Blue Lake

Sat we packed up and headed out after lunch toward Fort Collins.  Our friend (and wedding MC) Roger and his buddy Eric met us there (where they live) and took us West out Hwy 14 along Poudre Canyon.  A very pretty drive!  Lots of fishermen out in the water along the way and trails heading off all over the place.  Did we mention that the entire State seems to be FULL of parkland and trails?!  Very cool.  So - up we went - away from the dry hot Front Range and into the mountains.  :)

Rachel did well on the drive until the last portion of it, where she let us know she was hungry for dinner and we responded by handing her bits of food until we arrived. 

After some discussion about where we should actually camp, and finding a free and legal campsite, we unpacked.  Car camping has become our friend and we are getting better at packing everything but the kitchen sink when we go now.  We brought real pillows on this trip!  (In fact, in our unpacking process we've learned that we own 8 pillows and deemed 2 of them car camping pillows.)  Our friend Amber gave us her Big Bertha tent, which we had been using on loan on previous trips.  It takes two people to set up and it weighs quite a bit, but we can stand up inside and put Rachel's travel crib inside it.  Roger and Eric helped entertain Rachel and give her wild berries (don't worry - they are professional woodsmen and know their stuff) while Jason and Meggan set up the tent, the travel crib, and started dinner.  We fed Rachel chicken, carrot, broccoli, fruit leather, toast pieces, and apple sauce.  Then we took turns eating our very basic dinner of tortellini and pasta sauce out of a jar.  (On our next car camping adventure, we might even pack butter and spices and fancy food.)  Rachel decided that looked yummy, too, so she went ahead and ate half of Meggan's first serving.  Rachel must have inherited her Mommy's second stomach - she can really pack it away!  We tried to encourage her to drink as much as possible, and even put water in a bottle for her to drink in the car, while camping, and while hiking.  She played with it more than she drank out of it, but it was worth a shot.

The toughest part about camping with Rachel is keeping her warm enough.  We have the benefit of warm down sleeping bags, but infants and down don't mix safely.  So we wrapped Rachel in layers: a warm sleeper, a fleece suit that goes over a sleeper, a warm fleece sleep sack, and then a soft fleecy blanket over her and another under her.  She also had a purple fleece toque with a chin/ear strap and in the night I added a pair of socks over her hands.  She looked like a white fleece starfish.  She had so many layers on she couldn't move her arms or legs - they just stuck out and she couldn't move.

So Rachel said good night to everyone else around the campfire and did her bedtime routine and then screamed and screamed.  After a diaper change, she went down much better.  The adults actually got to relax around a campfire for a little while and eat S'Mores (mmmm thanks Roger!) under the full moon and perfect clear starry night.  As it got colder, we decided to turn in.  It took us a while to get warm in our down sleeping bags, and we worried that Rachel might not be warm enough.  I think we were at about 10,000ft and we think the temperature got down to about 34F (1C). 

She woke up at 12 midnight and her hands were cold.  Her trunk, head, and legs felt fine.  So Meggan nursed her and put her little hands next to Mommy's skin for a while and she went back to sleep without any troubles.  The same thing happened again at 4am.  Rachel woke up at 6am ready to play... but it wasn't very light out or very warm out yet so we sang songs, read books, and snuggled up in the tent for a little while before Jason took Rachel for a morning stroll outside.

After a successful breakfast and packing up, Rachel was tired and cranky and ready for her morning nap.  She took it about 15 minutes into the hike, in the backpack, as we started out on the trail.  We had a 5 mile/8km hike in to Blue Lake, along a very good trail with a slight gradual incline.  We were a little uncertain how the day would go and how long it would take us, since we're used to hiking about 2 hrs max with Rachel.  But, as usual, she did awesome the whole time.  Roger and Eric left us for their own adventure at about the 3.5 mile mark, and we continued to the lake.  The weather was perfect - blue sky and warm.  It took us over 2 hours to get the to lake,  where we ate lunch and played for at least 30 minutes before deciding we should get going because the clouds were rolling in and the wind was picking up.  But nothing came of this and we had a pleasant walk back to the car.  The last 30 minutes seemed to take forever, but we made it back without any trouble.

Rachel shows off tangles in hair

 An interesting note about Rachel's hair.  Not only is it getting lighter, and even taking on a red tinge, but it is getting longer.  So after wearing a hat again all night and all day, she had some interesting tangles and things sticking up everywhere.  Time for conditioner and de-tangle strategies!  Might have to move to a pony tail or clip strategy in the future.

We explored some smaller highways on the way home and saw huge fancy ranch houses at the base of the mountains as we headed South back to Boulder.  Rachel complained for the last 30 minutes of the drive but was happy again once she was fed.  When we got home, we ate, unpacked, and put ourselves all to bed. 

All in all it was a lovely weekend, a fantastic family outing, and a terrific way to recharge our batteries for what is likely to be a busy week ahead!