At first, we tent-camped. But as the children came along, and they would get so dirty when we camped, I really wanted to get up off the ground. In 1991 we bought a small tent trailer.
Though it didn't have a bathroom, and it only had cold water for the sink--which had to be pumped--it seemed luxurious compared to using a tent. It was so nice to be able to bring the children in out of the dirt at the end of a busy day at the campground.
At first we used it a lot, but then we found we weren't using it that much, so we sold it within 2 years of buying it. After that we didn't do a lot of camping for a while, but when we moved to Utah in 1999, we bought a tent and began camping again. However, eventually we decided it would be nicer to use an RV rather than a tent. Though I love to be outdoors, I don't love roughing it. I decided if I could have a place where I could shower, then I would be much more willing to go camping longer than just a couple of days.
In the spring of 2006 we bought our first full-size RV. After that we started going on longer trips: Yellowstone, Grand Staircase Escalante State Park, Arches National Park. However, I didn't start keeping a camping journal until we bought our next RV in 2009. That's where this blog comes in.
I'll post a few entries at a time, and add pictures as I have time. The first few entries were added after the trips, which is why they are so short. I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures!
~Christine
April, 2009
1st trip in new 5th wheel
Fillmore, UT at a KOA Campground to make sure everything works properly
Dave, Christine, Mike, Laura
We watched General Conference on Ryan's TV. We visited the old statehouse building. We went up to the third floor, which was a large meeting room. There was a ladder in the room leading up to the attic. Dave and Mike climbed up the ladder.
It snowed most of the weekend.
May, 2009 (Memorial Day Weekend)
Escalante State Park
Dave, Christine, Ryan, Mike, Laura
We went on a hike to Lower Calf Creek. We wanted to hike in a slot canyon, but it was stormy.
August, 2009
Yellowstone National Park
5 day trip
Dave, Christine, Mike, Laura, Bailey Fruit
It was Bailey's first time to go to Yellowstone. We saw lots of wildlife. We went on one hike to Storm Point, which is by Yellowstone Lake and saw a marmot, which waddled away from us.
November, 2009 (Thanksgiving)
St. George, UT
Dave, Christine, Ryan, Mike, Laura
We stayed at an RV park near Mom and Dad's house for Thanksgiving.
May, 2010 (Memorial Day Weekend)
Kodachrome Basin State Park (Our first time here)
Dave, Christine, Mike, Laura
We arrived Saturday afternoon and after setting up camp—which was our first time dry camping in this RV—we went on a nature walk at a nearby trail. Sunday we went on a horseback ride in Bryce Canyon. We had a campfire each night. The view of the night sky was exceptional and the number of stars we saw was more than I had ever seen before.
We went on a hike on Monday, then found a slot canyon and hiked through that. Only bad thing was the biting gnats at the campground. Next time use bug spray!
We had beautiful weather—in the 70's.
June 11-13, 2010
Granite Flat, up the Alpine Loop
Just Dave and Christine went. The kids had to work. When we got to our spot we found out that no water is available. We drove to Mom & Dad's in Cedar Hills as they live minutes from the mouth of the American Fork canyon, which is where the Alpine Loop is. We filled up our tank at their house.
It rained when we arrived Friday night, and all day Saturday.
August 6-10, 2010 (Friday – Tuesday)
Yellowstone
Dave, Christine, Mike, Laura, Grandma Suzanne, Grandpa Bob
We arrived Friday evening, set up, and had dinner.
On Saturday we went to the Geyser basin. We saw Old Faithful, of course. We also saw Riverside go off, which was cool.
Mike and Laura
Suzanne (Mom) and Christine
That evening Grandpa made yummy tacos. Afterwards we went “bear hunting”. For the first time we saw the wolves. We had bought an inexpensive spotting scope which made all the difference in viewing.
After watching the wolves for a while, we drove further south to Trout creek, where we saw a grizzly sow and her 3 cubs. They were moving slowly through the meadow, eating. The scope brought them extremely close, which was fun.
Sunday we headed to Lamar Valley. As we passed through Hayden Valley, the bison were quite active and close to the roadway. One time a bison stood in the middle of the road, in the lane going in the opposite direction of us. Grandma was driving and we wanted her to stop right next to it so that we could get a picture right in its face. She slowed next to it, but then she apparently got a flashback to her childhood where the bears would come right up to the car and hover over it. She sped past the bison to the disappointment of all.
We drove a long time and saw lots of pretty wildflowers. When we got to the Lamar Valley we saw a few pronghorn deer. The highlight was seeing a black bear and her cub up on a hill. Here's a picture of our group:
From left: Dave (my hubby), Laura (16), Mike (20), Christine (me), Dad (Bob White), Mom (Suzanne White).
We left the park through the Northeast entrance and drove through Chief Joseph scenic highway. It was a pretty drive. We met a group of eight motorcyclists who were from the Netherlands on a weeks-long road trip. They had shipped their bikes over to Chicago.
We passed through Cody, WY on our way back to the East entrance of Yellowstone. That night, after a dinner of bbq pork chops, we went to the Fishing Bridge store where a cashier told us about two escaped convicts and their accomplice who were loose in Yellowstone. One of them was serving a life sentence for murder, the other for attempted murder.
Monday we went on a hike to Storm Point. That was a lot of fun. It rained on us off and on. We saw several marmots while on the hike.
Me, Dave, Laura, Mike, Dad (Bob White)
Mom and Dad headed home after we got back from the hike.
Dave, Mike, & Laura threw the frisbee around while I straightened up. Then we all drove to Canyon Village. It had begun raining hard by then. We had dinner at Canyon Village. Laura had trout, which she really liked. After dinner the rain stopped and we did some shopping then drove back to the Hayden Valley to see what wildlife we could see.
By the way, while waiting to be seated for dinner, we heard that the fugitives had been caught that day—in Cody, WY.
On the way to Hayden Valley we saw a large elk with a nice rack. We stopped and took pictures.
We stopped at the wolf overlook and saw the wolves again. We drove on and saw a number of elk in a meadow and took more pictures.
Tuesday—we are in the process of getting ready to leave. We don't want to leave. Today the weather is beautiful.
We stopped at the wolf overlook and saw the wolves again. We drove on and saw a number of elk in a meadow and took more pictures.
Tuesday—we are in the process of getting ready to leave. We don't want to leave. Today the weather is beautiful.
