We were so ready for a little vacay. We have been itching for Spring big time, so we headed south for a little sun and fun. It's amazing to stay in the same state, drive through snow, and arrive in a little warm piece of heaven.
Day 1: Driving & Making Friends
So Snow Canyon has some spots that can be reserved, but it usually books up in January. They have some other spots that are first come, first serve... so we drove Monday to check out the campsites and see who was leaving. We figured we'd just stay in St. George somewhere that night, but decided a new plan...
It was getting late, and I noticed only 1 minivan in the family group area (with like 6 tent spots), so I asked the fellow campers if the whole party was going to stay the night. Since nobody else was coming, I asked if we could pay them to stay at the group site with them. They went for it, and we camped. It started getting dark before we were totally set up, but we managed. The plan was to attack at dawn and catch the ranger pulling into the campsite to secure our favorite spot.
How did we camp? We totally went for the tents. I tented with Douglas and Kira in the 4 man tent, and TJ and Troy took a 2-man tent parked right next door. Sounds rough? Think we are pioneers of sort? Wrong. We do like certain accomodations. Snow Canyon has running water, hot showers, lights in the latrine at night, and a small number of campsites- so it's really not crowded nor considered "roughing it". The kids all slept well (even Kira slept well- after singing herself to sleep). I did not sleep so well the 1st night because the air mattress had a hole. I know what you are thinking- "poor baby". We bought a new one in town on Tuesday.
Day 2: Acquring a Prime Site
Our plan suceeded, and we were able to get the spot we wanted! Troy was the 1st one waiting to visit with the Ranger upon her arrival. Sa-weee-heeet. We had to go into town to stock up on supplies (air mattress for the baby mama & food), but spent the afternoon hiking around a bit. We saw some petroglyphs and hiked to an arch called "Pioneer Names". Pretty much an arch with pioneer names written under it. Nice little hike though. Beautiful canyon.
The view from our campspot. LuCkY Us! It was breathtaking every morning.
Camper 2: Ranger Rick. I thought Douglas would whine about hiking, but he was quite the trooper. He was intense about getting his Junior Ranger badge at Snow Canyon. He also wanted me to take his picture for almost everything. "Mom, take my picture!". Douglas loved playing in the sand, having campfires, and setting up "bases" around the campsite area. I was nervous to share my air mattress with him, but he is a stationary sleeper (guess he got all the wiggles out during the daytimes). He made a few new friends in the campground, and during random hikes through the week. Always friendly. He also insisted on obtaining a ranger hat once the badge was earned. He took the Junior Ranger thing seriously. 
Camper 3: TJ the Literate Mountain Goat. TJ also worked to earn a Junior Ranger badge. He was quite the adventurer. The picture above shows him working his way up to the pioneer names arch. I'm not sure who the chick is above him. He never tired of scaling the rocks. He was also my best helper, and did well helping keep track of Kira and playing army with Douglas. We had to laugh every night that he would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. We would say goodnight, and then 10 seconds later we would hear a little TJ snore. So funny. He also didn't like to waste any time. He finished two Fablehaven novels during the trip- he read every traveling moment.
Petroglyphs to walk to from the campground. Cool beans.
2 comments:
Sounds adventurous and fun!
That sounds like my kind of campsite! Sounds like so much fun, too! Your kids are so cute! Kira always makes me think of Cindy Lou from the Grinch that Stole Christmas, she is so precious!
P.S. Thanks for the name suggestions, I forwarded them on to Ross.
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