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Another Big Bite

Another Big Bite

Tag Archives: camping with kids

The National Forest World Tour

20 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in On the Road Again, Out of Doors, The "Joy" of Parenting

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Tags

buena vista, camping, camping with kids, colorado, family, nature, outdoors, parenting, pike national forest, san isabel national forest, Travel, traveling with kids

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A three day weekend is a terrible thing to waste. With the grand State of Colorado at our doorstep, we don’t have any excuse not to get out there and experience it every chance we get.

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Is going to the mountains ever going to get old?

Friday morning brought us to Buena Vista, Colorado. It is an adorable small town on the edge of San Isabel National Forest, and it lives up to its namesake.

Unbenounced to me, it is perfectly legal – even acceptable, to pull off the road in one of Colorado’s National Forests and just live there for two weeks. While there are more than any state’s fair share of regular campgrounds scattered throughout the Colorado wilderness, they fill up fast in the warmer months. Even if we wanted to pay $16 to park the trailer overnight, there wasn’t a single spot available to rent around Buena Vista. I felt a little bit like a hillbilly when we pulled off the state road and built a fire in the middle of nowhere, but by the end of the night, we were surrounded by four other groups of hillbillies.

Not that I was keeping score, but only one of the cars wasn’t equally nice as ours… I’m an asshole for giving two shakes what other people were driving, but it felt nice that I wasn’t hemmed in by homeless squatters in beat-up Chevy Novas. A Nova’s rust-blistered, pea-green paint and I go way back; we had a Nova back in the 80s. It was affectionately known as The Beater. The Beater had separate shoulder belts – which made it exceptionally exciting for a seven-year-old to plant their bottom smack dab in the middle of the backseat and crisscross the two belts from one side of the car to the other. I have zero memories of my mother lowering her standards far enough to ride in it, let alone drive it. If I came across my dad driving the same car (and wearing the same shorty-short brown athletic shorts, striped alligator polo and plastic aviator shades) in the wilderness last weekend, I may have felt the same way as my mom did about that car.

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We hung out most of the day while the kids did little more than roll around in the dirt. We tucked Finny in on the sofa in the trailer when he petered out, and upon investigating a loud thump, we discovered he had rolled off the cushion and into the dog bed. He was still asleep. We relocated a very anxious Waltie and set about making dinner.

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I’ve learned over the last fifteen years to stay out of Nathan’s way when he’s bent over a fire. He was the chef this whole weekend, which was fabulous, but it also meant that the kids and I be located elsewhere while he cooked. I was happy to oblige.

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After dinner, we roasted marshmallows, tucked in the kids and plowed through the remainder of the marshmallows ourselves. Nathan laughed at me while I wondered aloud what sort of animal sounded like it was playing the bongos in the woods (it was the stream behind us). We collapsed into bed and slept until eight the next morning.

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Nae made us pancakes for breakfast and we meandered into the woods in search of raspberries. We found tons of them; and after snacking on a few, we explored the creek bed. A toad startled the daylights out of Finn – Alice wanted nothing more than to pet it and love it and name it Natalie.

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OH GOD. The Dad Shirt is never going to die. I was wrong.

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After trying (in vain) to teach Alice how to use a pair of trekking poles, we packed up the camp and headed into town for lunch. We drove by K’s Old Fashioned Burgers and immediately knew it was one of those places; it was packed. The line wound around the building and as we walked up, the announcement over the loud-speaker made my heart skip a beat.

“Matthew McConahey, your order is ready.”

Wha, whaaa? My common sense kicked in as I realized they used celebrities’ names instead of numbers for the orders. Audrey Hepburn, Vanilla Ice and Sophia Loren picked up their orders just in time for the teeny bopper behind the counter to call for Bruce WILLIAMS. I can’t possibly be getting that old, can I? I live in a world where teenagers don’t recognize the real name of John McClaine?

Oh, Mr. Willis, I apologize to you on behalf of America’s youth.

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They announced Martha Stewart’s order and I grabbed my food and booked to a free picnic table beside the adjacent playground. Finn and Alice ate and ran, then noshed and climbed all the way through Denzel Washington’s dessert. We took the dogs for a walk and rolled out of town. Next stop: Pike National Forest.

We managed to score a site at the Blue Mountain campground. After taking a relaxing break lounging in the trailer and watching half of Rise of the Guardians, we started a fire and roasted some weenies for dinner.

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Once our food had settled, we laced up our boots and took a sunset hike up the Hardrock Trail. Finn navigated using his “treasure map” and we arrived at the summit just in time to miss that sunset… But it was beautiful anyway. Upon returning to camp, the kids were exhausted and zonked out.

