(Look at this... I'm posting on a Sunday!)
At least once every year, Eric, Colette, and I make a trip out to Antelope Island for some good old-fashioned family fun. We're a family of three. We'd rather take a day trip out to Antelope Island than pile up in a station wagon and drive across the country with a bunch of loud, screaming kids in the backseat (I still love you, Mom). And, we'd rather just do something simple instead of trying to cram in as many activities as we can before we have to return to work.
Last year, we tested out our Nikon D90 for the first time and were absolutely amazed at the quality of photos that we were able to get with a digital SLR versus our previous point-and-shoot cameras. The year before that, we celebrated Mother's Day by flying a kite in the sand and chasing each other across the pseudo-beach. The year before that, we took Colette out to Antelope Island for the first time ever and watched her explore her surroundings even with the added limitations of not yet being able to walk. And the year before that, Eric and I made a trip out there by ourselves with Colette still safely stowed away in my belly with much time still left to cook...
It's just something that we like to do, something that we've done for many years, and something we'll probably do for many more unless one day we decide to relocate to an area where we can actually go to the beach!
This year, we saved our annual trip to Antelope Island for a camping trip with my mom on Labor Day weekend. We planned on setting up chairs and watching the sun set over the lake while sipping at a glass of red wine and discussing whatever thoughts would come to mind. We planned on feasting ourselves on goodies of every kind. We planned on doing what we usually do which is just to take every moment as it comes. Eventually the excitement of being somewhere new would peter out, and we would just be able to relax.
This year however we were challenged by a wind that wanted to sap us of our every strength. I've camped out on Antelope Island before, and I remember the tent ceaselessly cracking against the wind. I could hardly sleep that night, and then when the wind had finally died down, it was time to get up. I remember the wind from every single one of our trips out to Antelope Island before and how it would attempt to knock us off our feet. But this year somehow it seemed particularly vengeful, as if it was bound and determined to prevent us from having a good time. Perhaps it didn't help that we set up the tent with the greatest surface area facing the onslaught of the wind. Perhaps it didn't help that we didn't immediately lay down reinforcements in the way of rocks and heavy objects in the tent. Either way, this wind seemed out to get us, and it wasn't until late that we were finally able to lay down and relax. We still watched the sun set as we set up the tent, and we still attempted to enjoy a beer or two before we laid down to go to sleep. But it wasn't the camping trip we had planned, and there was nothing we could do to change it.
Still though, we all had a good time... A couple of bison from the recent stampede show had strayed from their pack and wandered through the campground. We watched as they walked ever so casually through the area and marveled at their size. And then we continued to look out over the horizon to see if we could see them to make sure they wouldn't bother us in the night... Both Colette and Kiri shared their first camping experience together while the rest of us used that experience to try to get things settled. Somewhere during that chaos, I even managed to have some time to take pictures of the sunset. Sunsets out over the lake are always amazing, and so I couldn't help myself taking pictures while my mom and Eric continued to try to get things set up.
All-in-all, I'd say that, despite the wind, the camping trip was a success, and I am glad to have gone! And, I'm sure we'll be out there again somtime in the next year! As per usual, here are some photos from that experience, more of which you can see in the "Camping" gallery:
Friday, July 15, 2011 at 5:21PM 
