Labor Day 2008 in Hoop Lake

We had a wonderful Labor Day this year. We headed up to Hoop Lake for a family camp out. The day before we hit Costco and Walmart to stock up on everything we would need. We left on Friday at about 11:45 am. That was after a last minute stop at Walmart and a run home for a forgotten wallet. We caravaned up with Richard and Vicki. The trip there was really smooth. I had packed everyone lunch and we ate in the car on the way there. We did stop at the store in Mountain View for a couple extra potatoes because for some reason I thought I was short. The road into Hoop Lake was better than ever. It used to be sooooo rocky and uneven but they have really made great improvements.

The spot we normally get was already occupied but we did get a great open spot with a good view of the lake. We got set up very quickly and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. Grandpa was teasing the boys that he wasn't going to take the 4 wheelers out until Sunday. He knew they were so excited to go riding since they just got their OHV permits. They went on their first ride to help Richard and Brian get firewood. To say the least they are hooked for life. They really loved it. They did a great job even though the bikes are pretty big. That night we had a great campfire and roasted marshmallows.

The next morning Brian made us a delicious pancake breakfast. The boys helped cook and it turn out wonderfully. The boys took their first ride up and around the saddle with Brian and Richard. They had a couple tricky spots to get out of but they did really well. Brian, Josh, Xander, and I took a short ride to go shoot BB guns that afternoon. We found a great private spot and the boys got lots of target practice in. By the time we got back Mark and Molly had arrived with Scout and Uno. They were well on their way to having their AWESOME truck tent set up. Molly helped get the dutch oven stew ready for dinner and we had a great meal. We made S'mores and sat around the campfire talking for most of the evening.

Sunday was our last full day there. Brian, Mark, Josh, and Xander woke up really early to go on a ride. They went to see the giant beaver dams in the area. When they got back Brian again made an awesome meal of dutch oven cowboy breakfast. It was a little chilly and rained off and on throughout the day. We kept a campfire going the whole day. That afternoon we played a really fun card game called "Crap on your neighbor" that Mark and Molly taught us. It is an awesome game and I am sure we will play it again. Mark and Molly decided to stay for dinner, thankfully, because we had tons of ribs. We thought for sure there would be leftovers... but the all the guys took care of that. Mark and Molly left about 8:00 pm and Brian and Richard decided to break down the easy ups. Right after they were taken down the sky opened up and it started to POUR rain. Not just a little, a Ton! We brought as much stuff in from the rain as we could but some stuff was left out to brave the cold and wet. Richard and Vicki came to hang out and play games in our trailer for a while. We drank hot cocoa and had a very nice time.

About 3 am in the morning nature called and I woke up. To complete COLD and DARKNESS. The batteries in the trailer were dead. I gently jostled Brian and said "I think the batteries are dead" and he sprung into action. I seriously have never seen the man move so quickly. He check the breaker and the interior fuses and all seemed to be in tact. Thankfully Richard had a small generator that we borrowed so we could run the heat that night. Little did I know it had been snowing. I went to the bathroom and didn't notice that.

We woke up in the morning to about a half inch of snow and it was STILL snowing. The boys all braved the snow and got all the wet, soggy stuff packed away. We left on a very muddy dirt road. Brian did so well maneuvering the trailer and truck through the slick, muddy hills. There were a couple times I thought we might slide off the road but he was able to save it. On the main road there were a few bags of garbage that were flapping in the back of the truck. Brian was so worried about being embarrassed from garbage flying from our truck he decided we needed to pull over. We found a spot that we could pull over and he proceeded to bungee down the garbage. We wouldn't want to be "embarrassed" by flying garbage you know. As he was doing that we saw my Mom and Danny's truck fly by... then stop. They were on their way home from Flaming Gorge. They turned around to see what was going on. And thankfully they did. Just as they pulled off the road we were trying to get back on the road and got STUCK. The side of the road had thick CLAY/MUD and we had sunk into it. Danny hooked us up to his truck with our tow rope and we were going to get saved. Just then a police car pulled off and was able to stop traffic so we could get onto the road. Now, imagine the main road coming from Flaming Gorge on a holiday with everyone heading home. Now, imagine that road with traffic STOPPED. That line of cars was so long. I am glad we didn't have to go through the embarrassment of garbage on the road... ahahahahahah.

We made it home in one piece and unloaded all of our wet stuff. It was actually a good thing it snowed because it motivated us to clean and organize all of our camping stuff.

It was a very fun trip. We love to camp with our family. Not too mention we had some cool adventures to talk about when we got home. Check out our pictures... until later....