Tag Archives: outdoors

Camping and Ghost Towns

Though Josh and I aren’t super outdoorsy or anything, we both do enjoy getting out, hiking, and camping. We went once last summer and it was great, so we’ve been looking forward to going again. This summer was quickly filling up, though, especially with our upcoming trip to Dallas. But we wanted to make it happen, so we picked a weekend and said we would go. This past weekend it all paid off as we enjoyed an awesome camping trip.

We headed south of Payson to a campground called Maple Creek, and it was great! The campground was empty when we arrived, so we got first pick and chose the best site and were pretty much to ourselves all night and morning. Starting a fire was a little hard at first, but it all worked out in the end, thanks to Josh’s skills and my constant fanning (if I remember one thing you taught me about campfires, Mom, it’s that they always need air!).

Dinner, desert, and breakfast were delicious, and we had plenty to eat. (That’s because last year we were kind of hungry after half of our meal burnt to the tinfoil. This year, we were smarter, planned it out, didn’t burn anything, and ate quite well.) And the weather was perfect! Not too cold, but cool enough to enjoy a campfire, and not too hot, either. Check out the pictures below!

After we broke camp on Saturday morning, we headed into nowhere, Utah, for some fun exploring quirky places, taking pictures, and looking for ghost towns. We found some great opportunities for pictures in Eureka and though we searched and searched for Dividend (a supposed complete ghost town), we didn’t find it – though we think we were close! (See the map in the gallery below.)

It was a perfect, wonderful trip, and after we got back on Saturday afternoon, put away our camping gear, cleaned up the house, mowed and weeded the lawn, and washed our car, we were exhausted! We spent the evening watching a movie and eating ice cream (oh, and dinner. But the ice cream was the highlight.) So, in all, one great Friday and Saturday! It was perfect, too, to get away and just have fun, right in the middle of the busy summer. We hope to enjoy more camping trips like it!

Colorado Fun

For Memorial Day weekend, we were looking forward to having the Lymans visit. We were going to hike the Y and visit family and have fun – but sometimes plans change. When Josh’s family found out they couldn’t make it last minute, we found the next best (or probably better) thing: go to them! So we had an awesome weekend in Colorado.

We drove the Rav out (thank you, thank you, thank you, family, for letting us use it!) on Friday night and flew back Monday night. Highlights of the trip?

Friday: Driving, pretty mountain scenery, crashing in a hotel

Saturday: Driving some more, seeing the Lyman family, biking along the Colorado River in Glenwood Springs together, yummy sack lunches, eating ice cream, driving even more, relaxing at home, watching The Village

Sunday: Church with the Lymans, spending time together, playing Scrabble, Heather’s delicious dinner and Dale’s delicious grilled kabobs

Monday: a wonderful Memorial Day family home evening lesson, playing Mario with Chris, introducing Luke to Portal, being introduced to NCIS, shopping with Heather and the boys, eating at Boston’s (one of Josh’s former employers and favorite restaurants), flying home and sitting next to a very nice man and his happy, friendly nine-month-old daughter who we got to play with

Below are some pictures from our adventure biking in Glenwood Springs. Hope you enjoy! And thanks family, for such a wonderful weekend! We loved it!