Getting Away From it All

There's a lot of truth to that statement. Although, I like to think we have some style when we go camping! We certainly wouldn't be mistaken for homeless people. We last went camping last year, for the Huffaker Family Reunion. You may have read about it HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Todd and I decided that if we're going to make that toy-hauler purchase worth it, we need to go camping more. So when Alyssa suggested that we go camping together this summer, while she's between classes and clinicals -- we scheduled it out on the calendar.
Which is, of course, the only way you get anything to happen: plan it!!

We picked a spot part way between where we live, and where Alyssa & Andrew live, and one that had water available. (More on that in a minute!) Although we've dry-camped before, this time we didn't want to haul water with us a great distance. Let me share our camping highlights with you:

As we left home, this is one of the fields of canola that were in bloom. The bright yellow flowers are always so pretty against a blue sky on a sunny day.

This was our destination:

We camped at the Cold Springs Forest Service campground -- near the reservoir, but with trailer spots and fresh water available.

Well --- water's available when you work for it:

Yep, that's an old-style hand pump! Todd and Andrew worked hard to see that we had plenty of fresh water:

(I hope the video works!)

I will say, that water did taste really, really good. And they don't call it Cold Springs for nothing!

Andrew and Alyssa's tent was tucked into the trees for shade -- it was a great spot.

Our spot also happened to be a handicapped-accessible spot, so it had a cement pad with its picnic table and cooking stand:

It was also one of the more spacious sites, which made it really nice for two families.

At home, I walk the treadmill in the mornings, about 3 or so miles. So, it was nice to take Alyssa & Andrew's dogs out for morning walks in the mountain air.

(Yeah, tangled leashes were a thing.)
A couple of times, I took Emma with me, and we walked up to the reservoir.

For us, a big part of camping is going four-wheeling. The area around the reservoir did not disappoint -- lots of trails to ride!

(I think Andrew preferred the white ATV -- though it's not 4WD, it has a sportier ride, and it has some speed when you've got open spaces.

My typical view? The back of Todd's four-wheeler:

But other views were pretty darn awesome:

Watching storms coming in the mountains ....

 The reservoir:

(Well, part of it. It's pretty good-sized.)

Wildflowers:

I feel like my phone didn't do justice to the colors. We also rode through some wild white lilacs in bloom -- they smelled amazing!

Alyssa did our hair one day, in matching braids-and-bandana hairstyles:

I think it's been years since I've had my hair French braided! But it worked well for a trail-riding style:

After a day of riding, it's all about the camp food. We have our favorites, our go-to's, and a few new ones. Foil Dinners -- the classic -- is always our "first night out" camp dinner.

We also had chicken-bacon-ranch foil dinners on another night. (Those are seriously good with melted cheese & sour cream!)

S'mores is the number one dessert,  but that's followed closely by Dutch Oven Cobbler.

Steaming!!

It was one of Emma's favorites. I strongly suspect the spray whipping cream had something to do with that.

One breakfast was our homemade version of Egg McMuffins:

Shoot. I'm getting hungry, just looking at these pictures.

We also had an encore performance of Campfire Cones:

Part of the challenge there, is waiting.

Campfires are mesmerizing, comforting, relaxing.

It wasn't ALL perfect. Alyssa was feeling pretty sick for most of the trip. But she put on a good front, and didn't miss out on too much.

And one of those rising mountain storms -- dumped rain and hail on us:

THIS is why we have a camper. A hundred times over!!

And why we bring games. One good rainstorm + a sickie = a great excuse to play Battleship:

 More random pictures from the trip ....

(I was impressed every time the dogs walked over the cattle guard.)

While Stella seemed to only get cold at night, Buddy has even shorter hair, and he got cold easier. Keeping him covered helped:

We really had a great time -- it felt good to get out in the beautiful Idaho mountains and enjoy the great outdoors.

I want to go again!!!

2017 Huffaker Family Reunion, Part 3. Fun!!

Read more about our 2017 Reunion in Part 1 and Part 2.

Honestly, family means a lot to us, and we really do love getting together with the ones we love so much. Being in the great outdoors is a great bonus! We wanted to make the most of our time there, and do all that we could. Almost every morning, Alyssa & Darcie and I would either exercise, or go for a hike. There were some great views!

(A lot of our fun moments were captured with the phone camera, because that's what was handy!)

We took Stella with us, and she's one pup who can pull you right up the mountain. The flip side is trying to put the brakes on when heading back downhill.

Darcie (and Alyssa, too) is much more of a risk-taker than I am. I have to say that my heart was pounding much harder from seeing her live life on the edge, than it was from just the uphill climb.

Part of Emma's 17 Adventures (here and HERE) were fulfilled when we went 4-wheeling. Once Todd got hold of a topographical map of the area, we went out often:

(That's Shelly and Andy in the side-by-side behind me.)

Only 3 machines, so we doubled up on riders....

This shot of Alys and Emma is so classic. Alyssa is absolutely covered in trail dust, and Emma? Well, just like her siblings used to do when they were small, Miss Emma fell asleep on the ride!

Helmets are heavy!

We rode up to an old fire lookout tower. Wish the local wildfires might not have blocked our views with the smoke that day. (The guys had a better view, earlier in the morning.)

See the haze?

When we weren't out and about, we hung around the campsite, ....

Playing games, swapping stories, doing meal prep.

The girls did some crafts ...

... and we laughed a lot.

Todd checked the map for additional ride options.

In addition to our favorite card games, we played other things, like ladder golf ....

And I loved watching my girls play a little catch again:

One morning was the horseback ride ...

When they came back, they fed the horses some snacks. Darcie was the Horse Whisperer:

Some of our meals were straight out of my kids' childhood camping trips, like our traditional foil dinners, s'mores, and Dutch Oven enchiladas:

(No leftovers after that one!) We also tried some new-to-us camping foods ... like Chicken-Bacon-Ranch foil dinners. And Campfire Cones (s'mores in ice cream sugar-cones). Yum!! We found two new winners here!

Stella finally had a puppy playmate in Sophie:

And she got some lessons in how to be a calm doggie. Calm was way hard to learn, but she definitely made great progress.

On our final night, we took some family pictures, and reminisced around the campfire about family memories. It was just a really, really nice evening!

We loved having Kerry and Shelly there -- they are the ones who live the farthest away, so we enjoy every moment we get with them!

The whole group:

Here's a clip of Weld, telling his story of going floating on the Selway River - about 20 years ago. The water was really cold, and he was attempting to get launched on the innertube -- while wearing swim flippers:

(Turn up the volume, it's not real loud, and hit the full-screen icon, too.)

And finally -- one more story of floating the Selway river. This is Shelly telling of the time she got dumped out of her innertube, and got tossed underwater:

(Wish I'd kept the video going longer -- I don't know what Jason was about to say!!)

We wouldn't trade these memories for anything.

LOVE our Huffaker family!!!