Scott has been talking about wanting to go camping for months. So, I decided to surprise him with a weekend adventure in the mountains. Little did I know, the setup of said 'weekend adventure' was going to be completely insane.
A timeline:
Thursday afternoon: block off my Friday schedule so I could spend the day getting the campsite set up
Friday 8:30 AM: head for the hills to reserve a campsite as soon as Scott left for work
9:15AM: arrive at first choice of campsite -Albion Basin in Little Cottonwood Canyon-, only to find all sites have been occupied since Wednesday night (who are these people!?!)
10:30AM: after checking in with several different campsites in the Cottonwoods, begin to realize my chances of getting a campsite anywhere in the Wasatch front were slim to none
10:45AM: call the ranger station in the Uintas to see what their campsite availability was looking like, get a promising enough answer from the nice ranger lady to head East
11:45AM: pull into a grocery store in Kamas to use the WC and get something to eat. Think to myself, 'maybe I should find an ATM... Nah, the park rangers take credit cards these days.'
12:00PM: arrive at a ranger shack, ask about campsites, find out they have several sites still open -hooray!-
12:30PM: arrive at Soapstone campground (it's GORGEOUS!), ask campsite host about spots, there are THREE left! Hallelujah!
12:31PM: ask campsite host how to reserve a site, she says, 'just set up your tent on the site, put $18/night CASH in one of these envelopes (hands me the envelope), tear off the reservation slip and clip it to the post at your site, then slide the envelope with money into the drop slot'.
DANGIT! I should have grabbed some cash back in Kamas!
DOUBLE DANGIT! Our tent was all the way back at our house!
-sigh-
12:32PM: smile extra big at the campsite host and say, 'sounds great! I'll take site 12!' and wait for her to drive her little ranger jeep around the corner. Thank goodness I had a couple of camp chairs (thanks Mike and Emily!), a little folding chair, and a big black bag in the back of my car.
12:33PM: throw together what I consider to be a pretty decent makeshift (fake) campsite, fill out reservation form and clip it to the post on our site.
12:34PM: BOOK IT back down the canyon to Kamas to find a bank
1:00PM: Arrive back in Kamas, use my iphone to google the nearest branch of our bank, find out they have one on Main street!
1:05PM: pull into bank, realize I have NO idea what our account number is (not to self: memorize new bank account number), but hope I can find a really nice teller who would just let me use my ID to get cashola.
1:10PM: it worked! Thank heavens for nice people! Cash in hand, book it back up the canyon.
1:25PM: put cash in filled out envelope, drop it in the slot, double check makeshift campsite -still there-, and head back down the canyon to hit the store and pick Scotty up.
1:45PM: find a Home Depot in Park City, grab a hatchet and firewood -the last 2 non-food items on my supply list- and head home. Realize Scott is going to have to go to the grocery store with me. Oh well.
2:45PM: arrive at our house, throw all of our gear in the back of my car, pack most of our stuff in backpacks
3:15PM: Scott gets home, sees camping stuff, and gets the most adorable 'little boy on Christmas morning' look on his face. He says, 'we're going camping!?!' Suddenly, driving ALL OVER CREATION to find a campsite didn't seem like work at all. It was all worth it just to see that look on Scott's face. Aw!
7:30PM: long story short, after grabbing groceries and a few supplies from Scott's parent's place, we made it to our campsite and got right down to the business of making dinner... dutch oven lasagna and apricot cobbler.
Scott's a pro!
Scott was definitely in his element. It was so much fun to watch him!
The dutch oven master at work. We absolutely LOVE the camp chef Scott's Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Bryan gave us for our wedding.
Scott's Mom was so nice to pre-mix all of the goodies for her famous apricot cobbler. All we had to do was follow the directions! Thanks Phyllis!
Just about done!
Perfection!
We finally got to dig in at about 10PM. It was definitely worth the wait.
SO full! But, as Scott's Dad always says, 'there is a sepereate stomach for dessert'
The cobbler was perfect!
After dessert we spent some time around our campfire, then went for a midnight walk. The stars were spectacular!
Scott woke up super early the next morning and made me breakfast! I am a lucky woman!
Scott's famous breakfast hash, whole wheat toast with homemade apricot jam, and hot chocolate! Delish!
My mountain man!
After snapping this pic I kept singing 'I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay!'
One of the best things about our campsite: a little branch of the Provo River flows right behind it. It was absolutely marvelous falling asleep to the sound of water.
We cleaned up our site and decided to head further up the road to explore more of the area. As we were cruising up the road, Scott somehow saw a sign for a waterfall. We turned around and were amazed to see the Upper Provo Falls.
We hiked up the trail and were surprised to see that the falls just kept going and going.
We want to come back here and camp along the river someday. Beautiful!
Why? Because we can.
This was my first time in the Uintas, but it definitely won't be the last.
We made it to Mirror Lake and -of course- our camera battery died. Oh well. At least I got to snap one last pic of Scott with Mount Baldy. Awesome.
As I'm over 6 months pregnant, this was likely our last camping trip together for the year.
No worries.
We'll be back next summer with our little man.
Gotta start 'em early!
2 comments:
Such a fun idea! Can we go with you next summer? The little man's grandpa would be in heaven!
Can you two come cook at my next campout?
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