Sunday, June 11, 2006

Guadalupe Mountains Camping Trip

Well, we survived and actually had a fun, but tiring, time. We woke up early Saturday morning (around 4 a.m.) and made the two hour trip early hoping that Mr. Man would sleep most of the way and wake up at his normal time of 6 a.m. when we got there. However, Liam stayed awake the entire trip, but was happy so it turned out okay. The first thing on the agenda was to set up camp. AFterwards we planned a short hike.

The plan was to avoid any serious mountain climbing and just do a 3 mile hike. Enough to get the heart going but easy enough to carry Mr. Man along. The first 2 miles or so of the trip were not bad at all. About halfway through, we stopped at an old ranch and visited with some horses. Liam was more shy of the horses than they were of him.

Don't eat me!

After our break, we decided to take the Frijoles Trail back. Baaaaad idea. Do not take the Frijoles Trail! Most of it was uphill when you didn't expect it to be and went straight up vs. left (in the direction we needed to be heading.)

Going up, up, up

Liam found the hike VERY exhausting.

Hiking is HARD work!

After we FINALLY got back to camp it was time for a quick rest and some lunch.

Relaxing with Daddy

Since we had totally worn ourselves out hiking 6 miles in the sun, we decided to drive 30 minutes to Carlsbad Caverns, NM to enjoy the 56 degree weather that you can find in the underground caverns. It was another 1 - 2 miles of walking, but Liam was such a trooper and didn't complain at all about spending another 1 1/2 hours in the pack.

Mama and Liam at Carlsbad

Well, if we weren't tired before, we were now. Taylor and I had hiked a good 8 miles that day, but Liam had been relaxing all that time in the pack. So it was time for Mama and Daddy to sit and rest while he walked in circles around the tent.

Walking in circles

Eventually he did get a bit more tired and decided to take a rest and then have some spaghetti with Daddy.

Relaxing after a hard day

Eating spaghetti with Daddy

Having been up since 4 a.m. and hardly napping at all, you would think that Mr. Man would be exhausted but nothing would get him tired out. I spent almost 3 hours with him in the tent trying to get him to sleep in his toddler bed, but he mostly just played around. Eventually, we broke down and set up the Pack and Play and he was asleep within minutes.

A lot of fun was had by all and we are all definitely tired today, but it was well worth it. All in all, a successful first camping trip!

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