2017 Epic Road Trip: Camping

So it was cold.  And wet.  And we didn't quite know where we were going.  And it was Grizzly Bear Country.  I had a lot of reasons why I was not looking forward to this idea of camping. 

After stopping at a tiny tourist information stop in the tiny town of Cook City, MT, we found a camp spot at Crazy Creek campground.  The rain stopped.  It was still cold.

Then, something magic began to happen: the kids got into setting up the camp and creating a "secret fort"...

 And we discovered Crazy Creek...

 Which was magnificent thanks to the rain.

Then came the tinfoil dinners and S'mores.

And right about then, I was thinking maybe this camping thing wasn't so bad.  Then it got dark, which meant it got freezing cold.  As in, it either broke a record for how cold it was or nearly did.

                                      
  So everyone slept in 2 pairs of the warmest pajamas, socks, and hats.  We fell asleep to the sounds of Crazy Creek roaring in the background and woke up in the middle of the night to Amelie wailing because she was coming down with a cold and she hated camping.  By morning though, everyone was smiles as we looked forward to a day in Yellowstone.
                                     
We decided we liked the campground enough and didn't want to take it down and set it up again, so I gave up my dream of camping in Yellowstone to stay another night at Crazy Creek.  Although it was a long drive into and back out of the park, which meant the kids stayed up way too late that night and it ate up some of our park time, the camp was so beautiful and so peaceful that I don't regret staying there again. In the end, I still don't love camping--especially when it's cold and wet--but it was a good family experience and I will do it again sometime.