For the past month or so Adam and I have both been antsy to go camping since the weather has been so nice. When we discovered the kids had a three day weekend coming up we decided to take advantage of it. We originally planned to go someplace like Moab or the Wedge but I put out some feelers on facebook and had several friends suggest going to a place called Valley of Fire. When we looked up where it was we came to discover that its just an hour North of Las Vegas which just so happened to be where Adam was traveling for work the following Monday. So after some deliberations we decided to instead go to Valley of Fire and then play hooky from school for a few days and take the kids to Las Vegas! We were all so excited for a road trip and to get our of our house for a few days!
I ended up calling the rangers at Valley of Fire to ask about camping and came to find out that their campgrounds are all first come first serve and that usually fill up by 11am on a weekend! Yikes! That meant that we needed to get up at the butt crack of dawn in order to get a spot. Because of that we planned to get up at 6am with the goal to be on the road by 7am. We also were lucky enough to be able to convince Mumsie to come with us! She had been down in AZ visiting Chris and Nan and had originally told us she would be home Saturday, but it ended up that she was mistaken and her flight actually came in Thursday afternoon! Saweet! So the second she landed, she headed home , did some laundry, repacked her back, and then drove down to our house to sleepover. We were so happy to have her join us on our spontaneous family vacation!
We ended up leaving Payson a little later than expected and then found that we could couldn’t drive very fast with our trailer in tow which meant we got to the campground at 11:45, much later than we had hoped. We were terribly disappointed too because just as we pulled up we saw a sign saying all the campgrounds were fun. However, we decided just to go and check them out anyway, with a hope and prayer that someone would be leaving and a spot would open up. So we took our chances and drove directly to the campground. We tried out Arch Campground first (which was beautiful) but found it completely full. We then tried Atlatl campground and luckily found one spot open. It was full sun and not in a great spot, but we didn’t care. It meant we didn’t need to drive another 20 minutes to Echo campground down near Lake Mead. However, as we started pulling into the spot we had a lady tell us that the camp spot next to her was opening up soon as their friends were leaving and that we could have their spot if we wanted it. So we actually ended up with a somewhat shaded spot in a much better location right across from the bathrooms. We felt so blessed! The only downside is that we had to wait a few hours for their friends to pack up and leave. They were nice though and let us drop our trailer off in their spot (they had slept on cots and in tents) so that allowed us to go and explore the park and go somewhere to have lunch. It worked out perfectly!
We ended up just heading over to Atlatl rock (which the campground is named after) for lunch and then afterwards we drove over to see Arch rock as well. Both places were fun to see and explore. It was a fun little lunch time excursion!
Lunch consisted of chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, with fruit, veggies, and chips.
Then after filling our tummies we headed over to climb up Atlatl rock. You could either climb it by stairs or go straight up the rock. The kids preferred the more dangerous version of straight up the face! I think I’ve raised a bunch of mountain goats! 😉
Harry as usual was the first to the top! See the stairs to the left?
We got to see some petroglyphs at the top too!
Adam, Ady, and Jamis and I took the stairs while Brans (who had gotten car sick) and Mumsie watched from the picnic tables.
After climbing Atlatl rock we all jumped back in the car to drive over to see Arch rock. They unfortunately don’t let you climb up to it anymore so we just took pictures. The drive over was really pretty.
And here is Arch rock! They are afraid it might fall soon, so you are only allowed pictures.
