Penelope's First "Camping" Trip!

We traveled to Sequoia National Park this past weekend to commune with nature and with Dan, Catherine, Tracy and Mike. We usually car camp with this bunch once a year or so, but decided a cabin might be better this year. So, we stayed in the Wishon Cabin at Camp Wishon. It was a spartan (and a tiny bit smelly) but really well-appointed for its remote location: we had running, very hot water, electricity and even heaters...although we didn't need use them. We had a full kitchen and shared yummy meals, including Dan and Catherine's bacon/sausage fest and Tracy and Mike's Frito Chili pies. YUM!

For the most part, Penelope really seemed to enjoy herself!
She shared laughs with everybody (including Uncle Bubba above) and slept surprisingly well (although I didn't because of the gigantic spiders in our room--I thought they were going to attack Penelope while we were sleeping).

The one major challenge was the car. She HATED being in the car! I didn't blame her...the road up to the Wishon Cabin was pretty windey (sp?) and then we decided to go visit the big trees and the road there was the WORST...even as the driver I got carsick. She screamed all the way back to the cabin from the big trees...ugh. Doug was in the backseat and sang to her the entire time...she finally fell asleep about 20 minutes away from the cabin. Poor kid...we can't figure out if it was the altitude (the big trees were at about 7000 feet and our cabin was at 3000 feet), the windy roads or exhaustion, or perhaps a mixture of all.

Penelope is on Doug's back in the Kelty pack, she actually looked really cute and comfortable. But, as you can see below, she ended up with Mama. She's still a young baby after all, needs to be closer to either Mommy or Daddy than the Kelty allows.

In all, we had a wonderful time visiting with Dan, Catherine, Tracy and Mike--it is always so so nice to see them. And I think we can call Penelope's first "camping" trip a success!