Camping Yogi-Style (aka Adventures in Estes Park)

I think that someday, when we “retire,” it would be fun to run a Yogi Bear camping franchise in the summers. What more happiness could there be than in seeing young families have fun? We’d lead the campers in Friday night bingo; Ryan would dress up in his Yogi costume while we have the daily flag-raising ceremony and lead the campers in the Pledge of Allegiance. I mean, seriously. I think it would be a really relaxing and rewarding “job.” ;-)

We’ve been wanting to do a family camping trip for awhile. We camped out in the backyard once a couple of years ago, and Ryan and I have vivid memories of an Oklahoma camping trip in our early marriage that was pure misery. But Ryley is old enough now to really enjoy it, and camping in Colorado is really hard to beat. So we got the time off from work, dug our survival gear out of the garage, and set off for a wonderful weekend together at Jellystone Park of Estes.

We joined all the campers for a rousing six games of bingo on Friday night. It was really fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We discovered a little pond while gathering sticks for kindling…

You can see Ryley in our camp site below….What a view we had!

I love how you can see that her marshmallow has caught fire!

This was her first experience with s’mores….I was sure we’d done them before, but if so, she doesn’t remember!

Ryley saw her first falling star, which was really special! Then we slept oh, so soundly!

We explored the camp a little bit on Saturday morning and felt like we had ended up with the best site. Definitely the most secluded. Beautiful view!

After breakfast, we (purely by chance) attended the flag-raising ceremony where all the kids got to meet Yogi Bear. We even said the Pledge of Allegiance, and Yogi checked his mailbox. It was just too darn cute; I actually got tears in my eyes. It had that old-fashioned, family-values “feel” that you don’t find everywhere anymore.

We then headed into downtown Estes Park, which is always just a lovely place.

Since we had our honeymoon in Estes Park, we had to drive by our little cabin.  Ryley took a picture of us, but it’s not flattering at all, so we will just stick with this photo. :-)

Then Ryan had the idea to go on the gondola ride to the top of Prospect Mountain! LOVE the way this guy’s beard flows in the wind.

The view was absolutely gorgeous.

We fed peanuts to the chipmunks. I’d never seen so many chipmunks in my life! They run around these boulders like they’re a playground.

When we’d had our fill of breathtaking views and chipmunks, we headed back down the side of the mountain.

It was a wonderful little get-away, filled with new, relatively inexpensive experiences for Ryley to enjoy. She’s totally sold on camping now and is anxious to do it again. We’re just sold on Estes Park in general. And we’re definitely sold on family time.