Cardon Colorado Camp-Out!

Wouldn't you like to go camping with this little cutie pie?? She looks like a purple minion with that hair. We headed up to Golden Gate Canyon State park (north of Black Hawk) Friday after school and nabbed one of the very few available spots left (it being Labor Day weekend and all). The kids were ready to be out of the car and to play some card games, and let the camping fun begin!

First, a picnic dinner of Jimmy John's and chips and grapes, before we headed off on a little sunset hike. Anything to take their minds off of s'mores, which seems to be the only thing they can ever think about when we say the word, "camping."

We headed over to a great little lookout point we discovered at a campground we stayed at the very first time we ever went camping in Colorado. It's a short, but steep hike up to the top of a nearby lookout point and you can see all across the front range.

We hung out at the top, which we had all to ourselves surprisingly, and watched the sun melt behind the Rockies.

Lucy entertained us with a few different yoga poses. It seemed appropriate after all since we were definitely becoming one with the mountain.

We finally headed back to base camp and broke out the s'more fixings while Jon got the fire started, and the kids (and Mom) stuffed themselves silly. That's a happy Shortcut!

Jon is the Master Roaster and gets the marshmallow perfectly golden and carmelized every single time. I don't know how he does it, but he's the only one allowed to make me a s'more.

Bedtime cuddles before heading off to the tent for a restless night's sleep rolling around in a sleeping bag! Actually, Lizzie and I slept in the back of the van, and Jon slept with the other three in the tent. All things considered, it actually wasn't too terrible a night's sleep. (Not saying I want to do it again anytime soon, though)....

We knew we wanted to do a hike (after a delicious breakfast of hot cocoa, pancakes, and sausage cooked over an open fire) that morning, so I researched my little list of kid-friendly hikes in the area, and we headed over to Silver Dollar Lakes off the famous Guanella Pass. The tiny town below reminded me of a little Swiss village up in the Alps!

It was a gorgeous hike, with a back country trail that featured blue skies, lots of sub-alpine trees, pristine mountain lakes, and lots of scenic overlooks. You couldn't have asked for better weather.

I mean, really?? It doesn't get much better than that, does it? I fall more and more in love with Colorado every time we go exploring.

The fall colors were just starting to peek out this high up in the mountains. Zach wore flip-flops the whole hike, which was pretty amazing considering there were some rocky parts that were SO steep, but here he is enjoying a well-deserved break, looking down at Silver Dollar Lake.

We found some more beautiful fall colors on our drive home, and it really started to feel like summer was over, as much as I didn't want it to be! I dread winter here, as it's long and the spring is always snowy and yucky, but the nice summers and the beautiful autumn season is enough to compensate for all of that. We loved our one and only camping trip of the season, and as the kiddos get a little older I'm sure it'll get easier and easier to go camping, and we vowed to do a few more trips next summer.