The Blanch Herd: Red Canyon Campout

Paul and Kim invited any and all Blanchards to join them in their camping spot at Green's Lake Campground at Red Canyon for a weekend campout in July. They headed up Wednesday, July 11th, with Aggie and their trailer. Heather and The Boys joined them Wednesday evening and they all slept together in the trailer. We came up Thursday evening after Gregg finished work and got there just in time to join the family for dinner. BBQ chicken sandwiches, corn on the cob, coleslaw, potato salad and chips - Yum! The kids explored the trailer and played a few rounds of UNO with Kage and Dray while Gregg and I set up camp in our nearby site. Then everyone headed off to the lake to try out Grandpa's "new" raft. (It turned out to need a little love (aka patches) to keep the air in, but it worked well enough for a few trips around Green's Lake.) After our gorgeous pink and purple sunset at the lake, we all gathered at the fire pit for s'mores and cowboy poetry and the Campfire Pokey. Grandpa set up his scope so we could see Jupiter's moons! Callie thought it was so amazing that we could "see space!" (He later found Saturn and could see its rings, but we had gone to bed so we missed out on that space fun.)

Cousin mischief in the trailer.

Explorations of the campsite.

Uno!

So. Much. Uno.

The sunsets were amazing, but I never could get a good shot of them.

bonus video!

"she skips!"

This is how he fell asleep both nights - made
settling down in the tent at "bedtime" super
easy. ;)

Snug as a little bug.

Friday morning started off with the most gorgeous sunrise through the trees near our tent. We met up with the rest of the fam for a big pancake breakfast and a visit to the gift shop at the lodge. Then we all journeyed to the dam for a tour. Even though the elevator was closed due to construction, we still had a fun time walking out on the dam and learning about how it was built. Back at camp we had Papa Murph's baked in the trailer oven for lunch followed by a swim/boat/wade in the lake. Heather and the boys had to leave after the water fun to pick up Scott from the airport. We wanted to check out the Dowd Mountain overlook over the gorge, so Paul and Kim and Aggie caravaned behind us a few miles down the road. It was awesome! (All the overlooks are awesome, but it's always fun to see the gorge from a new perspective and angle.) We looked around there for a little while then headed back to camp for dinner, s'mores, space and bed.

Morning potty break - the whole standing to pee
thing really clicked for him on this trip and it was
quite the exciting thing for him (and all of us, really).

Morning walk to the dock.

Dish crew.

Cute crew.

Dray's faces are my fave.

It took burning the bottom of the first pizza to figure it out,
but having an oven while camping was pretty dang nice, I must say!

Back on the boat.

Waterskiing Kage. HAha

I mean those clouds are just too good.

She wanted to be like the big boys - they hung out in the middle
of the lake for a good long while.

Back at the Uno.

"Everyone make a Dray face!"

We taught Grandma how to play Set.

Our visit to the Dowd Mountain Overlook.

Yep - typical.

That edge we're standing next to is not nearly as sketchy as it
seems in this photo.

Another attempt at the sunset with not super
success.

Saturday morning started out much the same with another beautiful sunrise. We did a pre-breakfast hike around the lake with Grandpa and Grandma and Aggie. I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast when we got back (which were a hit, at least with the adults) and then we began the packing up process. We stopped at the Red Canyon Visitor's Center on our way out for stamps in the passport and views at the overlook. And then we headed for home. What a great way to spend a weekend!