A Table For {Seven}: Camping at Gooseberry

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Camping at Gooseberry

I've mentioned this a few times on my blog (or a thousand times, tee hee) but I am not a fan of camping. It is SO much work, and you need SO much stuff for just a couple of days. I never sleep well, it's exhausting, and there's always a huge amount of clean up.

However...

It is SO much fun, the kids absolutely love it, and we make terrific, amazing memories.

This time was no different.

We went down to Gooseberry campground right after Jonah's birthday which is in La Sal national canyon, up Manti Canyon. Several families in our neighborhood went up together (The Smith's, who organized it, The Heath's, The Taolii's, and the Christensens, and us). We were supposed to leave Thursday afternoon, but it ended up being closer to Thursday evening. We left around 8PM and stopped for dinner and then arrived in a pouring rainstorm around 10:30 PM. Luckily everyone else had just finished setting up and they were all available to help us set up our tent really quickly. It wasn't too cold, albeit a bit muddy, but we sat around the fire for a bit before heading off to bed. The kids were exhausted from our day of getting ready to go (they helped out a ton.)

Finally on our way after stopping for a delicious drive-thru dinner, haha.

One of the reasons it took so long to get down there was because Andy decided to install a hitch on our Acura at the last minute so we could rent a trailer to bring our bikes, equipment, and coolers without having to somehow pack it all on top of our car. Then we stopped at a rental place in Provo to get some paddle boards and a kayak. They ended up being very well used, so it was worth it :)

We took so many photos and I was also sent tons of photos from everyone that went, so these photos are in no particular order. They are just a bunch from the whole trip in random order. It was absolutely gorgeous up there and the scenery was breathtaking. THAT is the part of camping that I love. Seriously peaceful and amazing.

After a decent night's sleep, we got up and the Christensen's were in charge of breakfast (breakfast burritos and fruit-- yum!) Everyone was so helpful at cleaning up and all the little kids just sat around playing games and cards. They all got along so well. There were 26 kids between the 5 families there and it was pretty much magical how well they all got along. There was very little to no drama and everyone was the best of friends and absolutely hysterical. There were dance parties going on, karaoke, non-stop laughing and games (favorites being mash, fortune, and nerts) and just all around fun. There was a lake nearby and there were four four-wheelers between all the families. There were lots of kayaks and paddle bards and canoes. Tons of fishing poles, too. There was no shortage of things to do and everyone stayed entertained and had a blast. The dads rotated helping the kids and the moms sat round and talked and laughed. It was absolutely wonderful!

Basically the days went like this.... eat breakfast, clean up. Sit around and talk. Get ready and head down to the lake. Play, four-wheelers, fish, swim, kayak and games. Also, EAT ALL THE FOOD. Head up to camp for lunch. Head back to the lake for more fun. Head back to camp for dinner (we all rotated food and each family had a meal. We were on our own for lunches.) After it got dark we would talk around the fire for hours and go to bed late. I actually slept pretty well because we had borrowed an air mattress. The kids all had a pad and everyone was very comfy. It was pretty much a dream camping trip. And now.... photos! Remember, they are in no particular order. Just a hodgepodge.