Last week, Sean asked me if I would be interested in joining his family in a little camping trip. I hadn't been camping yet this summer so I agreed to go.
Mid-morning on Friday, Sean told me that his mom wanted to leave by 4. So I made arrangements to get off work early and I rushed over to their house, showing up at 3:30. The first thing Sean's mom said when I walked in the door was, "Oh, you must not know our family very well. 4 doesn't really mean 4. It didn't take long to figure out that I was the first one there, the food hadn't been packed yet and Sean wasn't even out of the shower.
After everyone had finally arrived and we had finished packing up the trailer and truck, Sean's dad came out with a map. "Where do we want to go?" he asked. I was surprised that this had not been decided already. Right then, I knew I was in for an interesting trip.
After some discussion, it was decided that we would head for Grand Junction, Colorado and look for somewhere to camp at the
Colorado National Monument. We finally got on the road around 6:30. After several quick stops, we found a suitable campground spot at just after 1:30 in the morning. We were quite noisy setting up camp. I was surprised, but glad that we did not wake anyone up in the neighboring camp spots. Exhausted, we all quickly fell asleep.
When we woke up the next morning, it was decided to pack up and see some sites before moving on.
The view from the campsite
Sean and me. Marrdy, I've got my "Mrs. Rogers" t-shirt on!
They've named the rocks, see them on the chart...
...and now in a photograph.
Sean's dad
After lunch in a park in Grand Junction, we took off for Montrose. Later that afternoon, we found ourselves in
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. After setting up camp in a campground there, we took off for some more site-seeing.
Trying to capture the dizzying height...
About 7700 feet above sea-level...
When heading back to camp, we saw a doe and two fawn walking through the campground. I wish that I had been quick enough with the camera to get a photo of them. I'm no animal-lover, but they were cute! For dinner, Sean's mom made the best tin foil dinners that I had ever had. I don't know what she did, but they were delicious and perfectly cooked. After dinner, we did what any group camping would do; we set up a Sean's laptop and settled in the tent trailer to watch Bourne Ultimatum. We were all so tired though that none of us lasted very long.
The next morning we packed up and finished looking around the Black Canyon before heading back to Utah.
On the long drive home, we listened to
The Sigma Protocol by Robert Ludlum, the author of the Bourne Series. It was actually a really great book. If you like the Bourne books, I would definitely suggest reading this book. We arrived home very late Sunday night, so I had no time for anything else this weekend.
I think Sean's dad said it best when he said, "For not having a lick of a plan, this turned out to be a pretty great trip." I couldn't agree more. I had never really heard much about either of these national parks, but they were definitely great sites to see. If you're in the area, I would definitely suggest checking them out. The photos I took really don't do it justice, even if you click on them and look at them in full resolution. I wish that we had had more time to spend there, more than just the weekend.
Sean's family was great to go on a trip with. They are all such pleasant, kind, loving people. I'm glad they invited me to come along with them. I hope we all do it again, next time with all of the siblings.
I hope your weekend was as lovely as mine!
Labels: camping, trip, vacation
