I decided to start the effort to go camping each weekend. I had mentioned it to the boys last week and they were amenable do this afternoon I floated the idea to Laura and she said the kids were enthusiastic about the idea – at least the five youngest, the older girls all opted out. The kids packed themselves before I got home and then I went through what we had with them before we left – there wansn’t much that they had missed and I didn’t complain about any of the extras they brought. We went to Subway to buy dinner (eventually I’ll want to be cooking dinners but the first few times I don’t mind if we focus on getting to a campsite) and then drove South. I had scooped out some possible areas near Mapleton and Spanish Fork including the ghost town of Thistle.
Before we ever got to a canyon we had to stop at a grocery store so Ezra could use the restroom to pee (most of the other kids did as well). Before we found a possible campsite in Mapleton canyon we had to stop at as park so that Ezra could pee again (so did 3 other kids). After most of the kids had decided they were ready to head home extra was practically writhing in the back seat when he announced that he had to pee again. He had failed to tell us in his haste to suggest we go home. I pulled onto an untraveled dirt road or if sight of any traffic and all for boys got out to pee.
In Mapleton we found that virtually every campsite had excessive fees ($23/night for a single site). The one free spot we found didn’t really suit is and it was worth it to me to do more exploring. By the time we got to Spanish Fork canyon it was getting dark and nothing was looking good to the kids. I was able to rule out another campground based on high fees ($20/night) and we finally headed for home by 9:35 – arriving by 10:15.
I was disappointed to hear Ezra declaring that he doesn’t like camping despite only listing fond memories of every time he can recall camping before and it was killing me that we had to stop for potty breaks 3 times in 3 hours. Still, I’m very ready to try again (in a new area) next weekend.
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