One year we were going to go, my little sister's kid was really sick and I wasn't so sure I wanted to expose my kids to what he had. Another year they went it was just too close to school starting and I had too much to do to get ready for it. This year we were going!
The original plan was that I was going to take the kids and go up Thursday, August 2nd because Eric still had to work. He would meet up at my sister's boyfriends house after work on Friday and then come up then. Well my husband does SO MANY things FOR ME and this was no exception. Somehow he worked it out that he could take Friday off, work for a bit on Thursday and we could all go as a family Thursday afternoon.
It was a good thing he did. We are driving up the canyon and start to smell the smell of something wrong with the car. Once you smell it, you know the smell. We were close enough to the campground that we pushed it there and figured we could figure things out once we got there.
We get into the canyon and start seeing signs of "Dogs PROHIBITED in the canyon." We start to worry because we have Flower with us. Trying to be optimistic I'm thinking, "Well you know, maybe it's just along the stopping points or whatever..."
We get to the campsite and the host takes one look at the dog and just shakes her head. Eric asks if he can just drop his family and gear off and then he'll take the dog home. She says, "No. The dog shouldn't even BE IN the canyon. It's a $1600 fine." SERIOUSLY lady? Come watch us unload the car and we'll leave the dog in the stupid car while we do it!!!
We had no other choice but to turn around and leave the campsite. We are stressed beyond stressed. Eric's worried about the car making it home, then back up the canyon again. I don't want to miss out on another year camping with my family. Tensions were high.
We tried calling one of Eric's friends who works fairly close to where we were to see if he might be able to take Flower home for us, but he had already left work AND had taken his motorcycle that day. I then call my little sister, who I knew was planning on leaving about the time it was just to see where she was at. They had pulled up right behind us. Sadly, they couldn't help us out at all. They had a tiny car and with their 2 kids and all their camp stuff they had no room. I just asked her to tell my parents and older sister what was going on.
My older sister tries to call, but reception is bad - so I text her the situation. She says she is coming down the mountain. Luckily she had her van with her. We decided to grab the tent, sleeping bags, pillows and food - just in case Eric couldn't make it back. We then loaded all the kids in the car and my sister and I headed back up the canyon.
Eric had gotten in touch with his Dad and THANKFULLY we were able to use his Dad's van. But Eric still had to drive the 1 1/2 back home during traffic hour, then another hour to his parents house and then another half hour back up to the canyon.
I started to worry that he really wouldn't make it back up the canyon. The poor guy was beat by the time he got up to the canyon and he got right to work laying out the sleeping bags and going to bed. I followed suit. I was tired playing single parent in a campground and he was tired driving all over the state.
The next day was a pretty laid back day. Eric wasn't feeling well so he spent most of his time in the tent trying to rest. I spent the time watching children, prepping food and visiting with my family. Around 1 in the afternoon we decided to go on a hike. Well, I wasn't so excited to take Ailey when I knew I wouldn't have Eric with me to carry her, so I left her with Eric. Tanis and Shaylyn didn't want to go either, so they stayed with Eric as well. (It was a good idea to leave Ailey - she ended up taking a nap shortly after I left)
So off my mom, brother in law, sister, nephew, niece, my 2 little boys and I went. We made sure to make a potty stop before heading off and then we were off.
The hike was amazingly beautiful, but completely UPHILL. We saw a waterfall, but the main attractions were like 3 - 4 more hours out. The little people with us were beat. They did awesome for the way the trail was though. Nate wanted to be carried a few times, but was content to just hold my hand instead. On the way down he rode on my shoulders for a bit.
After the hike we went back to the campsite and had dinner. Ours ended up being a complete flop. Oh well, we made sure we snacked out on the junk food that night at the campfire. We had a lot of fun hanging around the campfire and one by one families went to bed.
The next morning we went to work packing up our stuff so that we'd have time to relax and do whatever before we got 'kicked out'. After getting everything packed up we had breakfast and then we played a few games while the kids did some more exploring. When it was close to check out time, we all said goodbye and headed home.
We had some bad experiences but overall I'm still glad we went. The kids had tons of fun and didn't really realize what was going on, I went on a beautiful hike that I wish I could've shared with Eric, and we had fun with family and made some awesome memories!
Here are our memories:
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