Monday, May 21, 2007

Trip to Craters of the Moon

We took the trailer on our very first camping excursion this past weekend. We went to Craters of the Moon. We managed to find a nice camp spot and Jarom did a great job of parking the trailer without getting any dents in my truck or the trailer, WHEW! (Way to go Honey!) The kids had a good time exploring the rocks and we all stayed up late and watched the stars. It was a nice night.

Oh, and I should mention that right off the bat, I found a not so lovely black widow in my trailer!!! The scary thing is, is that I am pretty sure she came home with us from CA, and that we slept with her before. After we disposed of her, we all started to have a good time. I just hope she didn't have any buddies that I haven't seen yet. It gives me chills just thinking about it.

Anyway, around bed time we noticed our battery on the trailer was low, so we hooked the truck back up to it to charge it. But after an hour, there was no change in the battery. We decided to go to bed and deal with it the next morning. When 5 AM rolled around we woke up freezing and my fridge had turned off. So poor Jarom hooked us back up and drove us back down the road to a TINY town called Arco and we made camp again in the KOA with full hook ups.

Playing games in the Arco KOA. We had the entire campground to ourselves and it was actually REALLY nice. We didn't have to worry about someone snatching the kids or how loud the kids were being or anything. They got to wander all over the place.

We played around in the campground for a while and then drove back to Craters for some sightseeing.


Somehow, we made it to Craters without my tennis shoes. So we stopped at the ONLY store that might sell shoes in Arco, The Irrigation Center. Sure enough, I got a new pair of men's tennies and they were whiter than snow! (Do I not look like the frumpiest, saggiest, old lady here? Not a very flattering picture, but oh-well.)


This tree was at the top of a pretty big hill we walked up. I was impressed at how well the kids did. No one even complained about being tired. Jarom and I had our picture at this same tree about 13 years ago. (I was going to scan it and post it, but it's so faded it's hard to see.)

Walking to the caves. This was a fairly long trail with treacherous lava on both sides. There was just NO way we were going to make it out of there without at least one skinned knee. Sure enough, Halle took a tumble and skinned her knee and thumb. (Nothing too serious, but don't tell her that.)


Inside Indian Cave. The kids had a blast going inside the caves. I remember going to a cave when I was kid and loving it too.

"Ooohh! Ice!" Kate LOVED to be in the caves. However, she wanted to walk all on her own. Now, a drunken little 18 month old waddle, and slippery, rocky cave floors, don't mix very well. She was such a little brat about wanting to walk on her own. We finally had to give up and I just took her and waited at the mouth of the cave while the kids and Jarom finished exploring.



We took an evening ride around the Crater's loop and we saw two deer and 4 antelope (Carter calls them buffalopes). It was the perfect time of day to see animals. We also took an easy trail walk which was just right to wind the kids down and get the last little bit of energy out of them.


Playing Phase 10. Isn't that a TOTAL camping game. We taught Alyssa and she caught right on and LOVED it. Unfortunately Halle and Jarom whooped both Alyssa and me.


Poor little Pay-Pay had to hang out in the playpen. She was a little too disruptive to join in the game. She really didn't seem to mind too much however.

2 comments:

LouandAngela said...

Looks like you had a great little adventure with your new trailer! How fun! My kids would like to visit there someday too. How do you get yours to post? I keep trying over and over with no luck. I want to give up, but I just can't!

Elise said...

I remember going to Craters as a kid... but I don't remember it being this fun! Maybe I need to go back? I love the shoes! :)