Camping season begins

School's out for Caleb (straight A's again! Woot!) and spring is... well.... struggling in our neck of the woods. So we headed south for a few days of sun and warmth.

After staying the first night with Caleb's parents at their new home in Price (which was so lovely, thank you Mom and Dad!) we headed farther south and took a little break here, in Buckhorn Wash. There are some cool petroglyphs and pictographs (not the same thing) to be seen there and the kids were ready to get out of the car and stretch their growing legs.

This is after Jonah fell and re-scraped his scabby knee. Bless his clutsy little heart.

 Emmy was on a mission to sketch every flower she could find. Her field book is now full of lovely blooming things, and Caleb's working on teaching her the scientific names of all of them. Homeschool at it's finest.


Have you ever been to The Swell? It's a Kepsel family favorite location. Down in the middle of Utah there's a place where, over thousands of years, a huge piece of ground swelled up and pushed and grew, which left an incredible and very unique landscape.

 See all the vertical fins of rock? As the land swelled up, those huge slabs slid off the side onto their edges, leaving miles and miles of slot canyons and little nooks and crannies just begging to be explored.
I did not make this up! It's the truth, I tell you! Caleb told me, and he goes to college.

As the day wore on, these three slid off into dreamland and Caleb and I reminisced about our days when we were just us two and had these hills to explore by ourselves... and how in absolutely no way was it better then than it is now, hauling our minions in and showing it to them. Kids make things better.

The final destination was Capitol Reef National Park - but the campground doesn't accept reservations and, naturally, they were full. Hmmm....

We consulted the maps...

We called those family members who were traveling down behind us...

And we drove farther south.

After striking out at campground after campground, we came to an oasis of watery desert canyon bliss.
But that campground was full too. Luckily, the host was from Tennessee and was all about hospitality, so he found us a little sandy, shady corner to pitch our tent and told us "If the ranger shows up you guys just help me beat him up."
Deal.

 Build us a fire, Dad, it's dinner time.

I'm not sure how I feel about this photo, but it strikes me as funny. Cute and nauseating at the same time - now that's a photo.

I dream about this giant sleeping bag all winter long. It's my number three reason to go camping.

We were camped at Calf Creek Recreation Area, which is mostly a trailhead to a gorgeous waterfall, but also has 13 campsites. In the morning we basically waited for someone to leave, then moved in behind them into their site. But very politely:) We snagged a lovely one right up against a red cliff which became dirt-play-central.

Mmmm.... 78 degrees. Perfection.

Welcome to your summer life, little girl.

It's a good thing kids like dirt. There was plenty.

Please enjoy our happy faces and refrain from noticing my whiteness.

This has been a public service announcement. 

 As fantastic as the nature's-playground-cliffs were, the creek quickly became the favorite play place.

 It winds all through the campground, but also crosses the road - which makes for a shallow, firm bottomed, cool and refreshing kids heaven.

When you're camping in the dirt, water play is always good.

Stay hydrated! 

It's dry in the desert, did you know that? You're welcome.

Remember what I said about water being good when you're camping in the dirt?

I guess I meant that it's absolutely Vital to have water when you're camping in the dirt with Emmy.

Aaahhh... clean again.

Jonah needs a belt.

She got the dirt off, but missed the strawberry juice. 

Fine by me.

Caleb took 236 photos. Want some more? Ok! You talked me into it! 

Coming soon to a blog near you.