Camping

We love to go camping in the fall, with lots of planning and a little luck we were able to head to the Sierra for a long weekend.  My parents, my brother Marshall and his wife Beth joined us for some camping fun.  The weather was a bit sketchy the week before we left, it snowed in the Sierra two days before our trip.  My parents headed up a day before us and they spent their first night in an empty campground with 1" of snow.  Thankfully they have a nice warm trailer. We saw a lot of snow on our drive up to Grover Hot Springs but thankfully the snow had melted by the time we got to the campground.

Allyson loved camping, being able to be outside all day long she was in heaven.  She was very good about staying close to our campsite.  She loved exploring, chasing the birds, collecting rocks and sticks and anything else that looked interesting.

Wearing fun beads Grandma brought and Aunt Beth's sunglasses.  I love her serious look here, she is just too cool.

Saturday Marshall and Beth joined us in the traditional waterfall hike.  Here is the first waterfall, not too impressive since the creek is pretty low in the fall.

We continued up the creek and found this pretty cascade.

  Ally loved the hike, she was in her backpack for a really long time but she was just happy to be outside and enjoyed the ride.

Even further up the creek was one more waterfall, this one was my favorite.

Our attempt at a family picture on the hike.  It was a beautiful day for a hike and we enjoyed the sunshine.

In the evening we headed to the meadow to soak in the last rays of sunshine (and warmth).

Marshall & Beth soaking up the sun.

Ally was so cute, each morning as I got her dressed she would ask for "ha peas" (hat please).

We all spent a lot of time around the fire, we went through a lot of wood.  Allyson was really good about not  getting too close or playing in the fire.  It also helped that all 6 adults kept an eye on her.

Sunday we did a little geocaching.  We visited one my parents had found before, but a fire had come through the area and burned it.  Here Allyson is kissing a burnt tree, my mom happened to say "poor little tree" and so Ally had to kiss it better.  She is going through a real kissing phase, anything that is an owie or hurt MUST be kissed.  There are also times where she gives kisses for no apparent reason.  I love getting a spontaneous kisses from her but I worry since she is willing to kiss anyone and everyone.  We will have to work on that.

We did a little four wheeling on Monitor Pass in hopes of seeing some fall colors.  Even though this is the latest in the season we have been the aspens hadn't turned yet.  I was a bit disappointed.

Daddy Daughter Picture, I love her smile.

Even without the yellow and orange aspens the mountains were beautiful.

We found a small patch of yellow and Marshall was kind enough to take some family photos for us.  Lucky for us, not so much for his flash.

There were so many beautiful views everywhere you turned.

We ended up leaving a day earlier than we planned, the campground was closing for the winter.  On our way out of Markleeville we picked up a rather large screw that did a bit of damage to our tire.  Thankfully we were able to get it changed a back on the road before the rain started.  

Here is to another great year of fall camping in the Sierra, one of my favorite traditions.