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Nae ran into town while I was getting the kids down and picked up ice cream and wine. Nothing speaks of our high breeding like a King Cone and plastic, single serving bottles of White Zinfandel. We relaxed in the hammock and stared at the stars. It should have been ridiculously romantic, but was mostly filled with musings concerning mistaking rumbling bowels for a vibrating phone in your back pocket and our shortfalls as parents. What can I say? This is my life.

After another round of pancakes, we sucked up the hour drive back to showers and clean sheets… Alice took an epic nap spanning the entire afternoon and Finny vegged in front of the boob tube.

Since no weekend is complete without at lest one trip to Home Depot, we bought a replacement faucet for the leaky one in the trailer (which didn’t fit) and another drop cloth to reupholster the cushions in. Even after all the excitement, Nathan and I were awake until the wee hours of the morning working on our projects that spent the weekend being neglected.

But now we’re back home; where it doesn’t matter that we can see the mountains from the deck or we live two hours from Buena Vista… Whether it is here or Ohio, laundry still needs to be done, meals still need to be cooked and little noses still run. My phone still rings with tidings from Chicago… Or… That could have been the hotdogs from this weekend.

Ah, home is where reality sets back in.

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Breakin’ the Law at Mueller State Park

14 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by anotherbigbite in On the Road Again, The "Joy" of Parenting

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Tags

camping, camping with kids, coloardo, family, mueller state park, nature, outdoors, parenting, rv, rving, Travel, traveling with kids

Time to break out the House With Wheels again!

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Last weekend we headed up to Divide, Colorado for a visit to Mueller State Park. We didn’t have high expectations; growing up in the Midwest meant that a “State Park” was shorthand for “Nice Place to Sneak in Beer and Hangout Around a Fire With Your Underage Posse.” That description is two-fold; my dad loves camping and would sneak in a six-pack of Sam Addams while taking us camping over the weekend. That, and when we were in high school, Nathan and I would hide an entire case of beer throughout the car on the way to hangout with our friends and pretend that we were adults whist getting hammered on Nattie Light.

A State Park wasn’t for seeing the wonders of nature; that is what NATIONAL Parks were for. A State Park was simply a destination where you were legally allowed to light a giant fire and partake in the illegal consumption of alcohol. (I’m looking at YOU, Warren Dunes State Park.)

Mueller State Park was beautiful, though! Can I just say I LOVE COLORADO?

We arrived early on Saturday morning and immediately started setting up shop. The House With Wheels takes about four minutes to set up, but Nathan brought along his hammock. It was easily the most entertaining activity we engaged in the entire weekend…

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So cute, I don't even care that it is blurry.

So cute, I don’t even care that it is blurry.

Until one of the Park Rangers came by and ordered us to take it down. Apparently nothing is supposed to be hung from the trees. Including a family of four.

Busted.

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After the hammock debacle, we busted out the new BioLite Stove and made brats and grilled cheese pitas. This little gadget is something to behold; it is a tiny little cylinder you pop a host of twigs and sticks into, and in two minutes, you attach a little grill to it to roast your kiddos a couple of pitas loaded with Muenster cheese. And you can charge your phone with it – while it burns twigs. Amazing.

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We didn’t do much of anything all day. In the afternoon, we hauled the kids into town for ice cream. Both of them knocked out on the way there… Which translated to Nathan and I plowing through a pint of Haagen Daaz Five (coffee flavor; the BEST coffee ice cream EVER) in the parking lot.

Before we knew it, we were taking a break from watching the kids leap off of stumps and poke at bugs with sticks to make dinner. Nathan spectacularly sliced open his finger while cleaning his knife – just in time for marshmallow roasting. Another Park Ranger came by; we wondered what we had done this time… Turns out, he was walking from campsite to campsite with a coyote skull and pelt to educate little campers with.

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Nothing like a dead animal to get the kids’ attention.

We hit the hay early – maybe nine? Nathan and the kids were snoring away while I stared at the ceiling, my mind buzzing away with little projects to beautify the House With Wheels… Finally I fell asleep and dreamt of birch wallpaper from Cole & Son, Hudson’s Bay blankets and collapsible chrome RV faucets.

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After breakfast in the morning, we packed up and took the kids to the Dragonfly Children’s Nature Trail for a “hike.” It was a short walk around a pond filled with water striders and (you guessed it) dragonflies. There were little activities for the kids; a jump pit to see which animal you could beat in the long jump, a giant log to crawl through and brass castings of poop to fondle.

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They loved it.

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We called it a day and headed home.

And I’ve realized that not much has changed in the State Park business. Sure, the scenery is better here, but you’re still apt to do nothing more than sit around a fire and break the rules; whether it be sneaking in Nattie Light or illegally hanging from the vegetation.

We’re such rebels.

Faced with a long weekend ahead of us, we may rebel again this weekend. (Maniacal laugh)

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