Travel days, why we camp, and why the Halls are awesome

Pretty much every year since the kids were old enough to travel, the Hall family and the Pransky family have taken a summer trips together somewhere around the country.  We've explored some of the most beautiful places this country has to offer including: Yellowstone, the Tetons, Acadia National Park, and the Smokies among many others.  This year, our clan decided to tackle a big trip to Estes Park, Colorado which is about 1,200 miles away near Rocky Mountain National Park.

With a few exceptions, our summer trips have involved pop-up camping.  While it is certainly more work (and risk, as I'll hopefully post later) to haul our camper and all of our belongings across the country for two weeks, there are a lot of advantages to this kind of vacation.  

The requisite group pic (minus Jen) before we hit the road

I know many people are not the camping or even road trip vacation types.  Most people prefer to fly and just stay in a cozy all inclusive hotel or go on a cruise.  No judgement, as we do this type of vacation ourselves, and they are awesome too.  But, there really is something to be said for seeing the countryside and for getting unplugged from civilization a bit. 

The drive itself to Estes Park was really pretty easy and for the most part uneventful.  Estes Park is about a 20 hour drive (not including stops) from home.  You can take I-80 almost all the way there so navigation is simple.  To break the drive up, we stopped and camped in Iowa and Nebraska one night each.  We used the cool Roadtrippers website to plan these stops close to the route.  The campgrounds were nothing special, but they made good places to rest for the night.
 

Our campsite in IA

On the last day of driving, a kind of funny thing that happened.  I let Greg know through the walkie-talkie that I needed to stop to get gas.  Jen and the kids went in to use the restroom and get some snacks, while I pumped the gas.  I went to the pump and swiped my credit card and then began pumping the gas.  Next, Greg called to me to take a picture in front of the gas station sign because, with our adolescent humor, we thought it was funny.  (Our previous stop had been at the similarly suggestive "Kum and Go." ) 

Hopefully, Pump and Pantry and Kum
and Go don't merge and combine names

When Greg was done taking the picture I washed the windows and then checked the pump which seemed to be done.  Reading the total, it looked like I only put in about $30 which seemed a little low, but was within the normal range so I didn't think much more about it. 

So we loaded up and headed back on the road.  About fifteen minutes later, I glanced down at my gas gauge.  To my surprise and concern, I was on empty, really empty. Keep in mind, this is in eastern Colorado which is pretty barren,  It's not like in Ohio where there are exits with gas every couple miles.  I had to drive another 10 miles and then drive another 5 miles off the exit with my gas light on in order to get gas, for real this time.  What happened the first time?  I'm not really sure.  All I know is it didn't pump when I thought it was pumping. 

Anyhow, with this minor crisis averted, we continued driving toward our destination.  As we drove, the Rockies came into sight and continued to grow bigger and bigger.  Eventually, we were climbing winding roads in the Rockies toward Estes Park.

We finally arrived at East Portal campground and found our sites.  We were a little disappointed because the sites were small, difficult to get the camper into, and not even remotely level.  But as it turned out, the location was very popular with the animals in the area so that kind of made up for its shortcomings.

our campsite at Estes Park

The views from the campground were often spectacular.

Wow!

 Up close and personal views of wildlife like this were common.

elk roaming

 

#selkie

a deer feeding outside our camper in the morning

Great views  and beautiful nature aside, it is obviously way, way cheaper to camp.  Camping in a state and or national park is usually less than $50 a day.  (Estes Park was $40)  This savings frees us up to both take a longer trip and to spend our money a bit more freely while on the trip.  For example, we go out to dinner at least once a day when we are camping. And usually at some point we'll also do a more expensive activity like whitewater rafting or taking ridiculous old timey photos without worrying too much about the cost.

Over the years, these camping trips have provided both of our families some of our fondest memories.  Our nighttime campfire conversations are often spent playing music or retelling funny or memorable stories of things we've done together.  As the kids have grown up and the adults grown grayer wiser, our families have grown together as well.  Mikah thinks of Lilly like a younger sister and Rogan and Lucas have been best bros ever since they could talk.  
 

kids hiking in Hocking Hills (2009)

Jen and I have enjoyed watching all of the kids grow up and become such wonderful young adults. Beth and Greg have been the best friends one could ask for - the type of friends you can count on for anything.  The type of friends that know your quirks and idiosyncrasies and yet they still want to hang out with you.  

We've had  a lot of fun camping together over the years 
 

Greg and Mikah hiking

camping at Maumee Bay State Park

kids Fall camping at Pokagon, IN

Mikah and Lilly in Ithaca

Fort DeSoto, Florida

The Halls have been like an extended family for us for a long time.  We are so thankful to have shared so many great experiences with them over the years and hope to have many more adventures with them in the future.  That being said, we realize that the sad reality is that as older kids approach the end of high school and adulthood, these group vacations may happen less frequently.  :(

2016 - a friendly fellow traveler took a picture of of the entire group
while visiting Trail Ridge Drive

With this in mind, we wanted to make the most of this one.  I think we did.  I'll post more about it when I get a chance.  Thanks for reading.

-Shane