Camping at Curt Gowdy
A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from my sister April. She and Heather were chatting on line and were thinking that they missed getting together since April moved away from Colorado, and so they wanted to pick a camping place halfway between their homes, and get together for a weekend. Over the next couple weeks, we found a campground roughly halfway between Colorado Springs and Green River, Wyoming, reservations were made, meals were planned, and we were excited to go.
On Friday afternoon, I picked up the kids, had them change out of their school uniforms, hurriedly piled everything in the car (I forgot the camera...), picked up Hannah from school, filled up the tank with gas, and headed north. We arrived at Curt Gowdy State Park around 6pm. We spent a little while debating which camp site would be best, but finally settled on the group campsite at the top of hill that we had originally reserved. We set up the tents, ate pizza for dinner (there is a full fire ban so we couldn't cook anything there), and were starting to think about getting pajamas on the kids and settling for the night, when the wind storm hit.
Sudden strong gusts of wind buffeted the tents, pulled up stakes, and cracked tent poles before we were able to get the tents down. Some people rushed to rescue games and other items around the camp site, while others rescued the small children from blowing away down the hill, hurrying them into the safety of a car. When the winds had passed, we assessed the damage. One of our tent poles had broken, breaking through the fabric of the tent. April and Dean's tent was also broken, one side sagging in. The children were terrified; Peter was crying that he wanted to go home, and Joshua was chattering about tornadoes. It took a while to calm everyone down, and to decide what to do for the night. We put most of the kids in one of Heather's tents that seemed undamaged. Hannah slept on a picnic table and Steven and I decided to put the seats down and sleep in the back of the van. Around midnight, however, the winds picked up again and we ended up bringing Joshua and Peter into the van with us.
Saturday morning dawned beautiful and clear. We had a delicious breakfast of donuts and fresh fruit, then we packed up the tents, cleaned up the campsite, and headed to a park in Laramie. The guys had wanted to go shooting, but because of the fire ban, they weren't able to. At the park we had lunch (we brought homemade pita pockets with sandwich fillings and apple slices), the kids played in a river and on the playground, and some of us played bocce ball. Around 1:30, exhausted from a rather sleepless night, we decided to head for home. We made it home safely. That night I was very grateful for a soft and comfortable bed, for a house with strong walls that keep out the wind, but also I was grateful for the time I had been able to spend with my sisters. This camping trip was definitely memorable. We should go camping together again some time.
On Friday afternoon, I picked up the kids, had them change out of their school uniforms, hurriedly piled everything in the car (I forgot the camera...), picked up Hannah from school, filled up the tank with gas, and headed north. We arrived at Curt Gowdy State Park around 6pm. We spent a little while debating which camp site would be best, but finally settled on the group campsite at the top of hill that we had originally reserved. We set up the tents, ate pizza for dinner (there is a full fire ban so we couldn't cook anything there), and were starting to think about getting pajamas on the kids and settling for the night, when the wind storm hit.
Sudden strong gusts of wind buffeted the tents, pulled up stakes, and cracked tent poles before we were able to get the tents down. Some people rushed to rescue games and other items around the camp site, while others rescued the small children from blowing away down the hill, hurrying them into the safety of a car. When the winds had passed, we assessed the damage. One of our tent poles had broken, breaking through the fabric of the tent. April and Dean's tent was also broken, one side sagging in. The children were terrified; Peter was crying that he wanted to go home, and Joshua was chattering about tornadoes. It took a while to calm everyone down, and to decide what to do for the night. We put most of the kids in one of Heather's tents that seemed undamaged. Hannah slept on a picnic table and Steven and I decided to put the seats down and sleep in the back of the van. Around midnight, however, the winds picked up again and we ended up bringing Joshua and Peter into the van with us.
Saturday morning dawned beautiful and clear. We had a delicious breakfast of donuts and fresh fruit, then we packed up the tents, cleaned up the campsite, and headed to a park in Laramie. The guys had wanted to go shooting, but because of the fire ban, they weren't able to. At the park we had lunch (we brought homemade pita pockets with sandwich fillings and apple slices), the kids played in a river and on the playground, and some of us played bocce ball. Around 1:30, exhausted from a rather sleepless night, we decided to head for home. We made it home safely. That night I was very grateful for a soft and comfortable bed, for a house with strong walls that keep out the wind, but also I was grateful for the time I had been able to spend with my sisters. This camping trip was definitely memorable. We should go camping together again some time.
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