This month's wild life block features the Bear Paw block -
Take a trip down memory lane with me... I am reminded of a camping trip from when I was 11 years old...
We were caravan-ing with our my grandparents in their truck camper. My dad had borrowed a truck camper from a co-worker and we were going on the longest vacation I had ever heard of. Three weeks! (I think... or maybe it just felt like that. lol!)
(This picture was taken a few years before our big trip...)
Our route covered Mesa Verde, the Four Corners, Arches National Park, Salt Lake City, Yellow Stone and the Grand Tetons.
We encountered a variety of weather... we had warm and sunny, hot even, rain and snow.
At the Arches I recall hiking one of the trails. We weren't really prepared... we didn't carry water with us... ooops! Despite the signs telling us and everything! As we approached the top of the trail on a very warm day we passed a guy going down that DID have water... water AND ice that jiggled in a little metal canteen. We considered jumping him for the water, but let him go.
While in Yellowstone there were bear...
Let me give you a little back story and some details that make the story a little more funny...
1) The space in the campers were tight so my brother and I would split up and take turns sleeping on the floor of Grandma & Grandpa's camper. My brother was a rough sleeper... he would toss and turn and jostle the truck around. And the campers were not equipped to prepare meals inside... they were basically for sleeping only.
2) We were visiting YS in the first full week that the entire park and all campgrounds were open... and we had tent campers across the road from us.
It was early June, I think... While we nearly fried our brains at Arches, we were cold in Yellowstone!
It was raining and the rain eventually turned to snow. In order to prepare dinner out of the rain, the trucks were backed up tailgate to tailgate with a tarp draped over the opening to protect the camp stove and food from getting completely soggy. After dinner was eaten and cleaned up the camp stove was tucked away in the cubby space on the side of the camper...
Since it was raining and we couldn't enjoy a campfire we all retired for the night. I was with Grandma & Grandpa... I recall waking up (I have no idea of the time) with some jostling of the truck and then Grandpa shining a flashlight across the road. The campers across the road had sought shelter and protection in their car and had started their VW Bug (a very distinctive sound).
I don't know how long the excitement carried on because this little girl was tuckered out and fell back to sleep... In the morning, when we all emerged from our campers, my Mom & Dad had not a clue about what took place. They thought it was just my brother tossing and turning again! And they thought that the neighbors across the way were cold so they started their car to run the heater.
Oh, my! The memories...
Fast forward 30 years to a time we were camping with our friends at Monument Lake near Stonewall, CO - the bear activity was exceptionally bad that year...
We were enjoying a campfire and some S'mores and other goodies...
This picture was actually taken in the morning as the campers enjoyed doughboys. Biscuit dough cooked on sticks and then filled with yummy goodness like jam or breakfast sausage (or let your imagination take off with the filling)
a bear passed through the camp site area, very nonchalantly, on his way to the dumpster.
The excitement that ensued was quite entertaining! Some of the campers, with roasted marshmallows in hand, wanted to get a closer look so they followed him! That was the last time we camped with our soft-sided pop-up camper.
Ok, so I have great respect for wildlife and prefer to keep my close encounters with bear to the Bear Paw Block.
Thanks for joining me on my trip down memory lane!
What sort of camping memories do you have?
Leave a comment... I'd love to hear your stories.
Sew Happy!
Melva
Melva Loves Scraps - Home of the Quilters Through The Generations series
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