday, and some, like us, arrived on Saturday and left Sunday. It meant there wasn't the usual informal meeting and greeting on Friday night -- boos riding their bikes around to look for other twins -- and we never did interact much with the other club members. A little disappointing.

We of course left late on Saturday, despite our plans to leave early (why we bother, ever, to make such plans is beyond me), but we took the southern route (93 to 6 to 70 to 40) and got there in a couple of hours, around 3 pm. We took two cars, with the twins' bikes on the back of my car, because we can't fit all our gear into one car. We had thought about renting a minivan, or even a camper, but the cost was prohibitive -- paying for two tanks of gas was about 30 times cheaper.

Our site at the Hopi Campground, #11, was not nearly as nice as some we've had in previous years. It overlooked a main camp road, and beyond that, the RV campground. Here's Rocket Boy trying to get the big tent set up, while the twins don't help much.

One problem with these campsites, although they are pretty, is that they are not really designed for tents. The ground is very hard, probably because most people drive over it with campers, and there are no soft spots set aside for tents. Rocket Boy bent most of the tent stakes while trying to hammer them into the dirt. (Note to self: buy steel stakes!)

Here's Rocket Boy putting the finishing touches on the big tent, as it starts to rain. The rain was preceded by terrible gusty winds -- no fun trying to put a tent up in the wind.

What I do love about the Hopi Campground is that the kids can ride all over everywhere on their bikes. Kid A made great use of the opportunity, pointing out that he's not allowed to do this at home. Kid B even rode his bike a little -- first time since his bike accident on May 30. I was so proud of him.

It ALWAYS rains when we go to Snow Mountain Ranch, but this year the weather wasn't bad. We had this small thunderstorm in the late afternoon, but it cleared up in time for the club potluck. It also rained during the night -- at least four separate times, something I know because I was awake all of those times, sigh. But when we got up in the morning, it was sunny, and the tents were starting to dry. And then the rest of the day was great, sunny and warm. A little too sunny, really -- we all got too much of it.

The worst part of the trip for me was that I had pretty serious altitude sickness. By early evening Saturday I had a killer headache, felt sick to my stomach, and could barely walk, I felt so dopey and sluggish. And then I had an awful night, waking up over and over and over again. Partly it's because I don't have a comfortable sleeping pad, but mostly I think it's that Cheyne-Stokes breathing thing, aka periodic breathing, that I experience at altitude. It's puzzling, because I don't have it at 5,200 feet (i.e., Boulder). I don't have sleep apnea. But at the cabin, and camping anywhere higher than Boulder (Snow Mountain is maybe 8,800 feet), I have a terrible time with it. I was reading about it tonight and saw that some people think it's actually a positive thing, that it helps you acclimate, maybe. But you get so little sleep!

Let's see, on Saturday we mainly just set up camp and participated in the potluck, which was more low-key than previous years, but still fun. Here's a magpie stealing a Cheeto that some little person dropped. The campground was also full of hummingbirds, and much to my delight I saw a pair of mountain bluebirds.

We did the bonfire and made s'mores early (because of the need for little people to go to sleep early), but our little people were nowhere near going to bed.

As the sun went down and the skies cleared, Rocket Boy had the good idea to play mini golf (the twins' favorite activity at the camp). Mini golf is much more fun in the evening than in the middle of the day with the sun beating down.

The next morning, after my terrible night and everyone else's rather good night, we discovered that although we'd brought a functional stove with us, we hadn't brought our camping teakettle or even a pot or pan to heat water in. I can't blame this on Rocket Boy, because I did not help one iota with getting the camping gear together, and he was doing all that work while recovering from his bug. Fortunately, I had brought sweet rolls and bagels & cream cheese and blueberries, so we were able to put together an acceptable breakfast -- just no oatmeal or tea.

After breakfast we drove to the waterfall trailhead and did an early hike, before the sun got really fierce. Despite this, I had a very hard time on the trail, due to my weight and the altitude sickness. During the whole camping trip I kept berating myself for my weight gain since last year (not that I was thin then). Life would be SO much more pleasant if I could lose even 20 pounds. Anyway, I did manage to drag myself all the way to the waterfall, but it was hard. And of course, along the way we were passed by all sorts of other hikers -- old ladies, moms carrying babies on their backs -- no one seeming to have any trouble with the hike.

My favorite part of the hike is not the waterfall, it's the flowers.

So many different kinds, so abundant all along the trail. I kept taking pictures, none of them any good because my camera isn't any good, but at least they remind me of the beauty. We also saw lots of birds and butterflies, including this beauty which the kids dubbed a "magpie butterfly." My best guess is that it is a Weidemeyer's Admiral, also known as a Skunk butterfly. (I think Magpie butterfly is a much nicer name.)

After the hike, which took us about an hour (fitter people probably could do it in half that time), we went back to the main camp and went swimming. Just one problem: we showed up around 11:00 am and the pool closed for lunch at 11:30. The person who checked us in didn't think to mention that -- at least not until 11:20, when we were all in the pool. I swear, we have a problem with that pool every year. But, although it was irritating to have only 10 minutes in the pool, it was very refreshing after the hike.

We had lunch at the dining commons, which was expensive and not very good, as it is every year. But it beats cooking. The twins were not well behaved in the dining hall, refusing to eat much, and crawling under the table to hit each other, etc. This always really depresses me, especially after watching a lot of well-behaved twins at the potluck the night before. But then I spotted a family we'd been talking to at the potluck -- a very nice, friendly family, with depressingly well-behaved children. I just saw glimpses of them at the dining hall -- a child knocking a tray full of dishes to the ground, a child taking its pants off and running away in only a diaper, a mom's face wearing that stressed-out look I've seen so many times in the mirror. I know it's awful of me -- it shows what a terrible person I've become since having children -- but these sights cheered me up. Here was a family I KNEW did things right -- I'd WATCHED them the night before, the parents saying and doing all the right things -- and the situation was STILL going kerflooey.

This of course does not mean that Rocket Boy and I do everything right. But still.

After lunch we (i.e., Rocket Boy) started taking down the tents. Since we had paid for both Saturday and Sunday nights, we did not have to vacate the campsite by 12 noon, as in other years, but we weren't planning to stay another night -- just leave in a leisurely fashion.

At 2 pm we had reservations for the Summer Tubing Hill, built since our last visit here. We had taken a look at it the first night, prompting me to say "No way in hell am I ever going down that." But the boos wanted to do it, so Rocket Boy agreed to go with them. Here they are waiting in line.

And here is Kid A, beginning his slide (see the tiny red dot partway down the steep part?).

Doesn't that look terrifying? I couldn't even get the whole hill in the photo, it's so huge. And steep, and bumpy, and scary. They did the run two times, to show what macho men they all were, and then they were done. Kid A, who looked shell-shocked, said he'd like to do it again -- next year.

We split up to drive home, with Kid A and me driving the scenic route through Rocky Mountain National Park (saw these beautiful elk along the way)

and Kid B and Rocket Boy going back the way we'd come. Even with traffic, their route took only about 2 hours (85 miles), while Kid A and I suffered through 3.5 hours (105 miles) on the road. The southern route is definitely faster, but the northern route has its points too.

I was so glad to be home and sleep in my own bed. And now our vacation trips are over for the summer, though we do have visitors coming in August. The twins have swim lessons this week, and then camps the next two weeks, and then it will be August. The summer is moving along, as it always does. I think we'll survive, though we have big changes ahead in our lives. More about that later!