It's 12:30 AM and I need to wake up at 5:30 to go trilobite hunting with Grandpa, Jacob, Isaac, and Dax. What is my problem? This happened to me last night as well. I finally got out of bed around 2 and repainted my toenails, and cleaned the kitchen until 3:30; consequently, I napped over four hours this afternoon. That's my problem.
Last Tuesday, I went camping with all the kids and Grandpa up Logan canyon on the road to Camp Lomia aka Girls Camp. Dad drove his truck with camper, and I drove my van. I camped in between Jacob and Ammon in the tent both nights. I can honestly say those were two of the worst nights of sleep ever. At least the first one for sure. Aching hips, cold, hot, cars driving by, honking, yelling punks, Jacob talking in his sleep, early rising birds.
That first night, Ammon and I scrounged up some wood for a fire, while the other three campers played in the stream. After our tin foil dinner, we roasted marshmallows and played
Password. I was on a team with Allison and Isaac, Grandpa was with Jacob. I was amazed at how the kids did at this game. It was fun!
Wednesday, we started off by driving up Franklin Basin road a few miles and bush whacking along a beautiful stream for a short distance along a cow trail. Not a good trail, so we went back to the car. We drove on to Bear Lake and spent a couple of hours there. The fascination started off looking for shells, but soon turned to minnows. Jacob even found a frog/tadpole that he fell in love with.
We did the obligatory shake thing: ice cream, cookie dough, and blueberry.For me, the funnest part of the day was exploring the road to Swan flats. A ways up, there is a marshy area with a small stream. We spent an hour looking through the area and finding all kinds of interesting wildlife. Jacob decided to let his frog/tadpole go since there were millions of tadpoles swimming around. There were also millions of dragonflies. The kids want to go back next year. Driving on, we noticed a huge area of rock and decided that we must climb over a few of them. Dad said it was a strange natural phenomenon and was trying to figure out how is might have occurred. Any ideas?
Almost back at camp, we drove by China Wall (or maybe Scout cave?)and I noticed some climbers, and just had to stop and watch those crazy guys. This is an insane place to climb.
More campfire and marshmallows to be had the second night. Kraft marshmallows are definitely the way to go...these were terrible.The next morning, we explored the Hobbit caves a few minutes. The kids remembered these from a couple of years ago, but still thought they were super cool. Grandpa, ever rock hounding, proclaimed it made from limestone and travertine. I love love love camping in Logan canyon. It has so many happy memories. Plus nice cool temps at night, very few bugs, clean air, astounding scenery, solitude, and still many new places to explore for another year.
I wanted to write about waking up in my old house. I usually sleep downstairs in the darkest room with basically no light, so I sleep in forever, but this year, I decided I wanted to sleep upstairs in my old room. The first morning I woke up and everyone since then, I have been absolutely amazed at the pristine blue skies out the north window. It makes me smile. I love my old home. I recently read a book called "The Boxmakers Son." In a part of it, the author writes about how buildings can bring so many memories. This is how I feel about this house. I know my parents are getting older so the years left of them living here are lessening all the time, but I cherish coming here.
Thinking about it, it's more than just the structure; it emcompasses the entire yard; from playing badminton in the front yard, sitting by the fish pond, picking fresh produce, or walking through the tree farm. This is home to me; not Minnesota. I still dream in Logan. One of these years, I'll have to cut the apron strings, but for now, it makes my heart happy to be here.
