"Art is my vehicle through life; may we share the ride together." Ron Wickersham

Monday, October 3, 2016

Family Camping and Hiking

Last weekend our entire family met in Albuquerque and went to Bandelier National Monument to hike and camp. It was to celebrate my husband's 70th birthday and my son's 40th birthday, both of which were earlier in the summer.

A little back story: My husband goes to Albuquerque every fall and hikes the La Luz Trail up Sandia Mountain. It's a rigorous hike and he calls it his "proof of life" hike. Our kids decided that he shouldn't be doing this alone any longer and everyone agreed to accompany him this year as part of his birthday celebration. They did that on Sunday, but since we were all together, we went camping Friday night in Bandelier.

The little boys all enjoyed being in the mountains. It was Carl's and Mitchell's first camping experience and they loved it, especially the tent, the campfire and the s'mores!  Being Texas boys, they were not used to the cold (temps dropped about 35 degrees over night) but it warmed up when the sun rose.  We hiked from our campsite to the ruins - approximately 4 miles, some of which was tricky switchbacks, and the older boys were troopers (the little guys rode in backpacks and slept mosts of the way). We had gorgeous weather - a nice respite from the Texas heat.

Here's a little glimpse of our adventures.

setting up tents with a lot of "help"

Dana and John, Drew and Grant

Kelly and Josh, Carl and Mitchell



at the end of the trail

in camp

Grant and Mitchell

s'mores!




Grant and Mitchell exploring
Carl and Mitchell exploring


goofballs!

this was supposed to be their "best" smiles






1 comment:

Sue Kosec said...

HOW COOL. Those boys will never forget this experience and I'm happy that they now have the memories.

Good for you. I don't have the stamina any more for that nonsense. LOL.

Beautiful country up there, isn't it?

Happy camping!
xo
SuZeQ