Coolidge state park. I just realized that we have not camped here in 13 years! That is crazy! We have come up here for the day many times. Several of these memories stand out. The last time we camped here was memorial day weekend of 2010. We had not booked anything in advance and had a difficult time finding some thing but after dark on Saturday of memorial day weekend, we hooked the Cherokee up to the pop-up and drove up. Noah was four and Liam was seven. On the way here I can still recall getting emergency calls from truck drivers as we were driving past Echo Lake, because I was still working for GMH back in those days, but not for much longer.

Because as a family, we were always late, and we would always arrive after dark. I used to do this thing where I would set the camper up, unfolding the pop-up in pitch darkness, and I was excellent at it. Well, one reason might’ve been that I was being sort of sarcastic about how we always arrived after dark and showing off a little bit that I could do it just as efficiently in the dark as I could with light. The real benefit however was setting up, had we use lights we would’ve been swarmed by mosquitoes, so I would always wait until everything was buttoned up and Velcro’d up and we were inside before we ever turned the lights on. I am certain that even today eight years after we sold that pop up, if you were to put me in the dark with it, I could still set it up to this day just as efficiently.

We went to bed pretty much right off as it was right around midnight. I recall hearing wolves that night, what an incredible sound. Donna slept in and I spent the first hour with my boys. I can still feel that morning today. Liam and Noah got Junior Park Ranger badges while they were here that weekend. 

As I think about all these details, I never regret having camped with them so much while they were growing up. I perceive that it gave them some thing that they will have for the rest of their lives.

Perhaps one of my favorite memories of coming up here for the day was in the spring of 2021. Liam and Haylie came hiking with us. Poor Haylie did not have shoes that were good for hiking and her feet were really hurting. Liam worked on some solutions, and in the end he gave her his shoes and he hiked barefoot. What I love about this is it is so symbolic of how they are with each other, and always have been. No matter what they have to do for each other. They always do it. 

At the end of the hike we cooked backpacking food up at the pavilion. Liam and Noah had the Biolite stove cranking away cooking things. When I see them do all these things, I realize that they’ve learned a lot over the years. Today, each with their own gifts, they run with it on their own terms. I cannot love and appreciate this enough!

Tonight, I walked up to the ranger station because there is free Wi-Fi up there, but no service, but since I have my phone set to Wi-Fi calling, it worked out perfectly and I called Donna. On the way back, I made friends with my neighbor who was also walking back.

He emerged from the shadows on my right flank. We started talking. He is from Connecticut. Amazingly the conversation (I promise through no instigation on my part – really) turned to Asian food. What are the odds? He was on day 5 of a 7 day solo camping trip. He seemed like a really nice guy. (I am serious about the Asian food, I did not bring it up). As we headed back to our respective campsites, I learned he is my neighbor.