Does She Know About the Fireban?

Denver Trip...part 2.

Destination: Taylor Reservoir
Total Miles: 300 (round trip...to and from camp and Lakewood)
Total Cost: $50ish (18/night, plus gas?)

When I visited Colorado last year, Caroline's parents and younger siblings were on a camping trip near Crested Butte, CO. This year, we turned the tables: we took 3 of her youngest siblings to the same area for a camping trip and a chance for me to see some more Colorado.

As I mentioned in my Bringing the Rain post, it rained the better portion of Sunday afternoon. However, the rain could not put a damper on my excitement! My last camping trip was almost 2 years ago with my favorite Little People.

If you have been keeping up with the news, there have been some horrible wildfires throughout Colorado in the last few weeks. While this did not directly affect our plans, it did mean a statewide fireban (which means no campfires of any kind).

Hudson (Caroline's youngest brother) was concerned that I didn't know about the ban after I made a comment on Saturday about roasting marshmallows. He proceeded to ask his mother (in front of me, and in a loud whisper): "Does she know about the fireban?"

Needless to say, we all got a laugh out of the question. And repeated it often.

On our drive to the campsite, we stopped for some fudge at a tiny store near their cabin (where we had to go first for pans and a camp stove).


Last year, I was able to stay at the cabin for a night before whitewater rafting, and I must say that set on the side of the mountain, somewhere around 10,000 feet elevation, the cabin has a breathtaking view of some of the most beautiful scenery set against the backdrop of the towering Rockies.

The drive to the Taylor Reservoir included driving over the Continental Divide (Cottonwood Pass)...which I did NOT fully appreciate because of the rain on Sunday until we headed back over it on our way home on Tuesday.

The rain quickly turned into a mist...which was then debated to be fog, mist, vapor, clouds, and smoke. For the rest of the trip.

Our chosen campground was called Lakeview. After driving around the campground looking for available tent sites, factoring in trees and toilet facilities, we settled on campsite 18. This was almost directly across from the toilets (which reminded me of the hole-in-the-ground Haitian toilets), and it had a pleasant view of the lake.

With 2 of Caroline's brothers, David and Hudson, having some amazing tent-setting-up skills, we were able to put up the tents and unload the car in record time. Almost beat the rain!

Being cold (the temperatures there drop with the rain...instead of increase the humidity as they tend to do here in SC) and a little wet, we huddled into the girls' tent for a quick supper.

Caroline and David heated up some vegetable soup (which ended up being Light! only 60 calories per serving), and we warmed ourselves up with the soup and filled up on calories by stuffing ourselves with Oreos and bananas.

Bedtime came early that first night. I'm not sure how well any of us slept (nothing to make my body feel a little old like camping), but we were all up bright and early the next morning. And I had a "wildlife sighting" of 4 deer...3 bucks and one doe!

(Monday's adventures coming soon!)