2 days in the Desert, 1 day in the snow?

Yes, thats no misprint in the title. Thats exactly how we spent our memorial day weekend. A few months back we decided to plan a family camping trip to include Vanessa'a parents and her brothers and family as well. As you know Memorial Day might just be one of the most popular camping weekends of the year and trying to reserve a campsite was close to impossible. I was fortunate enought to find a site close to Vegas which was atop Mt. Charleston. So we were ready to roll and very excited for our camping trip.

About a week before we started to pay attention to the weather forecast at our campsite. High's in the 50's with lows in the 20's! "This can't be right" we thought, but each night we looked the forecast stayed the same.

Well the big day arrived and the moment I got home it started to rain. Mind you it never rains in Las Vegas, only when you have something planned. So with each drop of rain that came down I saw our hopes of a fun camping weekend drain away. I slowly started to pack the car wondering how Vanessa would feel about leaving in the rain, but the moment she arrived home she was asking how long before we left! With renewed vigor and help from her brother Cisco, we packed the Tahoe as full as I've ever seen her. The roof rack was jammed pack with chairs and tents; the back seat was filled with kids, blankets and Cisco; and the back was filled with dogs and camping gear. With only an hour of sunshie left we headed out on the open highway. As the sun slowly drifted away, we slowly pushed up the mountain until we reached 9000 feet and our camp ground. We found our reserved spot and I noticed the temperature: 39 degrees! Cisco and I found a few good spots, brushed the snow aside and somehow set up camp in the dark of night. We managed to get a fire going and made a few burgers and hot dogs, all the while the dogs were whining and the kids were complaining how cold it was. It wasn't a good start to say the least. We headed to bed and managed to bundle up with sleeping bags and plenty of blankets. About an hour later we were all so cold and each of us alept about 3 hours combined that night. It was 27 degrees in the middle of the night and even then Rochester boy was freezin' cold!

The next morning we made a simple breakfast, broke down camp and got off the mountain as fast as possible. Snow camping wasn't for anyone, especially the kids! We headed out to Rec Rock and found a much warmer and comfortable place to call home for the next few days. Soon after Vanessa's brother and family met us, follwed by her parents. We had two campsites and spent the days eating, drinking and talking, with nights filled with laughter and the glow of the fire.

The picture to the left is the kids enjoying some smores. This was a bog hit for them and fun to watch as well.

Some how I was named "Smokey" during the trip. A few people (namely David) went out on a short walk and came strolling back with this lifelike sign! It was one of the funnier moments of the trip. The picture here is some of the kids with "Smokey"!

One of the most memorable parts of the trip for me was seeing the sunrise each morning when I went for a walk with the dogs. We were surrounded by beautiful mountains and the sun rising over the mountains was just amazing.