Monday, June 30, 2014

Under the Tetons 2

(Click here for the first installment.)

The second time out, we camped in a small, quiet, tent-only campground on Jenny Lake. This time, it was more about the fishing.  
^Juniper, plying the lakeside, found a spinner.^  

For us, staying in a campground is like going to the suburbs: we are surrounded by neighbors--something far more exotic to my kids than mountains, lakes and trout.  Juniper stopped every single person with a dog, firing off questions: "Is that your dog?  What's her name?  Are you the owner to this dog?"  And, "My name's Juniper and this is my little sister Hazel.  I'm four and she's two."  Hazel would stand nearby, shifting from side to side, looking up, scrunching her nose and repeating Juniper's same questions in her toddler garble: "Is dat yo dawwwwg?"  At least half the campground knew us.      


:: Notes from my journal(!):

At camp: Juniper bounces around, starts a conversation with anyone who will look at her, which is pretty much everyone.  Camping is really fun this year.  We're back in a tent.  The kids are learning the tricks of the trade, like how to find your way back to camp in a homogenous forest.  They are climbing rocks--Juniper scaling them like a gecko, Hazel getting frustrated and whining, "But I don't know howwww!"  They balance on the beams of fallen trees.  Juniper splashes in lake water slightly warmer than liquid nitrogen and not until the sun sinks behind the peaks does she say, "Mom, I think we should go back to camp now.  I'm getting kinda shivery."  
^J bug, practicing her camera-smile.  Note the chocolate around her lips and marshmallow above her eyelid.^ 
We are in the campground of yesteryear.  Tiny, one-car parking spaces, large tent sites, spaciousness around picnic tables and firepits (so many campgrounds these days have a tiny communal area and huge parking space).  The road through camp is so narrow and winding, you'd hit a boulder or tree if you dropped your attention for a second.  And thanks to that, the rare car moves slowly.  Kids play on the road, in the road, on the other side.  We don't worry.  It's the first time I've been to a campground like this in years (of course we couldn't with the trailer).         
:: We are still working out the kinks of car camping.  I don't think I've ever been good at car camping--not since I was a kid camping with my dad.  Packing for a ten-day *backpacking* trip I could do in my sleep (or could have, anyway).  In the old days, my version of "car camping" was to load my backpack and throw it in the car.  But we learn with every trip: the white-gas stove runs out of gas, so to avoid a late-night trip (with elk all over the road) to the nearest store, it's wise to have more on hand.  There are four of us and one eats like a teenage boy, so we could use a bigger pot.  You should never be without a potty chair (running down the campground road carrying a 45 pound kid who eats like a teenage boy = not fun).  And since we're nearly always in grizzly country, we are strict about NO FOOD IN OR AROUND THE TENT, and we have designated "tent/sleeping" clothes (i.e., NOT the same clothes in which we eat s'mores).  We camp in the mountains where it's cold, so I may want to remind my husband to bring a jacket if I don't want him wearing mine.  And my family is sure to catch fish, so it might be nice to have a place to keep them (instead of emptying the cooler of high-dollar chicken-apple sausages and greek yogurt).  Like I say, learning with every trip.  

:: The fishing:  
:: Hazel, on a flopping trout moments before the end: "The fish is waving good-bye!"  After we thank the trout and break it's neck, Juniper gets into the scientific exploration of gutting fish.    
She especially likes the air bladder. 
:: The best fishing holes did not have the most kid-friendly banks, however.  

:: Tonight, me: "Hey honey, what do you think about this picture?  I was really just trying to show how much Juniper has picked up speed since last year.  But all I could get was a blurry shot."  
My man: "Yeah, that's because she's really picked up speed." 
'Night y'all.   

6 comments:

  1. Car camping in NZ is comparatively easy as it is critter free camping with no snakes ,bears etc -aside from the odd pesky sandfly (- itchy unpleasant bites) there is nothing remotely dangerous, not even poison ivy . Question - Is that a bear proof box with your stove on it or are there lockup boxes somewhere in the campground?

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    1. Well, all our dangerous creature are pretty big--grizzly bears, mountain lions, etc. No poison ivy or poisonous snakes, though! So YES, that is a bear-proof box. Most developed campgrounds have them. Cheers, Gretchen

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  3. Youve really made me itchy to go camping!

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  4. Shame on us for fake camping in our yard, because this post is AMAZING!!! I know how much work it is to haul everything, and I really mean everything, to camp with kiddos in tow. (By the way, I laughed out loud at the potty part and the eating like a teenager part....poop humor, I guess.)

    I totally agree with you about car camping feeling like living in the suburbs....our backyard is completely private, makes it hard to want to find a campground. And well, hiking in with all our gear ain't happening.

    By the way, do your girls share a room? Not sure if this is the best forum to ask, but I'm very curious.

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    1. Hannah, of course this is the forum to ask! I guess I don't show a lot of photos of their room (bad lighting and they don't often play in there), but YES, my kids share a room. Hazel slept with us until she turned 2, then moved in with Juniper. They are tete-a-tete in toddler beds. We've always assumed we'd move to bunk beds, but I don't know. These days, they fall asleep together on the floor "in a camp-out". We may try the much cheaper option of having them sleep together on a single twin mattress on the floor before spending big bucks on a bunkbed. At least as an interim before the bunkbed. Hazel climbs up--and falls off--EVERYTHING, so I'd like to wait a bit longer before the bunkbed. I don't know. The single twin bed idea might not work at all. Oh. So. Back on subject: Yes, they share a room. Bedtime is easy (relatively speaking) because we put them down at the same time, in the same place. Plus, if we gave them separate rooms, we wouldn't have a guest bed. Plus, I think it's comforting for them to have each other. Plus lately, they both end up in our bed anyway (new rule is: they have to wait until the sun is up before jumping in our bed).

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