Crazy Camping Trip

Since the kids were on Spring Break this week but Brady didn't have a lot of extra time so we decided to go camping close by. We went a little over an hour away to Vulture Peak. There aren't any campgrounds nearby so we decided to rough it and just camp in the desert on BLM land near the Vulture Peak hiking trail. The plan was to camp over-night then get up and hike then go back home in time for a coaches thing we needed to be at.

Well, not surprisingly, we got out later than planned. Brady seemed to forget that you can't just grab a handful of camping junk out of the garage 5 minutes before you leave when you have 4 kids and a dog to worry about. Hey, we aren't a bunch a boy scouts like he is used to camping with! But we made it there without incident.

Once there, the trail said, "4-wheel drive vehicles required beyond this point" I think Brady took that as a personal challenge. OK, don't get me wrong, we DO have 4-Wheel drive in our truck but you need to remember that the bed is PACKED with camping junk AND a DOG! Plus, the cab is full of kids, and ME! When we started out on the trail, it wasn't too bad. Just lots of bumping around. Then it got steep. OK, this picture below doesn't show the grade anywhere near what it felt like. It was STEEP! Lots of times you couldn't even see the road as we were going either up or down. One time we went up then down so steep that it totally scraped the bottom of the truck and made this horrible sound and freaked us all out. Briella insisted on holding both Allana's and Janessa's hands at the same time, the entire time! She kept saying "Oh gosh, Oh, gosh".

So after about a half an hour of fun 4X4 experience, we found a great place to set up camp. It was in a wash and had a great sandy floor. No rain in the forecast so we knew we were safe. We set up camp and had yummy hot dogs and Bar-B-Que sandwiches.

Once the sun was down, we enjoyed the traditional camping treat - S'Mores!

All was well until...

We were all snug in our sleeping bags, snoozing away when I woke to hear Briella coughing and gaging. She threw up all over herself and her sleeping bag. which as you can imagine is sooo easy to clean up while in the middle of the desert! She wasn't sick, just too many hot dogs and marshmallows.

Well, we all survived the night, and while eating breakfast and getting ready for the hike our dog, Ali suddenly disappeared. She had enjoyed roaming the little wash we were in the whole time we had been there and had been good about staying relatively close and coming when we called. But for some reason she wasn't coming back when we called this time. The kids walked down a ways calling to her and still nothing. We decided to pack up our stuff then drive the area calling for her. Well, just as we were almost packed up here comes Ali... covered in Cholla cactus. She could only go a few feet before stopping and whining and trying to get the huge pods of barbs out of her. She had them all over her. I didn't stop to take her picture until we got most of the big pods off of her. Just imagine her like the picture below only 10-15 more of those big pods stuck all over her. We had to leave the one on her tummy there until we got home because the barbs were stuck so far into her. You can see the needle sticking out on her chin. Well, just imagine those all over her legs, feet, tummy, and face. Often times the barbs were stuck at least an inch into her. We knew we couldn't take care of her there so we decided to get home right away.

Once back on the road we hadn't even gone 20 minutes when my "Car Sick Queen" Janessa says, "Mom, I'm not feeling too good" I turn around and she is GREEN. We find a rest stop just in time for her to throw up outside of the truck. But...

Not far enough away from Briella. Because, just hearing Janessa throw up made Briella throw up all over herself and the car seat this time. Yes, Briella has an overactive gag reflex - she even gags at her own poopy diaper changes! So clean up time AGAIN.

Once home, Brady and I spent almost 2 hours pulling cactus needles out of the dog. At first she winced and reacted at most of them that we pulled out but after a few minutes she settled down and just laid there as we used needle nose pliers and tweezers to pull hundreds and hundreds of painful needles out of her poor little body. She was pretty quiet the rest of the day but today she is back to her normal puppy energy self.

Ok, so Brady asks me today. "Where do you want to go camping next?" He was lucky my only response was "ARE YOU KIDDING ME???"