Hermit Park

Another campground we have traveled to twice is in Larimer County, Colorado and is called Hermit Park. The park and camping fees are a little higher than other places and the amenities match those of a national forest campground.  Hermit Park has many extensive hiking trails and some pretty fun campground led activities/ranger programs.  The campsites were all attractive and had lots of trees and rocks.  The road to and from the campground is not paved and pretty steep.

Cold Springs Campground

Just outside of Blackhawk, CO there is a national forest campground called Cold Springs Campground.  It is a lovely spot with lots of places for trailers, lots of aspen, many wildflowers and a couple of spots for hiking and exploring.  Sites 13 through 27 are all lovely--some trees, off the major highway, access to bathrooms and water.  The campground was well cared for with clean bathrooms and quiet, pleasant sites.  Highly recommended as a great place near Boulder or Denver.

A view from one of our trips to Cold Springs

On a hiking trail (old forest service road) adjacent to the campground.

Lush with wildflowers into July.

We went tent camping in this campground as well--very lovely--missed the camper!

Breakfast Burritos

With enough camping under our belts we have some pretty tried and true recipes to enjoy.  Our favorite tradition is to make breakfast burritos in advance, freeze them and then bake them in our camper oven in the morning for breakfast.  So many perks to this process--we have a pre-made meal, we have a frozen meal that we put in the fridge or freezer which already starts it cooling off and then a meal in the oven warms us up on a cooler Colorado mornings.  These can be fairly flexible, but the general recipe is:

8 tortillas
6 scrambled eggs
Beans or cooked potatoes
Cooked vegetables (such as peppers, sweet potatoes, onions)
Shredded cheese
Salsa

Quickly warm two to four tortillas at a time in the microwave (30 seconds).  Fill them one at time with desired toppings.  Wrap into burritos.  Wrap burritos in foil.  Repeat until desired amount of burritos are made.  Place completed burritos in a plastic bag then place the burritos in the freezer at least one day before you need them.  Take frozen burritos out of the freezer and bake in the oven  about 40 minutes.

Anniversary Camping - Central City KOA

Last week for a little treat Jenna and I got to go out with camper sans kiddos in order to celebrate our anniversary.  Big Thanks to my parents for hanging with them.

We took the camper up to Central City where we got to enjoy the wonders of full hookups including cable tv.  We borrowed a little tv and enjoyed some lazy afternoon and night time television.  I've yet to tackle the water system in our camper - this trip gave me the motivation to get going on that.

Other things we got to enjoy around the campground were sitting out, enjoying campfires, Hot tub, nice hot showers and some spectacular views.

We also to enjoy some breakfast in town and some penny slots.  We went for a hike in Golden Gate Canyon State Park and also walked around town.

It was super fun to hang out just the two of us in the camper and enjoy a few days away together with the Frolic! 

Our Campground

Jenna caught some great pictures on our hike

Echo Lake

This past weekend we went out to Echo Lake Campground in Grand County.  It was a great trip and we were joined by some extra family which made it even more special.  We got to enjoy all the normal camping stuff - , hiking, fire time, relaxing, good conversation and great food incl. s'mores, fire pies, burritos and two delish breakfasts.  I made a breakfast casserole in the camper oven which came out pretty good.

The Campground

The campground was great was about 20 ish sites and 5 of them being first come first serve.  There were a ton of trees which made for a beautiful site.  It seemed like this are had not been as badly affected by mountain pine beetle like so many other campgrounds and areas have been.  Echo lake is just a couple of minutes walk from the campground and there's plenty of hiking right out of the grounds as well.  Would definitely go back!

The Camper

This was the campers first mountain trip and it went really well.  It towed great up and down the mountain.  It was a peaceful place for afternoon naps and a warm place to eat breakfast all together on a chilly Saturday morning.  I put a lower hitch (3 1/4" drop) on the car this time to try and level out the trailer but it still sits too high in front - will try even lower next time.

We also realized that we need some sharp knives and a cutting surface to help with food prep. 

First Trip Out!

Last Friday we took our first trip out of the back yard in the camper.  We've had some sleepovers, meals, naps and used it as an office.  For our first trip we decided we wanted to go close so we headed to Cherry Creek State Park.

Firstly, getting the camper in and out of the backyard.  The first time it showed up it took almost 6 hrs to successfully navigate it around a corner in our tight alley and then into the backyard.  It got stuck several times and wasn't much fun.  After a lot of planning and some additional tools/resources it came out and in very succesfully.

Our camping trip was amazing!  The girls had a TON of fun!  They got to hike, bike, play, enjoy smores, campfire and some singing!  It was really cool to feel so isolated in a beautiful place that is smack in the middle of the city!

The camper worked brilliantly.  It towed successfully and hosted for rainy day play time, meal time and sleep time.

We're super pumped for camping season this year with all our girls and our 'new' super fun camper!  What a blessing!

All hitched up and ready to go!

The Outside

The outside of the camper was definitely a very rewarding part of the project and perhaps my favorite.  I really like how it looks and loved finding some original Frolic logo decals as well as putting out little families initials on the bumper.

Outside projects included . . .
Repair and seal some seams
Reseal some windows (a little water was coming inside!)
Scrape rust off of frame
Grease and pack axle bearings (only one side so far -  the other side the nuts are rusted stuck, so will need to take it some big guns to get them off.)
Paint roof, body and frame
new tail and clearance lights for the back end plus a little trailer wiring magic!

Enjoy the pics!

One of the faded original Frolic Logos

New shiny logo!!

One of my fav pics!