2011 Camping Trip

This year's camping trip began Friday when we headed down the road around 8:15 a.m. While we were driving, Jeff told us about his grandpa's 1950 Dodge. Kids could jump on it without denting it. I said, "How was the gas mileage?" Jeff and his brother used to take the Dodge camping and sleep in it.

Jeff also shared a current news item: a woman gave birth Friday morning in a car at Mississippi Ave. and Interstate 225. It was a healthy baby boy.

Our first stop was only about 15 minutes into the trip. Jeff stopped to shut the hatch on our van. We brought a FULL load of stuff.

We saw a lot of Corvettes on I-70. They had license plates that said stuff like "Holy Cow" and "Y Ask Y".

We got on Highway 40, going toward Granby. Liz said, "Look for moose everyone!"

There was a sign saying "Hidden Driveway". We found it, how clever of us.

I announced that I'm scrapbooking this trip, and I told everyone to be interesting. Jeff offered to drive into the ditch.

Ten minutes later: Liz exclaimed, "Still looking for moose. Keep your eyes peeled everyone."

Amy asked how to peel an eye. We then had a discussion about dissection in science class. Once Amy was holding onto one end of a pig intestine and the guy on the other end let go and snapped it at her.

Liz: "We still have a little bit more pass (Berthoud Pass) to go. Keep looking for moose.

At last we got to the Moose Crossing sign which inspired all the moose watching.

Jeff said, "Pretty stream. No wonder the moose like it."

In Winter Park we saw a statue of a:

MOOSE.

Winter Park: At the gas station there were silly hats like the ones that Secretariat's trainer wore.

The tatoo shop was closed. "Darn," said Kara.

Back in the van, there was an eruption of applause when I successfully put a cd into the cd player. (I am technologically challenged, to say the least.)

Jeff said, "Look, moose. Nah, they're horses."

We did not find any moose jerky during our travels either.

As we approached a flagman directing us to stop and wait, Relient K was on the cd singing, "I struggle with forward motion."

Noon: Liz was trying to create a pressurized chamber within her nose to suffocate unwanted particles. We've been on the road too long.

Rabbit Ears Pass: Still driving. We were trying to figure out what to do with Liz's wad of gum. In the end it went out the window. We decided that a moose was going to choke to death on it, and then the police would investigate.

Finally we arrived at our destination, a beautiful campsite near Steamboat. There were lots of red, yellow, white, and purple wildflowers. The weather was perfect. We ate lunch.

Then we hiked through a meadow with more beautiful wildflowers.

Liz, Jeff and Amy went to do shooting practice. While they were gone, the mosquitoes showed up, so Jana and I started a fire to keep them away.

There was a discussion about snipe hunting and a quote from Up: "Kevin's a girl?"

There was picture-taking and video-making. There was a trivia question: Is Isengard on the north, south, east, or west of Middle Earth?

We ate hamburgers and hot dogs cooked on the fire. Liz showed us her impersonation of the mouth of Sauron. Then she told me there was an exciting training program in which Jana (age 10) would learn to be a gladiator.

We made s'mores. We remembered when my sister Marilyn decided she wanted to pass when playing BS. Marilyn isn't good at lying.

Liz attempted to spit on the fire, but her trajectory was way lacking. Eventually she succeeded in hitting the target, which produced a nice sizzling sound.

Amy told us about when she was young and she learned that socks don't come in left and right.

The moon was very bright.

After a good night's sleep, we awoke to a sunny morning. I got a good workout pumping water into our 5-gallon container.

After breakfast we loaded all our things into the van and headed to a hot springs pool. Then we had lunch at Wendy's and headed home.

Liz: "I've got a trivia question for you, Kelly."

"I forgot it."

Amy: "Is Isengard in the north, south, east, or west?"

Jeff was looking through a pile of stuff in the van and found Liz's eyelash curler.

Liz said, "Did you want to curl your eyelashes, Dad?"

We drove home, and as I was putting away the first aid kit, Jana asked, "Is there such a thing as second aid?"

THE END