12 Hours In The Canyon

Derik decided he wanted to go camping in Palo Duro Canyon for Father's Day. I grumbled a little because our past tent camping experiences were not "all that". When he offered to take the kids alone and leave me to my own devices for the night, I should have thought for a second before letting that guilty mom thing force me to say "NO! Of course I'll go with my family!"

If I hadn't gone alone, I wouldn't be able to provide you the wonderful account of our 12 hours in the Canyon! (It was technically 15 hours, but that doesn't have the same ring to it!)

1 Setting up camp is guys' work. I strategically take the dog to find areas to do her business. Yes, we took the dog. Not my idea but it did keep from doing any work.

2 Hiking somewhere new. We took the trails that I discovered on Braden's field trip. Chloe led the way and we hiked about an hour. Poor thing was the definition of 'dog tired' when we got back to the truck. She literally collapsed in the bed of the truck and didn't move for 15 minutes. Hiking trails in the heat is hard a fat girl! (I'm talking about the dog here, NOT ME!)

3 Back to the campsite. Derik started a fire and got ready to cook hot dogs for the kids. Not really my idea of dinner, but again I did zero work on this trip. He packed the food and gear!

4 Dinner done. Derik took the kids hiking in the camp vicinity while Chloe and I relax. I am sure the guys enjoyed their hike, but I soaked up the quiet time. I watched the hawks circling above my head. I noticed two, then four, then ten, at final count there were sixteen huge hawks (maybe falcons, I'm not a bird person) circling above me. When the guys came walking back up, I told them if I don't get up and move soon these birds and going to think I look like their dinner.

5 Toasted marshmallows. Not such a big hit this time. Braden prefers his just right out of the bag and ate a handful. Seth toasted two and put them between two chocolate chip cookies.  Dustin passed altogether. Not sure what was up with them not wanting to pig out, but at least no one made themselves sick by overeating. (Seth is notorious for this, particularly when camping!)

6 Ghost stories at dusk. Braden couldn't wait for the sun to go down so they could tell scary stories. They each took turns telling stories that were far more silly than scary. Derik told a few jokes. I didn't have any scary stories, but we spent plenty of time recounting funny stories from my childhood, all of which included my brother tricking me to believe horrible things. (He once told me that my parents gave my dog away to someone who went on vacation and the dog starved to death in the backyard! Totally untrue but I believed him and was mad at my mom for almost a year!)

7 Quiet time. Midnight or a little later, we made the boys get in their tent. They didn't fall asleep for 2 hours or more. Derik and I watched the fire and just talked. It was nice to have "adult conversation". The kids have been staying up til all hours of the morning and we haven't had anytime to just sit and talk. I enjoyed this two hours of the camping trip. A lot.

8 Tent arrangements. Dustin, the oldest, decides there is not enough room for him to sleep in the tent with Seth and Braden, which meant that Braden ended up in our tent. About 3 AM, we put the fire out and went in our tent, each barely clinging to a piece of sleeping bag laid open under the three of us. I had Braden's tiny kid sleeping bag around my legs because I cannot sleep without covers. (Again, Derik packed which means each kid had a sleeping bag and we had one to share. Nothing to put under, no padding. We only had pillows because I mentioned not wanting to lay my head on a rock before we left the house.)

9 Raccoons!! We weren't in the tent 10 minutes when we began hearing twigs breaking and things moving around the campsite. We both bolted up and shined our flashlights out to see what type of night critters were checking out our stuff. We saw the biggest raccoons that ever existed! These things were not hurting for a meal. They were bigger than my dog. (See previous post, she's not small.) They were crawling around, looking in the trash bag, climbed up on the picnic table and checked out a half full Dr Pepper can. Eventually they sauntered off under the truck. We laid back down, but continued to hear movement for the next hour. 

10 No sleep. I couldn't fall asleep. Derik, who is perpetually hot, left the rain fly off our tent, which is completely made of mesh other than the bottom and two feet on each side. Feeling completely exposed, with creatures of the night prowling around, and everyone asleep, I laid there for more than hour looking at stars and listening for anything larger than a raccoon to come around. When I finally did fall asleep, I had a dream that I sat up to find a bear staring in the front of our tent. (I know, there are no bears in the Panhandle of Texas.) I woke up due to the bear dream and sleep evaded me the rest of the night.

11 Sunrise. It was pretty. I was the only one awake. Still awake. Watched the sky change colors over the sides of the canyon. Soon after I heard the boys arguing about getting out of the tent. Obviously Seth wanted out and Dustin wasn't moving. I woke Derik up, which woke Braden up.

12 Pack up & go home. Seth and Braden were complaining they were cold so Derik let them get in the truck with the heater on. It was at least 75. Not cold, even to me who is always cold. I conveniently took Chloe for a walk while Derik and Dustin tore down and packed up all the stuff.  Chloe and I saw a woodpecker, a wild turkey, and a dead snake on the road. By the time we got back to camp, there was no camp and we were ready to leave.

It was a quick trip, but we all had plenty of dirt and bug bites to remember it by!
Pictures coming soon!