I Love the Mountains!

I love all the places I have been this year, especially the beach, but nothing can beat the beautiful mountains we have in Utah. When I was little we didn't go on very many long distance vacations, but we did camp a lot. My dad was the master camper and fisherman, and my mom was the master camp cook and cheerleader. My favorite camping place was at Cherry campground in Hobble Creek Canyon. I have a lot of very good memories of our trips up there, so when my sister and I were planning a Sunday picnic there was no question where we would go. We packed up the kids, bikes, and food and headed for the peace of the mountains. 

On the way up I told the kids stories about when I was little. My favorite was when we were rained out of our tents and had to drive down the canyon in the middle of the night. The next morning we went back up and there were giant slugs all over the place. My dad put one on a hook and headed to the stream. Soon after we could hear him whooping and hollering, so we all went running to see what it was all about. He had caught a big brown trout with the slug! It was the biggest fish he had ever pulled out of the creek and he was one happy camper!

On our picnic, the weather didn't let us down, and started pouring on us as soon as the kids were done painting rocks. After a few minutes hunkered down in the car the rain stopped and we all got out and went for a walk. The kids jumped in the puddles and we enjoyed the freshness from the rain. We taught the kids how to do stick races under the road in the creek and Maddie was scared to death when a stick she went to grab slithered away!

When we got back to our picnic spot it had dried out enough that I could use my Koholowo camp skills to build a fire for smores. I have to admit I did pretty good after mom found some dry sticks for me. If there was a prize for smore making it would go to Emmy. That girl was so tough and stuck in there even with smoke blowing in her face. When we got home she had marshmallow from head to toe! 

I hope my kids have as much fun telling their kids about the "old days" when they would go to the canyon!