Camping Trip From Hell 2010...

Once upon a time there was a city girl...who married a city boy...who was really a country boy at heart. He spoke of camping trips to June Lake as a kid, working at a horse ranch in teen years and going to Mammoth with "the guys" in early adulthood. City girl just smiled and listened and then the time presented itself... where city boy's best friend's wife hit up city girl....for a family camping trip. City boy/country boy at heart was elated at the idea. "How hard can it be, it's only a couple days" thought city girl....boy oh boy was she in for an awakening!

So here's a few things this city girl learned on what will now be referred to as Camping Trip from Hell 2010.....

Did you know there's a Blues Festival every year in Mammoth the first weekend in August that makes the place as crowded as the 110 freeway in downtown LA on a Friday at 5pm? Yea neither did we...till we got there and couldn't find a camping spot. (We ended up driving about 20 min outside the coveted spot the boys wanted and finally found something)

Did you know camping is really dirty? Cuz there's like...a lot of dirt.

Did you know that an air mattress should really be called "mushy plastic that makes you need a chiro adjustment after sleeping on it"...

Did you know that your 2 y/o might not eat or nap because the outdoors...it's just all too exciting to do so. Which then places him in an excellent mood for the duration of the trip.... Not.

Did you know that if you warm your child's milk and put it in a thermos in 40 degree weather throughout the night that it will not stay warm? And did you know your child will wake up screaming his head off and wake the whole campsite at 3am demanding"HOT NOT!!!!!" (that's what he calls warm milk) when you try to give him ice cold milk...

Did you know my husband's best friend is a saint because he fired up the propane at 3am to make my child's "hot not"....

Did you know those citronella sticks get hot on the outside as well as the inside? Riah found this out the hard way...and these parents felt like crapheads when he burned his little finger on it :( which further contributed to his good mood on this trip...

Did you know that if you get dirt inside your digital camera it will break?

Did you know it's really hard to find one of those disposable cameras now and days?

And did you know those disposable cameras take horrible pics...wth did we ever do before digital really?!

Did you know that if you're on the verge of a mental breakdown from camping trip from hell 2010 your husband will succumb to letting you stay in a hotel the last night? :)

Did you know that when enough things go wrong on a camping trip, you might start to listen to the signs and pack up and go home early...cuz the moment we decided to do so, it started to rain!

Despite all that went awry on this trip, it was nice to spend time with good friends. Here's just a few highlights to share...because you know, there really were just a few highlights to share HA!

Daddy pooped from setting up camp....
Riah and Katie fast became BFF's on this trip!
Dusk at the campsite....

Riah and Daddy on a hike...(forgive the grainy pics, like I mentioned before disposable cameras suck! and these were taken after the digital took a dump!)

A HUGE highlight of the trip...seeing a real life waterfall! I didn't even know these existed in California!!
Daddy and Riah doing some fishing...
Family shot at Mammoth Lake...
Kristi and I (that's Katie in the backpack sleeping :)
Josh and Riah fishin...how cute is this pic?!
Riding a horsie in downtown June Lake.
It was hot enough to spend some time on the shorelines of June Lake...here's Riah catchin a few rays...
He was in a good mood at this moment, I love it when he makes this face!
The plan for city girl and city/country boy at heart for next time...girls and babies in a hotel daddies can camp and pick us up for day activities!

I will never.camp.again! :) But at the same time, this experience was fun for the memories!