Easter 2010

Well, still making our way through our first year as a married couple, our first Easter together was a trying one. No, we are not having matrimonial issues; however, sub-freezing temperatures do take their toll on even the best relationships. As most of you know, we have yet to vacate the Denver area, and may not as our immediate future is up in the air. Since our wedding last August, we have acquired, through gifts and our own purchases, a fair amount of camping gear but have not had the opportunity to put any of it to use. That changed on this Easter Eve.

We finally decided to just go. We have been having pretty good weather around town, a bit breezy, but decent temperatures, so we figured we may as well just pick a park and test out the gear. What we forgot to account for is the rapidly decreasing temperatures as one heads toward the Rocky Mountains. Yeah, we see the range every day, so we have no real excuse.

At any rate, we made the trip southwest to Mueller State Park. Let me preface this by stating that we plan to return to Mueller in a couple of months for a longer stay that will include hiking, lounging, eating, reading and so much more. We are thinking sometime in June will be appropriate. As for this visit, all was well after the 2 hour drive down through Colorado Springs, past the Garden of the Gods, and on toward the town of Divide. We checked in with the ranger and she gave us a map to our site. This is when things turned a bit sour. We pulled up to our site which had a great view of the mountains. Unfortunately, the entire site was under 6 inches of snow. Only the picnic table stood above the ice. Not to be dissuaded from our adventure, we toured some other sites and found one with a cleared tent pad. The switch was easily facilitated by the roving ranger so we began to set up camp. Then the wind started.

No joke, it took us 30 minutes to set up the tent only after emptying the car of everything heavy to weigh down the corners: snow chains, the emergency kit, the tire iron and so forth. At this point, Lindsey was frozen and ready to leave, but we decided to have a go at making dinner. Lindsey started the water boiling and I gathered wood for a fire. Despite the wind and rapidly dropping temperature, it was not half bad. The fire took a while to start because of the wind, but after I got a flame, the wind really helped fan the rest. The Mac N Cheese with Tuna tasted fine but was cold within a minute.

At this point, Lindsey bundled up in the tent while I tried to be strong and roast some marshmallows. I lasted another 5 minutes before I ended up under layers of clothing, blankets and a sleeping bag. We played Yahtzee for a bit, talked, drank wine, and ate Jelly Beans (not necessarily in that order). Eventually we fell asleep, only to wake up aching from the uncomfortably small sleeping pads. This cycle continued until morning when the wind had died, the temperature had risen from the teens back to the twenties. We scrambled some eggs and packed up by 7am. All in all, it was not terrible. We did survive at least. But it was certainly not what we expected. Enjoy the photos, and Happy Easter everyone.