Golden Gate Canyon State Park

I'm sorry that some of these posts are out of order.  Over the summer, we stayed at some different state parks.  Golden Gate Canyon is close to Black Hawk and Central City.  We were there for about a week.  The first time was about the middle of May, right before Comic Con, and it snowed.  So I only stayed for a couple of days.  But the next time we visited in the middle of July, which is much better.  For being that high, I think I did very well with altitude sickness.

Power only and uneven pad, but look at the view!

We tried a recipe from a camping cook book. 

Split hotdogs down the middle, add half a piece of string cheese and wrap in bacon.  Cook...

Bill came home right as they started cooking.

Yum!

Liam is trying to cook as many mini marshmallows as possible...

 The kids preferred regular hotdogs and then made campfire cones using waffle cones, melted marshmallows and chocolate chips.

Kyla rarely sits still for a picture.  She is savoring this yummy treat!

We worked on the Junior ranger handbook and hiked along a couple of trails.  Gorgeous vistas and beautiful flowers.

While we were up there, I decided to re pot some of our seedlings.  As an excellent science experiment, we purchased a tiny tray and planted seeds, just to see if they would grow.  Amazingly, what never worked outside in a garden, thrived in our tiny house.  The girls spent several minutes decorating the pots with paint, including Jessica's marigolds.  We left them out to dry and put them next to the RV as outside decoration. 

The next morning, we discovered some severely mangled plants.  The golden-mantled ground squirrels (we learned about them in the junior ranger hand book and laughed when they ate the mini marshmallows and chocolate chips that dropped to the ground --how cute) had helped themselves to our plants.  They ate the marigold flowers and buds, utterly destroying that plant, and the parsley.  They also sampled the oregano (as the scattered oregano leaves testified), but didn't like it and left our catnip completely alone.  Now, our plants stay inside...

Morning after squirrel devastation.  Sigh...

Taking a break during our hike!

All in all, a great place to stay if you are visiting Black Hawk and Central City and want to experience the real outdoors...   

living in a small space while it snows

I nearly lost it several times trying to unpack while climbing over legs and laptops.  Jessica and Bill unpacked most of the boxes and settled them in cupboards.  I managed to shove all our boxes of books and miscellany in the front cab, but desperately raced to get stuff settled.

The first week of living in our new RV was excruciating.  We shoved everything in boxes and black plastic bags.  Though it took an hour to transfer everything from the old to the new RV, it took a few days to unpack. 


Eventually, we worked out a manageable system and sending most of our keepsakes to my mother-in-law's one-car garage gave us the breathing room so desperately needed.

I still have to breathe deeply and realize that as much as my husband adjusts to sharing his space with everyone (working on school projects with noisy children clamoring about and not taking over every flat surface with his gear), I have to adjust to sharing my one-person kitchen with him and not being anal-retentive about cleaning cluttered spaces.

We were used to almost 400 square feet of space in the old trailer during the winter and would often spend days holed up quite comfortably.  With thirty percent less space and spring arriving, cabin fever sets in much faster.  And keeping our family suitably settled and entertained consists of XBOX games, Ipad games, movies, and books and respecting what little privacy we have.  

Now, I'm off to dump for the first time, in our new location, and fill up on propane.  One downside to the Class C is that the propane tank is permanently attached.  Can't throw tanks in the back of the car and drive them down to a local propane place.  Have to pack up the whole kit-and-kaboodle...