Our annual Rushton Family camping reunion was held at Great Basin National Park in Baker, NV. At first, I was thinking where in the world is this place. It was so remote. There were too really cool items that I think saved my idea about it. Lehman Caves and the cool mountain, meaning cool temps, hikes, brush for shade. It was pretty cool, even if nothing around it was.
And here we have Wheeler Peak. It is pretty cool. While trying to find the family camp sites, we drove up the mountain and took in some spectacular views. Oh yes, did I mention we are at 10,000 feet elevation here? It was 10 degrees cooler than lower down the mountain where we were actually camping. I loved getting out of the heat for some of nature's eye candy. Just stunning!
This is the view from the top. Desert every way you look. This place is truly in the middle of no man's land.
One night we went down to a ranger camp fire presentation about the park (and the cool night sky, some pretty good astronomy lessons up here) along with the Basque sheepherders that settled and herded their sheep around the basin. Livy had fun wearing bark rings that I carefully took off some sticks. Apparently, we were not listening very well.
This is me taking a photo through the very high powered telescope that an avid start gazer brought camping. We were able to see Saturn that night so clearly, it looked fake. It is a horrible photo, but you can still see the Saturn's rings. Pretty cool. The skies at night were majestic.
So, fabulous Julie comes prepared as always with the finest kids games. They had balloon dart games, fishing for prizes, etc with prize bags loaded with the goods. The kids loved it. Julie, you really are wonderful about this.
The next day, some of us wanted to go hiking. Clyde and Sandy were nice enough to let livy stay with them. Jim and Cynthia were nice enough to let Howie go on a kid friendly hike with their family. So nice of them to watch our kids so Tommy and I could go on a crazy cool hike. It felt nice to be actively hiking again. Kind of miss STG for that reason.
Okay, so we are hiking along up this mountain. We are in the middle of the Nevada desert and look what we come upon:
SNOW! Freaking snow! July 24th! I simply couldn't resist.
Pretty cool hike. I was actually impressed how well the younger kids did.
The trees up here at this high of elevation are a breed of some crazy resilient tough stuff. I really enjoyed all the plaques that described a bunch of the trees. I liked this one enough, I took a photo of its plaque. Pretty cool quote on Adversity.
On the way back from the petrified pine cone hike, we detoured a little to catch a glimpse of this:
Breathtaking. And can you see the snow?! Elevation is a crazy wicked cool thing.
Oh, the tough boys came out to play. Ya, they had to prove they were tough. You should have seen them, after the photos were taken, they were pretty fast moving to get out of that water.
On the hike back, we found another snow bank. Adam, Russell, and Tyler had fun sliding down it. It is crazy to have snow, even in the mountains in middle of July, in NEVADA!!
This is the beautiful creek we got to camp next to. There is just something about a creek that sets the tone for camping. It is calming. The sound only. Not the actual creek. [enter mother fears] I am really impressed since everything surrounding us is Nevada desert and there isn't a lick of moisture to be found. The creek was raging full. The camp ranger told us that it is about 300% full running down the mountain. They had a lot more water this year than usual and still had snow in the mountains (which you already saw).
Tommy getting "artsy" with the camera.
The kids loved playing in the creek. All was well since they were always supervised and luckily, no harm came of it. There are all kinds of panic that raise up in me the older I get. I used to do this as a kid, play in anything, explore, get filthy. But it is a lot more worrisome for me as a parent. I get it now.
After our massive hike, in the afternoon at 4pm (inspired thinking) we had scheulded a cave tour with the 2nd half of the family that hadn't been able to attend the day before. We wouldn't have all been able to go together anyway as there is a limit of 20 people per tour. I would have to say this was the highlight of the camping trip for me. I absolutely loved the caves. It is hard to describe such a cool wonder. They are living caves and still growing which makes them damp, moist, and active: dripping, pooling and growing. It was insane! Our guide told us that if the liquid (can't exactly remember what sort of mineral solution it is) lands on you, it is considered a "cave kiss" and good luck. Even Tommy and his quasi fear of claustrophobia enjoyed the caves. The pictures just don't do it a sliver of justice. Located in the middle of seriously nowhere, the Lehman caves in Baker, NV are pretty cool and worth the drive sometime. Oh, our camp ranger told us lucky us, we have visited the 5th least visited National Park in America. Awesome, right!
"Cave Kissed!" that is on the back of my arm.
The tours can only hold 20 people. The second half of the family to take the tour, we filled 18 of the 20 spots. We can be a rather large group sometimes.
The kids became Cave Cadets and got their button badges from the Ranger.
Julie had another cool craft for the kids. A Family Tree activity. Howie did a fabulous job getting the people in the right families. For the older kids, she had an extended family tree with our aunts and uncles to challenge them. Cool idea Julie.
Rushton Family 2012
Ever growing, not all present, but a lot of great memories made by this fun-loving group!
Huge kudos to Cynthia. She takes home the cake for camping with a newborn. Baby Alexia was only a month old! Welcome Lexi to the Rushton madness. We Love You!
The end of the reunion ended with us giving Travis his personal send off. We said goodbye to our nephew and cousin. We won't be able to attend your farewell next month, but wish you the best on your mission. Thanks for the wonderful example you are setting. We will miss you lots, but know that is the right place for you and the best place you could be going. You are going to rock the Argentina Resistencia Mission and it will love having you. Work hard, be good, and keep the faith! We love you Travis. We will write lots and send goodies (only in the MTC).
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