At least every five years I like to make a point of celebrating my dearest friend's birthday with her. I spent Rachel's 30th birthday around a Cape Cod beach campfire. This year Sadie and I were so excited to drive to Moab, UT, only a 6 hour drive for us, to meet up with Rachel and a few other friends for a long weekend camping trip.
I was a bit nervous about making the long drive by myself and having to keep Sadie happy. But we managed well with the help of princess stories on CD, the iPad, and a nice long break in Glenwood Springs for lunch and playground time.
The drive was beautiful and brought back lots of memories of Colorado River float trips when I was younger. Of course my favorite moment of all was giving a big birthday hug to my fabulous friend.
Our campsite could not have been more perfectly suited for our group. Scenic, close to town, and wide open so the kiddos could roam.
As a group we managed the challenge of keeping ourselves and two little ones sane in temperatures which exceeded 100 degrees fairly well, I thought. Frankly, the kids handled it better than most of us adults did.
It was such a great weekend. We did all the activities I would have wished for. Hiking, playing in the creek and the Colorado River, driving and hiking in Arches National Park, cooling off indoors in Moab, and lazy nights in camp.
Although it was challenging being a single parent in pretty extreme conditions for the weekend, Sadie had I loved our mother-daughter camping trip and I'm actually hoping this is the start of an annual tradition for the two of us.
Needless to say we were both beyond exhausted at the end of our four day trip, but it was so worth it.
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