The only camping trip we had scheduled for this summer was Pipestem in WV with the Caldwells. Thankfully we didn't have any surprises getting the camper back out from the carport! We had a great weekend with nice weather. There was a church family camp going on, which made the bathhouse super busy, but also made our lake time pretty quiet!
We started off with an hour horseback ride. We'd done 30 minutes last year but the kids both loved it and did well with our longer ride at Spring Break. Willow got a little startled when her horse trotted through the mud. Owen got frustrated with his horse when it was avoiding mud but caused Owen to get scratched by briars on the side of the trail. My horse was a snacker and got distracted a lot. She galloped to catch up once which was kindof fun! In the end, Owen forgave his horse and said he would go again :)
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| (L-R): Alice, Benny, Rex, Fury |
We had lots of game time! I love how Hannah and Hunter are always up for learning a new game and catch on fast!
Our site was the steepest that we've had yet, if you notice where the jack is compared to the hitch. No jumping around in the camper this time!!
The kids made up "Balance Land" with 3 balance challenges, then created paper tickets and advertised to people camping around us. It was kind of a few of them to play along!
There were only a few people down at the lake in the morning. It was nice to see a couple new inflatables on the lake too!
The "blob" was intriguing but all of the kids (and half of the adults) ended up hurt, despite our best observation of strategy before trying it. Maybe it's something better for us to observe!
Chad was usually the launcher but he did get launched by another dad.
After the Caldwells left, we headed to the Canyon Rim Trail hike. It's just .7 miles to the lookout but a steep climb back up (if you can tell from this photo).
We found lots of wild raspberries on the way!
It was a great view!
We were a bit confused when we'd definitely looped back on ourselves and never saw the view. After recheckiing the map we headed back to this area and noticed this sign...facing away from either way you might've been coming from (literally facing the trees). It was a vital sign!!
The kids had such great attitudes about the extra mileage and steep incline at the end that we decided to check out the ice cream shop BEFORE lunch (which never happens).
Willow asked what a Brownie Bomb was, and the description was more sugar than anyone could stomach but she said they could just do a brownie with the ice cream. It brought me back to my Baskin Robbins days of having a brownie with Peanut Butter and Chocolate ice cream after a shift, and we just couldn't resist. We all got a brownie with our ice cream! Chris was the only one to make it to the bottom of his! We got back to the camper and none of us were interested in lunch (which is exactly why we never do this plan....).
After some downtime we headed on the Air Tram down the valley. There's a hotel and usually a restaurant down there along a river. We hadn't been before but now we know to wear water shoes next time...and pack a picnic lunch!
We debated whether to add a 2nd sticker from the same campground onto the camper but they had sooooo many fun options at the gift shop that we couldn't resist and even had a hard time deciding!
Owen is always in heaven when he can find a good stick. I think I've also got him hooked on Instagram Reels, so he'd heard this audio and helped direct the video clips for it ;)
Check out his video:
