Roadtrippin! With our little camper kitten Ginger. We adopted her a few weeks ago and took her camping the second day we got her so she is very used to sitting in the car and living in a camper.

Day 1

We made a pit stop at the only gas station at the Sublet Idaho exit on our road trip to City Of Rocks. We stopped for bathrooms but loved the petting zoo, turns out they don't have bathrooms!? A gas station without bathrooms? Thanks for nothing Sublet gas station. (not salt project approved, even with those cute alpaca's, because when your 3 year old's gotta go, they've gotta go).

By the time we got to City of Rocks the sun was going down and we had to set up camp in the dark for the second time this summer. And it was freezing and our warm clothes were in the camper. The other issue... there was nowhere to camp! It was memorial day weekend and every campground had been booked for months. We thought we would be able to find something Friday night just before sunset, surely (said in sarcastic tone).

Well, as luck would have it, after panic and stress set in, we found a little gem of a campground called Castle View at the edge of town. It was only $10 a night. No hook ups, no shade, but we didn't care. They had a fire pit and we were thrilled that they had spots open.

And being away from city lights is always worth it. So many stars. 

Day 2- woke up in City of Rocks!

City Of Rocks

Getting 8 kids to look for a photo. 

Camp Rock

We headed into City of Rocks to explore for the day. This was a short 5 minute walk around a giant rock with pioneer names inscribed on them. Great place to explore and perfect for littles.

Window Arch 

This is an awesome hike, it's literally a few feet from the parking lot to the arch, but you can continue on to explore multiple trails or just climb the rocks for as long as you want. Our kids loved this area and we spent about an hour climbing and exploring.

Durfee Hot Springs

We had no idea there were hot springs here but the kids saw them and couldn't wait to go after a full day of hiking. We always pack swimmers, you just never know when you'll need them.

 

After soaking, we headed back to camp for smores.

Day 3

We woke and decided to pack up and go camp at the beach our last night. We packed up in a rush to get to the lake and... I shut the door to the camper... well, I didn't know that shutting the door also locked it! And our keys were inside! We couldn't drive, we couldn't open the trailer, we were stranded! 

I knew camping would bring us lots of memories, I had no idea they would be this memorable! Luckily, I also left the tool on the back of the trailer that you use to pop up the top, so we were able to turn it and pop it and get the keys. Thank goodness. We are learning so much! And I learned to double check everything!

Oakley Reservoir

This was definitely a scary drive. Think Farmington Canyon with a Class A bus and a mini van pulling a huge tent trailer. We had no idea what the drive would be like, and once we started we had to continue because there was no where to turn around. We made it down ok, and LOVED camping here! There were only a handful of campers so we had the place to ourselves for the most part.

Leaving was scary, and we almost didn't make it out. Luckily we found a road that wasn't quite as steep and were able to stop spinning out and actually get some traction.

If you look close, you can see the class A and van on the far left of the beach.

We had a bonfire on the beach and ate our weight in hot dogs and smores, thats what camping is all about right?

This place was awesome because there was almost no one there and we had the place to ourselves. This was such a fun camping trip with friends. City of Rocks has been on my bucket list since I've had kids, having gone in college, I remember it being such a cool place and knew my kids would love exploring it. They love it!