A Camping We Did Go....

The SPOT of all SPOTS!!

Yes, it is absolutly enviable! AND yes, we did pin mark it on our GPS...so we will be back!!

When we got home from our wonderful trip to Florida we decided that we could not let another summer go by without a real deal camping trip...so we packed up the car and headed up to the Sierra Nevadas.....which are only about 20 minutes away...lucky us!!


We decided that "dispersed camping" was more our style so we drove out on a Forestry access road until we found the PERFECT SPOT...and really it was!

We had a pristine creek/stream/river with a crystal pool higher ground for the tents and even a fire ring set up (apparently "our" perfect spot is a regular with some other lucky ducks!

The night was refreshingly "cool" though some could call it "cold"--who wants to sweat it out camping...it was fun to get all snuggled in our sweats and roast marshmallows by our roaring fire.

Too bad I am not a better campfire cook....the ideas/recipes were wonderful...execution was a C+...it was edible but not stellar (and by edible I mean not all of it was burnt.... sue me!) I need a dutch oven and a few more tries...for honing of my skills...any tips??

Oh another wonderful thing about our spot is just past our pristine crystal pool there was a bit of rapids that rushed through these huge granite rocks....the boys had a BLAST rock exploring while E, Mags, & I headed up the calmer part of the stream to go "rock hunting" the river was full of perfectly round egg shaped rocks of all colors and composition...we got some really good ones and have decided to make it a tradition to gather cool rocks from all applicable family trip spots and label them so we can have a cool collection that brings back the memories!!

Unfortunately we got skunked though we saw tons of brook trout swimming happily by our bait...we need some tutoring with our fishing skills!! We'll have to be hunter/gatherers if we're ever forced to rough it totally!

the Family Fire starting lesson....even Maggie was fireside for this! 

Oscar was concerned he was being left behind on the boys rock exploring trip, while Steve went to scope out a safe route....

The Rock Exploring was done in unders....of course!

 

Luckily Steve didn't get the memo on the unders dress code....

The girls stayed behind...and eventually entertained ourselves elsewhere...on a rock hunt!

our spoils.....so cool huh?

Gordon couldn't stop "accidently dropping things" in the water so he had to strip down and retrieve the last item himself...it was so cold!!!

Don't worry Oscar is not wearing pants or shoes while handling the fire BUT he is wearing his Smokey the Bear badge he got from a Ranger!!

I love the textures in these pictures... nature is really SO amazing...

Our Sweet Happy Little Camper

The water was very cold but just as we got the kids loaded up in the car Steve decided he couldn't not take a dip....so....he did...a very brief dip! then home again, home again, jiggety jig.