#15 - Go Camping in the Mountains

The destination for this list item was the beautiful Lake City, Colorado.  We made our first trip there a couple weeks ago, and instantly we were amazed by the beauty of the area.

Kristen and I headed up Saturday morning to find a campsite - I was a little worried since all sites in the area are on a first come basis, but we lucked out and got a great site at Deer Lakes, an area known for having moose.  In between rain clouds, we set up our tent and gathered up a little wood for later.

We headed back out to town to spend the afternoon, when we had our first amazing encounter - a momma and baby moose!

In town, we waited out some of the passing clouds by visiting a few of the shops, driving to see some of the mountains, and our favorite - mini golf!  We decided dinner HAD to be at the Packer Saloon - a place named after Alferd Packer, "America's favorite cannibal," an explorer known for his cannibalistic endeavors during the late 1800s.  As the quote at the memorial marking the site of the attacks says, "You're a man eatin' son of a... There was seven Democrats in Hinsdale County and you ate five of them." Lake City has for whatever reason embraced the fame that came along with these events, and the decor was fitting for my favorite Packer fan.  You can't make this stuff up...

We headed back to our camp site and decided to check and see if any moose were out at the ponds nearby... and let's just say we got quite the show!

After a couple of hours of watching our new friends, we made our way back to our tent.  Because of rain throughout the day, all of the wood in the area was soaked.  Luckily we picked up a bundle of firewood and the people staying in the site next to us had some lighter fluid, because I had to cheat to get a good fire going.  Once I had the fire going, the obvious next step was making s'mores.  But again, because of the rain, all sticks in the area were soaked, so I had to get creative.  I MacGyver'ed a couple of roasting sticks out of a golf club and a coat hanger, and we made some delicious desserts while enjoying the calm crackling of the fire.

After a night of mediocre sleep, we woke up to a cold, wet morning.  We gathered up our things and made one last look down to see if our moose friends were still around.  Sure enough...

All in all, I guess you could say this was a successful camping trip!