Skywatch Friday: The Weather Wins

A couple months ago we planned our camping trips for the season.  The first time out with our RV we always go to the local state park because invariably something will have broken on the trailer during its winter storage.  In Colorado if you wait until March for camping reservations at our state parks you have to take what is left.  The only time until October that we could get four nights together was in early May.  It can be very iffy--beautiful weather or snow and cold.

The campground is only about 30 minutes from our house.  We arrived in late afternoon.

After setting up we had to get the Dutch oven on the coals.  My dad was a Forest Service Ranger and he passed onto me the skill of cooking over coals.

The sun started to set over Cheyenne Mountain and we still had a couple hours to go--it starts getting cold in the Rockies when the sun goes away.

My specialties are beef stew and peach cobbler in the Dutch oven.  When the stew was nearly done I put the biscuits in and we waited some more.  You have to put coals on top of the lid in order for the biscuits to come out nice and brown like these.  Not too many though because they'll burn.

After dinner we had a little time to take the dogs on a walk.  We love this state park because it has miles and miles of trails.  The bad part is that only a couple of them are open to dogs.  We've hiked those trails dozens of times over the years.

The next morning we took them out for a two mile hike.  It was nice to see a little color on the trail.

As you can see the scrub oak hasn't even leafed out yet.

We had to stop on a rock for a family selfie.

The lamb's ear is coming to life.

This was on a Sunday morning and by the time we got back up to our camping area all our neighbors had departed.

That evening the weather started deteriorating and the clouds rolled in over the mountains.  The wind picked up and it started drizzling.  The weather service (what's left of it anyway) issued a winter weather storm warning for areas above 11,000 feet.  We were only at about 7,000 feet so we never had more than rain, rain and more rain.

We went inside and started up the heater in the RV because the temps had dropped into the 40s.  There's a reason why we camp close to the city for our first trip of the season.  Neither the water heater or the propane heater wanted to work.  The water heater was a quick fix--the braker was flipped.  We determined the sail switch on the heater was blown too, not such an easy fix unless you have a spare one with you.  The sail switch is a safety feature that prevents the propane from igniting if there's not good airflow.  No worries though because we have an electric fireplace that generates heat plus we always carry a portable electric heather.

We made it through the night and most of the next day before we looked at each other and said "should be just go home?"  There wasn't going to be anymore hiking or outdoor time as the weather forecast was calling for another 2+ inches of rain over the next couple days.  We go camping to enjoy the outdoors and being cooped up in the trailer wasn't good for anything except book reading (which we love too).

Aspen spent the entire day in bed recovering as camping really stresses her out.  And yes, I know the dog shouldn't be in the bed.  Hopefully we'll have better weather next time.

So on this trip the weather won the battle.

Linking with Skywatch Friday