City of Rocks

Have you ever established a tradition and then wondered, “Why did I think this would be a good idea?” Or have you ever been amazed at how stubbornly you adhere to said tradition. Well, I have ….
Over the years we have gone camping to City of Rocks…again and again and again. In fact, people often ask us for suggestions of camping spots but we have to admit that we really only camp at one place, in fact, we usually only camp in one camp site. Good ol’ number #11 (or 12 depending on the City of Rocks number system that year) Close enough to the bathrooms for a quick dash, but not so close you smell them, and a fun rock to climb on.
This year tested our will when it came to City of Rocks. All we mustered was a quick day trip to the City which was called on account of rain after lunch. So, Steve was itching to head down one more time.
Conference weekend has been a fun time to go. It has also been a miserable time. Steve planned with two separate families to go down this weekend, both backed out and with a work trip scheduled until Thursday, I wasn’t so sure about the idea. To top things off, our beautiful September was forecast to turn into a wintery October.
We vacillated for weeks. In fact, as Steve and I ran Monday morning before his flight he laid out all our options, until I told him to stop because it was making my head hurt! He left with our plans still up in the air.
Wednesday turned out to be just as nasty as the weatherman predicted. It rained and blew and even snowed. I wanted to just pack it in and say, “Oh well, we tried.” But…the City is a tradition. We always camp there at least once a year. All the kids, even Eve, have been to the City before they were one. There in lay part of the problem, when we took Eve it was a snowy windy October and I just remember holding her and having at least five layers on her at all times and she was still cold. (Of course, we didn’t realize she was always cold even in our nice cozy house) I just didn’t want to repeat that misery for Grace.
Steve flew home to a beautiful sunny but cold Thursday. He quickly announced, “Let’s decide to stop being indecisive. We’re going!” And so we did.
We arrived on Friday and found the City nearly empty. Plenty of camping spots, except #11 was taken (dang scouts). Plenty of climbing. Yes it was cold, the kids slept in two sleeping bags each…in long johns…and socks. But the heater kept the tent trailer decent and the fire was fun to play in. Abby led her first two climbs. Hannah touched the chains a number of times (meaning she reached the top). Caleb and Seth explored everywhere in between climbs. Best of all, Grace was warm and loved crawling through the dirt and eating rocks.
That’s right, the tradition lives on!