Grover Hot Springs

The Bayer family of 4 went camping.  Just the 4 of us.  First time for all of us in one tent, first time for Kaitlyn in her very own sleeping bag.  First time for us grownups to be in charge of all the cooking and cleaning.  And we did great!  It was a super successful camping adventure.  The weather was perfect.  The campground was just as great as I remembered from my childhood.  And the kids LOVED sleeping all together in the tent.  So much so that it took them until waaaaaaay past their bedtime to fall asleep.  I guess that's part of the fun of camping, the lack of sleep, right?  

We will definitely be back to Grover Hot Springs -- about a 30 minute drive south of Lake Tahoe up in the Sierras.  Middle of nowhere.  Perfect.  

tent is up, we're moving in for 2 days

they had to jump in first thing 

after we set up camp, we took a walk the explore

we found bones -- some sort of animal didn't survive this meadow

There is a natural hot spring source at the other side of the huge meadow from the campground, hence the name.  So we hiked over there, and to the top where the hot water is coming out of the ground.  The kids were amazed that such hot water comes straight from the ground.  Below us in the next picture there are two pools -- one full of natural hot springs water, and then behind the building in the picture is the cold pool.  We went swimming on day 2, and had a great time, with some pretty darn nice scenery surrounding us.

roasting marshmallows on the first night 

s'mores!

even Stella wanted in on this action 

first night in the tent 

the next morning, we took a 1.5 mile hike to some waterfalls -- the trail got a big hard to find and we almost didn't make it to the actual falls.  But Eddy persevered and managed to find our way.  Ryan proclaimed "I love hiking!" on this trek.  Made my heart happy to hear it.  

the falls were a bit more exciting than they look in this picture, promise

look at those tired kiddo faces 

can't get enough of this meadow view from the campground 

waiting for the oatmeal to cook for breakfast -- Eddy was teaching Ryan how to play War and then  Gin Rummy with cards 

Then it was time to take down the camp, and head home.  Ryan was such a fantastic helper on this trip -- both with putting up and taking down the tent, packing up the car.  It was fun to watch.