Impromptu Father/Son Camping Trip

Sometimes I just get the overwhelming desire to go camping.  So, only thing to do in a situation like that is to just go.  I was overdue for a trip (in my mind), so I loaded up the Land Cruiser, and my son and I took off to our favorite spot in Ranchita for a quick overnight trip.  Since it was last minute, we got up there just before dark, but we quickly setup camp, got a fire going, and got dinner started.  It was a beautiful fall evening and the temperatures were really comfortable.

Dressed for bed, but not ready to turn in, we were feeling a little adventurous so we figured we would explore one of the nearby closed mines that we were camping next too.  It was pitch black in there, but it was a lot of fun to check out.  We were preparing ourselves to be ready in case we found some bats, and we did see a couple, but they paid us no mind.  Finally, after our little adventure, we were ready for bed.

My son was up early the next morning and already exploring.  I came over to see what he was finding on his trail he was blazing, and I found because the morning was so clear, the view to Lake Henshaw was amazing.  I had never seen it from this vantage point, so that was a treat.

We were goofing around on our drive out after breaking down camp, so I figured it would be fun to stop at this off-camber spot on the trail and have him climb into the drivers seat like he was driving through this technical spot.  With the photo op complete, we headed back down the trail and ran across another mine that was fairly hidden but my son spotted it.  We then found a side spur with a couple mine openings.  With our exploration completed, we headed home, satisfied with our fun quick impromptu camping trip.