City of Rocks: Return of the Jacobs ft. The Miguels

Welp, looks like this place is going to be an annual tradition after all 🙂

The City of Rocks state park features an awesome landscape of fields and boulders.

…LARGE boulders.

And it’s the perfect place to camp with friends and doggos 🙂

My grandpa about keeled over and died when he learned I have never used a Dutch oven. Before I could say “This face is too pretty to do manual labor!”, he had loaded my trunk with all the supplies needed to make peach cobbler.

It kind of worked?

(Thank you Grandpa 🙂 )

Crafting!

Our friends are new to camping, so Taylor thought we’d break them in with a gentle hike: The Creekside Towers.

note to self: don’t take the loop next time, just the out and back!

LAKE CLEVELAND

Our favorite place to paddleboard is Lake Cleveland. It’s about an hour from City of Rocks.

You know you’re close when you see Indian Paintbrushes waving along the highway shoulder.

And then you creep down the side of a mountain to the lake below.

Arrow manned her own board all by herself!! One of us adults stayed nearby in case she needed help, but she didn’t need it after all 🙂

Oh man. I loved stretching out on the board, letting the gentle boards guide the way. Fingertips and tips of toes trailing the water.

Nothing better than getting out on a lake. Except maybe going back for dinner and dessert.

The WEIRDEST thing happened. A particular type of meat summoned dozens of giant beetles eager to share our dinner. It was disgusting. Unfortunately, I cannot remember which meat brought on Hell’s insects. Camping is cancelled forever now.

Junior Ranger Hike

Sander and I took a geographical hike with the park rangers. We touched this rock that’s older than the earth itself.