4th of July Trip

Last Thursday night Tim and I got the camper all packed up with our gear, food, and of course our snack-o’s for our annual 4th of July camping trip. Usually we try and go somewhere farther out away from Denver, but this year we stuck closer to home – see our post from last 4th of July and you will understand why. Anyways, we got up early-ish on Friday (I never get up early enough in Tim's opinion) and we ended up in Leadville – supposedly the highest town in the nation – at a little campsite close to Turquoise Lake. We got very lucky, because all the campsites were reserved except for one. The people who were in this spot just happen to be leaving the minute we drove up so we snatched it up from them. After setting up and praying that the camper would be working (it was!) I tried to do my usual routine and talk Tim into driving into town for dinner, but he wouldn't go for it. So we grilled up our chicken fajitas and roasted s'mores all night long. Annie and Olivia both got almost eaten alive by the mosquitoes. They apparently are pretty sensitive to the bites…the next day both of them had one eye lid almost swollen shut. The next night, Annie tried to stop that from happening again by spraying the bug spray into her other eye, but that didn’t seem to help, and I think Annie would have preferred to have the bug bites as opposed to having her eye washed out.

Early Saturday morning our furnace shut off and it looked like our camper battery was empty…I started to get worried about it because it wasn’t exactly warm with the furnace on and I’m not a big fan of being cold. Luckily for us, after Annie got her eyes washed out she started throwing a terrible fit and in her rage, she must have kicked something just right because the crying stopped and the furnace kicked on! Annie was pretty proud of herself after that.

Saturday morning we drove into town for the Leadville 4th of July Parade. It was what I was expecting from a town of population roughly 250 people and consisted of the entire past, present and future fire department staff, a troupe of baton twirlers, a group of about 12 hippies on their bikes, our neighbors from Denver in their corvette, and a couple of mules pulling a wagon…plus all the tootsie rolls you could pick up off the street. Annie enjoyed that part the most.

We spent Saturday afternoon trying to do a hike while Annie was trying to collect as many bugs, flowers, and little rocks along the way. Needless to say, we didn’t get very far on our hike before we decided to turn around and let the girls splash around in a little creek at the bottom of the trail. Annie had a great time doing that, and I wished I had my camera, but it seems that I’ve lost my battery charger so there won’t be any photos for a while. I did manage to take 2 family photos before the battery died, and I’m thinking that everyone was looking at the camera at the time it was taken, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see.

Saturday night we headed back into town for the fireworks show. After the stunning parade I was really not expecting much out of the show, but it was probably one of the best I’ve seen. We parked on a hill at the high school where we could see where they were launching the fireworks on another hill across the valley. I don’t think Annie remembered fireworks from last year, especially since I don’t think we saw any last year – again refer to last years post – but once we got to the parking lot, I think she started thinking the real show was all the little fireworks and sparklers that all the people around us were shooting off. Once the real show started she got very excited. And Olivia too! For the first half of the show it was a constant “Ooooh, ooooh, ooooh” coming out of her mouth. The second part of the show she was starting to get tired so in between sips of her milk there were a few half hearted “ohs”.

All in all, it was a really nice and relaxing trip. And I know I’ve said this a few times before, but I really think that we have all the bugs worked out of the camper and the next trip will go off without a hitch (not).

ps. Happy 7th Anniversary to Tim and I!