Camping, camping, camping

We're really on the go this summer... at least, it feels like it!

We had a lovely Fourth of July camping near Ouray, CO in the San Juan mountains. Pictures are on my Facebook (I'm too lazy to upload them here too right now, and most of you are on my Facebook anyway.) We took some friends along, with their two boys ages 10 and 6, and they played really well with our girls. The fireworks in Ouray were beautiful, especially with lightening illuminating the sky behind the mountains and thunder rumbling along with the firework booms. It didn't rain much until we were packing up - all of our gear got soaked and that created extra work when we got home, drying everything out. But it was so worth it. It was beautiful. I'd love to do the same thing next year and take along more friends!

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We've got the Montana trip all planned out. We'll be stopping to camp right outside Grand Teton National Park, then driving through Yellowstone and over the Beartooth Scenic Byway, stopping again in Red Lodge, MT for a night. After that we'll head to Fort Peck, MT for three days with my beloved sister-in-law and her new hubby. The way back we're just heading straight down and home, a two day trip instead of three. It's gonna be a busy week, but tons of fun.

So I'm sitting here vegging out and trying to get sleepy enough to head to bed, and reading about bears. You know, since we're gonna be camping in bear country, I thought I should be prepared. Black bears don't scare me so much, but grizzlies do, and there are plenty of them in the areas we're camping. I'm doing a splendid job of scaring myself silly. We're not camping in campgrounds, just somewhere along the road in National Forests. We'll be on our own. Isn't that kinda creepy? Of course, my husband has a gun and knows how to use it. And I might invest in some bear spray. And I might stay up all night listening to every noise outside and wondering what it is, likely waking my husband half a million times to make him peek outside the tent and tell me it's the wind. :o)

I should probably stop reading about bears. Afterall, I'm more likely to die of a fatal car crash or be murdered or something. Right? Yeah... remind me of that when it's dark and we're alone in a tent in the woods in bear country. ;o)