One event was mention to us by our friends only a week before it occurred, which is an overnight camp that caters to families. There are two sessions, one in July and one in August every year. The "campground" is the grassy area around the amphitheatre, where only a few nights earlier, Chris Isaak was featured.
When we arrived, our friends had already set up a tent for us, which was a very big surprise. We had actually rushed around looking for a tent since we don't own one and ended finding one at Wal-Mart.
Tents are actually little houses built for little people to play in.
Look dad, the air mattress is one of those inflatable jumping toys.
This is Melina, she is only a year old but tried her best to keep up with the "older" 2 and 3 year old kids. 
The favorite thing the kids loved to play on was the very wide retaining walls. At certain points, it was about 5 feet high, which made parents pretty nervous. Thankfully, none of the kids fell off.
Camp Red Butte
Here is Venus with her two lovely ladies.
This is Jorge with his precious little Melina.
Benjamin and mom roasting marshmallows for smores.
Assembling the smores. Interestingly, Benjamin didn't like them, he preferred to eat only the graham crackers, no chocolate or marshmallow...good boy!
As the sun set over the Salt Lake Valley, the moon and Venus (just to the right of the moon) became brillant.
This is the roofline of the amphitheatre with the moon faintly showing to the right. It actually was brighter in person...too bad our cameras can't see as well as our eyes.
After graham crackers, Benjamin and mom headed over to the stage to listen to some storytelling. Benjamin loves to listen to stories, mom reads him one every night before bed.
When storytelling was over, two telescopes were set up. It was actually much darker than this photo leads you to believe, I had to push the sensor way up to get a photograph...see the shadows? They were cast from the parking lot lights.
I'm always trying strange things with my camera to see what happens. I was thinking, what if I were to put my lens against the telescope viewfinder? Well, I did and tried to zoom in and this was the result. Then I took a different approach...
...and voila! I held my camera right up to the viewfinder and pressed the autofocus. This is what we were seeing through the telescope, pretty spectacular huh?
Eventually, everyone retired to their tents and fell asleep. The wind will usually blow pretty strong down the canyon every night as the cool air will settle into the valley. It was nice to have it cool and without any mosquitos. I prefer to sleep in cool and warm up in a sleeping bag than to have it hot and try to cool off.
Camp Red Butte
Here is Venus with her two lovely ladies.
This is Jorge with his precious little Melina.
Benjamin and mom roasting marshmallows for smores.
Assembling the smores. Interestingly, Benjamin didn't like them, he preferred to eat only the graham crackers, no chocolate or marshmallow...good boy!
As the sun set over the Salt Lake Valley, the moon and Venus (just to the right of the moon) became brillant.
This is the roofline of the amphitheatre with the moon faintly showing to the right. It actually was brighter in person...too bad our cameras can't see as well as our eyes.
After graham crackers, Benjamin and mom headed over to the stage to listen to some storytelling. Benjamin loves to listen to stories, mom reads him one every night before bed.
When storytelling was over, two telescopes were set up. It was actually much darker than this photo leads you to believe, I had to push the sensor way up to get a photograph...see the shadows? They were cast from the parking lot lights. It was fun to look through the telescopes, we were able to see the craters on the moon very clearly, look at Venus, and see the rings around Saturn.
Speaking of Venus, I started laughing out loud when the guide said, "Okay, lets swing this telescope around and take a look at Venus." I was thinking of Venus our friend when he said that, not the planet.
I'm always trying strange things with my camera to see what happens. I was thinking, what if I were to put my lens against the telescope viewfinder? Well, I did and tried to zoom in and this was the result. Then I took a different approach...
...and voila! I held my camera right up to the viewfinder and pressed the autofocus. This is what we were seeing through the telescope, pretty spectacular huh?Eventually, everyone retired to their tents and fell asleep. The wind will usually blow pretty strong down the canyon every night as the cool air will settle into the valley. It was nice to have it cool and without any mosquitos. I prefer to sleep in cool and warm up in a sleeping bag than to have it hot and try to cool off.
Towards the morning, the wind really picked up and blew like a gale. I was amazed that the tents were still standing. Benjamin woke early, like 6 AM and was wanting to drink something.
This is what I saw when I woke. I thought it was interesting and took a picture.
A few people with little kids were stirring around before the sun rose, the older kids and parents were still sleeping.
The door to the bathroom was an interesting piece. I liked the large glass beads attached to the rusting steel, I think it was a nice creative piece.
Benjamin liked the door too, but was disappointed when he couldn't pull the glass beads off.
This has to be the best part of camping...sharing hot coffee in the morning with friends.
Benjamin was really hungry and ate breakfast like a champ. The spot on his nose was from the evening before. He saw Eva hop up the rock wall from the grass below and attempted to do the same. Instead of hopping up, he hopped into the wall, bouncing off of it with his little nose. He fought hard to hold back the tears and didn't cry.
Eva found comfort by snuggling with her blanket.
Although Melina was cold, she was very comfortable in Vero's arms.
After breakfast, people started tearing down their tents, rolling up the sleeping bags and hauling all the camping gear back to the cars in the parking lot. Benjamin was very upset to see all the people were leaving. He cried when our tent was torn down. He doesn't like for good things to end, as most of us are.
This is what I saw when I woke. I thought it was interesting and took a picture.
A few people with little kids were stirring around before the sun rose, the older kids and parents were still sleeping.
The door to the bathroom was an interesting piece. I liked the large glass beads attached to the rusting steel, I think it was a nice creative piece.
Benjamin liked the door too, but was disappointed when he couldn't pull the glass beads off.
This has to be the best part of camping...sharing hot coffee in the morning with friends.
Benjamin was really hungry and ate breakfast like a champ. The spot on his nose was from the evening before. He saw Eva hop up the rock wall from the grass below and attempted to do the same. Instead of hopping up, he hopped into the wall, bouncing off of it with his little nose. He fought hard to hold back the tears and didn't cry.
Eva found comfort by snuggling with her blanket.
Although Melina was cold, she was very comfortable in Vero's arms.
After breakfast, people started tearing down their tents, rolling up the sleeping bags and hauling all the camping gear back to the cars in the parking lot. Benjamin was very upset to see all the people were leaving. He cried when our tent was torn down. He doesn't like for good things to end, as most of us are. We had a wonderful time at this event and enjoyed spending time with other parents. See you there next year.
1 comment:
I love this story and the pictures. It makes me want to camp there and bring Susan's telescope. She has a really powerful ten inch dobsonian reflector that's a lot of fun to look through.
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