Roughin’ It

We did it and just in the nick of time. The season was coming to a close, at least in this neck of the woods, but we finally got one in for the year. We went camping this past weekend. And you can say we did it in a big way with a total of 11 families – the Barletts, Brian and Briget, the Brinkers, the Curlees, the Deans, the Hammonds, the Hernandez, the Kautz, the Luses, the Tighes, and the Yuetters.

Our host for the weekend was Colorado’s Golden Gate Canyon State Park. That’s right, I said “Colorado”, although the thought of “Golden Gate” points you towards California. Even with our late planning efforts, we were still able to find six camp sites in the Reverend Ridge campground that were relatively close to each other. While some smaller families bunked together on a single site and others had to setup up their tents at the neighboring campground, we all managed to gather onto one campsite at some point of the day and enjoyed of dinners together.

Though my family were there, Jolie and Parker went home every night. With Jolie being so pregnant, her bladder just doesn’t have its normal capacity. Going to the bathroom so often in the middle of the night … in the dark … and in the cold … pregnant and waddling … just didn’t seem much fun for anyone. And although the thought of her driving home through the canyon in the pitch black was just as discomforting, we all would have had long, sleepless nights and likely very grouchy days had they stayed. But Jolie managed to make the hour and half drive home safely every night.

We did bring Sasha along. With the cancer that’s progress on her shoulder, we decided to bring her as it’s likely her last camping trip. And with her lame leg, I’m not sure how much she really enjoyed it as it kept mostly at bay only to watch other dogs run and roam freely.

Golden Gate is just outside the foothill town of Golden – another vibriant mountain town and close cousin to Grand and Estes. It’s easy enough to find at the end of Golden Gate Canyon Road, which is a road clearly marked off of Highway 93 was you approach Golden. It seems like an amazing place, but I won’t know of all it’s beauty since the 3 days and 2 nights stay was definitely too short. I tend to do a lot of “acclimating” in the first couple of days, which consist of mainly sitting around and soaking in the smell of “pine, dirt and sun” (as my wife puts it to describe the sentimental aroma of a camping trip). After all, it can be such a production to go camping … all the gear and food packing and tent setup and unpacking. So I’m usually too tired to think of exhausting hikes until the next day or two.

We did manage to do some exploration. We got all the kids to make an attempt at Panaromic Point trail. But with small ones with a lot smaller strides and smaller lungs, we never made it to the Point, which I assume would have rewarded us with some amazing views. We did, however, come across a fallen log, which was a picture perfect, woodsy element for our back country adventure. We had fun with it – seeing who could keep their balance long enough to cross it, which some found to be quite a challenge, but all found completely amusing.

I title these photos of Brandon Brinker on the log, “Amazing Grace”

And Justina was the definition of elegance …

… right up til the end!

The lighter children seemed to traverse the shaking beam fairly well, but the bigger adults couldn’t hold their balance as their weight simply caused log to wabbled more and more as we approached its middle. My attempt was pathetic to say the least … Brandon Dean’s can speak for itself!

We continued on the trail and we still managed to see some really nice view of rock covered peeks. And as such, I took advantage of the family photo op.

The Kautz boys and dad, Jeff!

The Brinker kids and dad, Brandon!

Logan‘ator, pooches and dad, Brian!

Thanks to the Deans, this camping trip was complete with board games and horseshoe. Bran”D”on is our token Australian friend and introduced us to Articulate, an Aussie board game. Much like the old game show Pyramid, the object of the game was to describe, or articulate, words – places/names/things – without saying the word. But the challenge for us had to do more with the fact that this was an Australian game, which Brandon discernably points out “is not just about American culture”. Nonetheless, our first group match up Saturday morning proved to be quite a riot as our two teams chased each other around the board all the way to a climatic finish. They also brought a horseshoe set. I’ve never played the game before, but it didn’t take long before I found my baring in throwing the shoe. But no matter how much (or little) points I put on the scorebaord, Josh C proved to be a horseshoe genuise, which led me to wonder if the term “ringer”, as in “He’s a ringer” to describe someone’s great skills in something, didn’t come from the game of horseshoe. But after having played the game, I have a feeling that it did.

The best part of the trip were the new “tricks and treats” I picked up from my fellow campers. Thanks to Justina and Josh C, I’m looking forward to the next time when I can make these delicious campfire-side decadents. i came to know how easy is it to turn sliced apples, some butter and cinnamon powder wrapped in tin foil over the grill into a tasty dessert – it’s like an apple pie without the pie! And during my stay, I got acquainted with the “dough boys” – biscuit doughs wrapped and roasted (baked) on a stick over the fire then lightly coated with butter and cinnamon?? Another yummy treat that’s campfire-roast‘able. But the gold medal for creativity and taste-bud sensation goes to the nameless banana-wrapped-Snicker-bars! It’s stuffing half of a Snicker bar into the center of an unpeeled banana by cutting a slit along the length of the banana. Then wrap the banana in foil and simply toss it in the coals for a few minutes. What comes out is a steamy and mushy, chocolate covered banana with pea-nutty-nugent taste in every bite. The consistency ended up grossing out some people, so it’s best served after dark, but nonetheless, it’s simply delish!

The weather kept its part of the deal for most of the time and everyone seemed to manage to keep warm enough as the temperature dipped to its lowest in the middle on the nights. There were no wildlife sighting to be reported, nor were there even scavengers to disturb our unguarded supply of camp food. But there was certainly ample supply of great company and plenty of firewood, which is really the quintessentials of camping.