Spring Break Part II: Anza Borrego

Tuesday morning we caravaned with my parents from Lake Arrowhead to Anza Borrego...about a three hour drive...to camp for the rest of the week.  I grew up camping there...it was tradition to spend New Year's there every year, so as you can imagine I've built up a lot memories there!  Anyway, the last time we camped there was when Haley and Morgan were very little, in fact, they had no memory of it.  So it was time we introduced them to one of my childhood stomping grounds!

This camp trip we had Haley and Morgan sleep in their own tent...which they were surprisingly excited about!  It was fun to pull out our old tent...the "jockey helmet"...seriously though, we can spot that tent miles away!

 My parents had their set up right across from us.

The first day we hiked to the Palm Oasis...this is a three mile hike (round trip) right there in the camp ground.  The kids went crazy for this hike!  At the end there is a little water fall and you are surrounded by palms in a shady little "oasis".  What the kids don't know, is how massive this oasis used to be!  But unfortunately flooding washed it all away and since then it's been slowly growing back.  But it's still beautiful and of course it didn't take long for my kids to throw off their shoes and get drenched in the water.  Luckily the weather was quite warm!  I didn't bring my camera on this hike so unfortunately I don't have a single picture from it.

We also hiked to the Visitor Center.  There is a little paved path (.6 miles one way) that leads to the visitor center from our camp spot.  So once Haley and Morgan discovered how easy it was to get there they went there often on their own for the rest of the week.  They would wait for the flag to raise in the morning showing they were opened for the day and off they went.  

Thursday was Piper's 5th Birthday!!  

When we all crawled out of our tents my mom had decorated the awning with banners and a Happy Birthday sign for her!  What a treat!  She blew out a birthday candle on a blueberry muffin that morning!  And then it was off to Slot Canyon...this is always a favorite!  It's a short hike that winds through the canyon and in some cases you have to climb and squeeze through really small spaces.

These are four tired girls!!

 And then after Slot Canyon we drove to Font's Point.  This is a lookout onto the Badlands of Borrego,  and they say you can even see into Mexico from this spot!

 That evening my mom handed out some party stuff for the kids to celebrate Piper's birthday.

A Desert Pirate Party...what's not to love?!

We made a peach dump cake in the Dutch Oven in the coals that night for her, and she opened her presents around the campfire.  Not too shabby!

Our last morning we cooked up our Mountain Man Breakfast.  It was tradition to cook this meal on the last morning whenever we camped in Borrego.  Mountain Man breakfast is potatoes, onions, peppers, bacon, eggs and cheese....good, good and good!

Then we packed up and headed back to Lake Arrowhead.  We had Saturday to veg out at the cabin before we got back on the road for home on Sunday.

I have to say, this was one of our best trips!

Except for the part when my back was killing me every night sleeping on that ground (am I getting old?).

Or the part that my parents both had bad colds...total bummer!

Or the part that Rory decided to poop in the bushes near our tent without us noticing and got poop all over her clothes and hands (yeah that wasn't so fun).

Or the part that my mom and I had to clean up that poop in the bushes since it was basically in someone else's camp site (thanks mom for helping me).

Hey, just making it real people.

But seriously, one of our best trips!