Guest blog writer: Brian
Years ago I had decided I wanted to take each of my kids away for an outing with their Dad. Since I always enjoyed camping at Sequoia National Park as a child, I felt an outdoor adventure at Lodgepole campground was just what we needed. So months ago, I told Julia we were going to go camping. Originally I had planned for a May trip (warmer weather than the early Spring, plenty of snow melt for pretty waterfalls, and hopefully less mosquitoes than in June). Well, guess who did not make reservations at Lodgepole campground soon enough? Me. When I tried, I found the campground was full. So I had to face Julia and move the trip back to September. She was disappointed, but handled it well. Fortunately September has great weather, less mosquitoes, and less crowded campgrounds. :) And Julia had a good time!
We left Nipomo around 12:45 pm. after I picked Julia up from school early. The drive was long, but Julia entertained herself by studying her AWANA verses and watching DVDs on the car DVD player. We arrived around 5:15 pm in the evening providing adequate time to set up camp, eat dinner, and hike to the campfire amphitheatre. Below shows our campsite #190. It was situated right against the hillside and not too far from the restrooms. Julia helped set up the tent and site. Note: the brown metal box in the picture is the bear box where all food and scented items (toothpaste, deodorant, etc.) are stored securely.
Our first dinner was a pasta with cheese box that I had planned to add chicken too. But I left the can opener at home, so we used the turkey meat intended for the following day's sandwiches instead. With the turkey and pasta, we shared a veggie platter. Following dinner we cleaned up and headed to the campfire program. There we saw a program on Night Viewing. The ranger discussed the stars and planets that were visible and some of the constellations visible from the park. Unfortunately with the nearly full moon, the stars were not easy to see when we there, except for early Saturday morning. Dear Dad got to take Julia to the restroom (also had a visit around 1:30, I think! :( ) and we both got to see many, many stars. Julia even told me to look up at a particular cluster. It was beautiful to see what God created.
After the campfire program, we returned to the campsite for a warm fire, some hot chocolate, and three games of UNO. I won two games. We went to bed around 10 p.m. More tomorrow.
1 comment:
I almost missed the "guest blogger" part at the first. Well, I did miss it but went back up to re-read where I must have missed something and did. Such a neat thing to do w/the kids. Great memories in the making!!
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