My camping MoJo took a hit this year. (But I'm still going back again!)

I think that this is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.

This building has wooden floors that squeak and there is a large dip in the wooden threshold of the doorway, created by 150 years worth of foot traffic.

This building houses some of my favorite childhood memories.

This building is the source of Now & Laters, Jolly Ranchers and Archie comic books.

This building marks the gateway to one of my favorite places on earth.

Grover Hot Springs State Park in Markleeville, California.

Last summer I did a 6 part series on camping...basically how, what, where, and why. (Click here for Part 6, which has links to Parts 1 - 5 therein.)
This park is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. My family has an extended history and traditions that we hold dear in this park.

The kids love it and are always excited to be there... just like I was as a kid.


I ordinarily take pride and great comfort in the fact that we're extremely organized when we camp. Menus are pre-planned, our gear is complete and is categorized in an efficient manner. Handsome Hubby and I are big supporters of the "plan ahead of time, so that you can enjoy the moment" philosophy. Which is why it was a shock to both of us to realize that we'd left 3 boxes full of kitchen gear and cooking necessities at home.

We discovered this about 6 hours into our road trip. We were driving along, enjoying the beauty of Hwy 395, when HH suddenly sat bolt upright in his seat. His mouth hung open... he couldn't speak. I was sure he was having some sort of a cardiac event. I was immediately worried for him, and a second later worried for the rest of us. He was pulling a trailer and we had our 4 boys, plus 2 of their friends and a dog with us.

An incapacitated driver would. be. bad.

So when he said, "Oh. My. God. I don't remember grabbing the boxes off the back patio..." I was relieved it was only that. (Then I remembered my coffee pot was in one of the boxes and I became slightly more anxious.)

You know what?
Long drives go much more quickly when you're making calls and problem solving. The boxes that were left behind were actually cataloged (with photos) and packed after last year's trip. I had printed the list of items they contained and had it taped to a cupboard door while we prepared everything for this trip. (Oh, the irony.)

I was able to call a friend who let herself into the house and read off the items from the list. At least we knew what we were missing.
Dear family friends, Dennis and Suzie, joined us this year. They have a ginormous, 40 foot motor home with everything you could imagine in their kitchen. By coordinating with them, we were able to avoid stopping to buy all new gear. Thank God! We just needed to stop at a Walgreens and stock up on paper plates and cutlery. The silver lining? Less dishes to do during KP. (Also? I don't need to pack those boxes for next year.... they're still ready to go!)

A bumpy start, to say the least.

Once we solved our initial crisis (which was huge for us) we settled in to our normal camping activities.

Cocktail hour starts promptly at 5:00.

This year we had entertainment.

There was a lot of card playing...



One of my best girlfriends, Chris, came with her two daughters.


My mom and dad came too.

They don't tent camp anymore. They stay at the little hotel in town and drive the 4 miles back into the campground each morning, then go back after marshmallows each night.

Ah. Marshmallows and S'mores.

The right way...


...and not so much.




It's really nice to have my parents there. My mom is a crack up and the kids Love her.

Grant was being silly.

Gramma told him that a blackened tooth would complete his ensemble... and she proceeded to make him one out of a grocery bag. Then she made one for herself as well.
Crazy lady.




She loves to play Scrabble and will play for hours (patiently) with the kids.


She also brings a craft for the kids each year. They all painted wooden bird houses.



Even the big kids did it.

My mom is pretty darn cool.

We were even able to sneak off into town and sample the local brews at the pub.
This may very well be the closest that my mother has ever been to a pot leaf. (The Hemp Ale was pretty tasty....)

Last year I hurt my back right before our annual Waterfall Hike and I had to miss it. This year I was so happy to have gotten to go!

HH and I took our traditional self portrait in our traditional spot.

Grant made it the entire way all by himself....

but he was a bit disappointed I still wouldn't let him scale the rocks to get in front of the big waterfall.

Maybe next year. In the meantime, his daddy carried him across the swimming hole so that they could jump in together.

Not quite like the big boys, but getting closer.

FYI, I do not jump in. Too cold for me.

When the kids weren't at the pond catching frogs, tadpoles and snakes (gah!)

... they took their squirt guns and headed down to the creek.


I love the creek. Love. I love to see my boys playing where I did when I was a child. I love that they're exploring and making up their own games. (*Although that would become a problem a bit later on in the trip.)

Our dog Corsa loves the creek too.

... and the meadow.

Grant picked flowers for me earlier in the week, but my sweet Conner brought me a rock.
The kid can't speak clearly, but what a sweet boy!

They made ice cream and had root beer floats...

... they got super dirty...

... they got hurt and left us chart notes written on napkins...

... and they were *STUPID.

There is such a thing as Forseeable Consequences.

HH and I needed to run into town really fast to check email. He runs a small business and I was organizing a high school reunion that was 3 days away. (My friend Chris was my right hand man for this, but she was with me... so I needed to check in).

Also, we needed ice.

We weren't even in town 15 minutes when I got a call on my cell phone. It was the ranger station. Our nitwit children had a rock fight in the creek. They claim they weren't trying to hit each other, but were merely trying to splash each other by throwing the rocks near each other.

The Forseeable Consequences?

A trip to the emergency room with Grant.

Two staples in his head. No novacaine. Bummer.

Fortunately, he didn't have a concussion and was in and out of there pretty quickly, so his daddy was able to take him fishing.

The other 5 stooges had to stay in camp and listen to Screechy Mommy.

The one other thing I wanted to do this trip was to find the rock in the meadow where this photo of my parents was taken 30 years ago.

I wanted to try and duplicate the pose. It's not the same rock. I keep forgetting to take the orginal photo with us. Oh well! We'll try again next year.

Our ride home was uneventful, and I was able to text and check email the whole way home, working on our reunion. We got home Thursday night and our reunion was Saturday night.I had less than 48 hours to climb out from under camping gear and laundry, finish up last minute reunion details and try to get myself looking presentable after a week of road trip food and mosquito bites.

But that is another post.