Technically 2017 is a staycation year. We have kind of rotated staycation years and big trip years for both budget purposes and baby purposes. Since we knew that we would have a pretty young baby this summer, we figured a staycation would work out great. However, Jenna Haderlie has been telling us for a long time that we need to go to the ice caves/lava tubs in Idaho. Lydia loves volcanoes and has been begging us to visit a real live volcano. Meaning a real volcano with flowing red lava. Since we are not making it to Hawaii any time soon, that seemed like it was out of the question- which might make Idaho a better choice.
In addition, every year (the past 2 summers) we go camping with the Middleton family. However, we were not sure how much we would want to do camping with such a new baby so in April we decided to start looking around for where we could stay near Craters of the Moon (that has ice caves and lots of lava). While we were looking we found this amazing lodge that did not look to be too far away from Craters of the Moon. It had enough room for both the Middleton's and us and had a full kitchen etc, and was not too expensive, we booked it and felt so good.
Turns out that the Lodge was at Castle Rock State Park, which is about 3 hours away from Craters of the Moon, which is not as close as we thought. So we turned our Craters of the Moon trip into a two part, Castle Rock State Park and Craters of the Moon vacation. Check out the next post for the Craters of the Moon adventure.
We packed up our car on a Wednesday night so we could head up to Castle Rocks State Park on Thursday morning. The drive is about 3 hours, but with kids, we figured around 4. We packed the van with plenty of treats and took off. The kids were so excited because if we drive on a trip for more than 2 hours, that means they get to watch a show.
For a long time- I was really worried that this was really going to be a bust because as we got closer to the park, it looked like a pretty barren wasteland. In fact, It was pretty barren, so it was a good thing we were in a beautiful lodge and not a campground. We stopped by the visitor center and you can tell this is a very much off the path kind of state park. At the visitor center we asked about which trails would be good for kids and also asked about checking in to the lodge. The told us that the door was open and the key was in the lodge and that we did not need to do anything to check in. It was so funny, Shantel was like, "are you sure we don't need to do anything to check in?". They did not even ask for our name or anything.
As soon as we got to the lodge the kids could not wait to get out and explore. They literally ran around the lodge screaming at everything they found. There was a main room with a table, couch and fireplace. A master bedroom with a connected office that also had a door to outside. Just past the main room was the kitchen and then a sitting room with a TV and a couch that turned into a little bed. Then through the next door was a room with a bunk bed. Just as a side note, when we got back from the trip and people asked Lydia about it, her favorite thing was the bunk bed and the little stream. They thought the bunk bed was so great. Just past that room was another room with a twin bed. We ended up with plenty of places for kids to sleep and they really liked being all together.
We spent the afternoon just hanging out at the lodge and it was fantastic. Outside there was a giant grassy area, picnic tables, frisbee golf holes and a little stream. There were some sprinkler running to water the grass and the kids asked to go run through the sprinklers in their swimsuits. They also made it down to the little stream to play around. We did Spaghetti for dinner per Lydia's request to have pasta on vacation. I really loved the afternoon just hanging out and watching our kids run around with such glee. It was so nice because this lodge was really out in the middle of no where and so there were not really any other people around and tons of space for the kids to run and have fun. There were a ton a shade trees, so Shantel and I were able to relax under the trees.
After dinner we drove up the road a little bit to the trail that runs around Castle Rock and decided to hike around for a few minutes. We wandered around the trail for a bit and then Lydia found a giant rock she wanted to climb up. As usual, Austin did not want to be left behind so the three of us climbed up the rock while Shantel stayed below with Caleb. It was actually pretty far down, so I held tight on to Lydia and Austin's hands. They loved how high we were and how much they could see.
We headed back and got the kids in bed. Then Shantel and I just relaxed while the three kids all slept. Shantel found a country themed puzzle in the office of the lodge and cheerfully decided she wanted to put it together, so we worked on a puzzle and chatted. The Middleton's got there a little later (partially due to bad directions from us, sorry Middleton's!) and got their kids in bed too. We stayed up chatting with them for a while and it was go great. We love hanging out with them because we can pretty must just chat about anything.
We were in charge of breakfast in the morning and did some Ebelskivers (Danish Pancake that takes Shantel back to her Danish/Ephraim roots), eggs and sausage. We decided to go hiking first thing in the morning and drive over to the City of Rocks. We chose a relatively short hike that had good shade. The kids thought it was heaven. In fact, we did not even get close to finishing the hike because they loved to stop and climb and look around. The landscape was stunning.
Photo Credit: Ali Middleton
Side note: It is really cool when you have a professional photographer on your trip. She took some amazing pictures that she shared with us. Thank you Ali!
Photo Credit: Ali Middleton
Photo Credit: Ali
Photo Credit: Ali
Photo Credit Ali
After the Hike the kids were pretty tired and hungry. We decided to drive back to the lodge to do lunch and hang out there for the afternoon.
Shantel would want me to mention how cute the lodge is, so, look how cute the lodge is. It was actually really cool because inside were pictures of people standing in front of the lodge more than 50-100 years ago.
In the afternoon Ali Middleton got out some paints for the kids to do. They spent a few minutes painting, but it turned out that Shantel and Ali really enjoyed painting the very most. Shantel did the most amazing painting of a bush we saw while hiking with the back drop of Castle Rocks. Meanwhile Mike caught a nap and I hung out and watched the kids run around.
Shantel's art.
The kids spent most of the rest of the time just playing in the little streem.
Photo Credit: Ali
Photo Credit: Ali
That night we did Sanpete turkey for dinner and then did a fire and roasted marshmallows. (Sorry Austin we took you to bed before you could roast). Lydia had a great time. There was also a marmot in a nearby tree that kept us entertained, mostly as we tried to get a good enough look to see what it was.
We put the rest of the kids to bed and then enjoyed the fire for a while before heading inside and playing some games with the Middleton's. In the morning, we finished the puzzle while the Middleton's made a delicious, pancake, egg and bacon breakfast.
We packed up while the kids played. We were headed to vacation part II, Craters of the Moon and they were headed to a lake and then home.
Photo: Ali
Photo: Ali
We had such an amazing time and the Lodge at Castle Rock state park was perfect for the 3rd annual Peaden/Middleton Camping trip. We are grateful to have such good friends. We had such a fantastic time and our kids loved it.
