La Vue de Chez Nous

One nice thing about writing about a trip after it is over is that all of the bathroom stops, and kids fighting, and wind storms, and sleepless nights, and less-than-par food, and the hours of setting up camp and then taking it down, and the car-turned-junk-pile, and the lack of showers and running water, and the midnight trips to the pit toilets all seem much less significant than they did at the time. Instead I remember the starry nights, and the cricket lullabies, and waking to bird song, and the endlessly resourceful Ancient Puebloans, and the aliveness I feel after being on a good hike, and watching our kids scale rocks like the lizards who lent us a campground, and seeing them explore the hills and caves and tunnels, and hearing from their uncle Davey that they were pointing out to him the names of wild flowers and bushes, and watching them carve their own hot dog/marshmellow sticks, and the magnificent creations of our Almighty God!!! It was a great trip.

I will mention that weather played a bigger part in our trip than we anticipated. The first night it was 26 degrees. We got up at 6:30AM to break camp and it was chilly! Mid-trip we heard that 25 degree temperatures, snow and wind were in the forecast for the coming nights. Truth be told, I'm not naturally inclined to camp and I felt strongly that a hotel was in order! So for several nights we stayed in a modest hotel, had a warm shower, and reveled in flushing toilets. But, on the cold nights that we did camp I was so grateful for good friends who hooked us up with awesome camping gear! And I was grateful daily for Geoff's camping know-how, and his tireless efforts to make us all comfortable.

This cold, spring storm was much more enjoyable from a heated room!

We still ate our camping food, and Geoff was my eternal hero for doing the cooking...


We stopped for laundry once (it wasn't one of our more hygienic periods of time...)

The girls kept themselves busy at the laundromat with one of their most common play pastimes...paper dolls. They collect magazines and use them as paper dolls, having the benefit of many different outfits.

And so here we are in Salt Lake City. The coolers, camelbacks, food bags, suitcases, sleeping bags, tent and car have been cleaned out. We are scrubbed clean. And, oh, how we are loving sleeping in beds! More pictures to come...