Colorado Part II: Camping

Columbine Flower

It has been years since I have been camping and never once have I gone as an adult. Lucky me that I got to go camping in Colorado which is unquestioningly a beautiful place. After introducing myself to Kristen's four absolutely fabulous and lovely Denver friends, six of us girls and one guy (poor Bill!), piled into three cars  (one of which was Kristen's Prius!), and headed out for our adventure in Pike National Forest.

Roughly two hours later, we found the perfect camp spot about 11,000 feet up in a little clearing off of a dirt road. Bill was wonderful and did most if not all of the hard labor as we girls claimed our spots by the campfire and ate Cheeze-its and busted out the beer and bourbon. Lunch consisted of hotdogs we roasted over the fire (absolutely delicious!), and yummy baked goods that Brittney had made from scratch and brought for us.

Charred and yummy; I also toasted my bun on the rocks!

The Denver girls went for a hike while Bill and I held down the fort and relaxed after lunch. More beer and goofing off later, Kristen started heating up her mom's spaghetti sauce that she had made the night before. I am convinced that everything tastes even better when you're "roughing it" outside.

Left to right: Kristen, Diane, Laurie, Ariel, Brittney

Fabulous Le Creuset dutch oven.

We continued to pass our time by shooting Bill's handgun and rifle, exercising our mouths by talking and shouting, playing frisbee, drinking more beer and bourbon, claiming stumps in the woods by relieving ourselves on them, watching Ariel chop wood, and finally, MAKING S'MORES!!!

I set my marshmallow on fire to get that yummy char!

At this point, we were all stuffed and a little tipsy. I decided that it would be in my best interest to go to sleep (it was getting really cold!), so I wrapped myself up in my borrowed sleeping bag and dozed off in the tent. The sunshine woke us all up early the next morning and Ariel started cooking breakfast on the propane stove. Again, everything tastes SO GOOD when you're outside....or maybe it was the fact that the eggs and hashbrowns were both cooked in the bacon grease! We all ate standing up around the community plate!

Cheesy scrambled eggs!

I had such a blast camping! Kristen's friends were very fun and several were foodies like us. All in all, camping was my favorite part of my vacation!!!

We built our campfire in the tiny clearing in the trees :)