Camping Fun

I know some wouldn't put camping and fun in the same sentence but the Carlsen family and a few other crazies like ourselves usually get together for a group camping trip once a summer. And here is our story.

In the three + years we've lived in Denver, Eric and I have never heard monsoon season connected with the city. The past few weeks we've not only heard the phrase but experienced its effects with thunderstorms rolling through practically everyday dropping buckets of water and lightning. Last Wednesday night a particularly bad one came through town and we were caught in it driving home and couldn't see where we were going. This rain is good for our lawn but did not bode well for our planned camping trip Thursday and Friday night. Thursday morning we still were deciding if we wanted to go up to the mountains and brave the predicted T-storm while the rest of our group bailed out and we ended up going thinking if it got too bad we would break camp and come home since it was less than 2 hours away. We camped in Pike National Forest and there was actually a fire ban along with a flash flood warning in parts on at the same time! We got to camp, set up our gazebo so we could eat dinner and got sprinkled on. The rain was light and came and went but the ground remained pretty dry (it is Colorado after all) and when it finally became steady, yet not downpour, we just played card games in the tent and went to bed. Thankfully we didn't have any lightning so we were able to stay at camp. Friday we went out to explore since it was beautiful out.

The view from our campsite

A deer we saw on one of our walksHiking along the Colorado Trail. One day Eric and I will thru-hike it.Cooling of in the little creek

By the time we got back from our little adventures our camping friends had come to join us in our group campsite, hooray! Even better news the fire ban was lifted so we could have a campfire and roast hot dogs and marshmallows and sit up until midnight talking around the blaze. And guess who started that fire? This is my turn to boast as I used the teepee method and started it with one match. All told we had 10 adults, 3 boys, and 13 girls running around the site and loving every minute of it. That is why we get group sites so we're secluded from everyone else and the kids can roam.

Some of the girls posing--boy are we all in trouble in a few years!
Evelyn's buddy Lily, they were just too cute together!

Friday night we only got sprinkled on thankfully but saw some T-storms up north of us. Saturday we took the kids on a little walk after breaking camp and tuckered them out some more so on the way home the girls were all asleep within 20 minutes.

I think this was another successful camping trip even if monsoon season threatened to spoil it for us. Let me know if you're in for next year :)