Camping Trip

This past Friday our family went on a camping trip with Haley and three of our other friends.  We drove about two hours to a national park that sits on the side of a mountain named Phu Langka.  It is a beautiful little campground set high in the jungle.  We especially had fun getting there (well, I should say me and the boys had fun) because the last 20-30 minutes was four-wheel drive up the mountain through the jungle.  It was already pretty late when we got to the campsite so I took the boys for a short hike up the mountain to a gorgeous overlook.  We could see villages way down in the valley below and the sun going to sleep behind the mountains off in the distance.  Our friend P’ Dome cooked some barbecued pork for dinner and then I made some good strong coffee.  We all sat and talked and laughed for a while and then Tonya and I took the boys back to the tent to sit by the campfire for a bit and then read books.  I had planned on going back to hang out for a while but when I woke up around 2:00 a.m. I realized that wasn’t going to happen.  We got up the next morning, ate some breakfast, had some coffee, and then did a little bit more four-wheelin almost up the the top of the mountain.  We parked the truck and then hiked the last kilometer or so all the way to the top where we could see all the way to Laos (about 50 km. away).  On the way home we stopped at a tiny little village and had soup at a small roadside noodle shop.  I think we were probably the first white people that had ever eaten there and I’m pretty sure we were the first white people any of them had ever spoken to.   We had a great time and I told the boys that there aren’t very many people, especially little kids, that get to go four-wheelin and camping in the jungle.  Click here if you want to see all the pictures from the trip.

Our first hike, this overlook was only a few hundred meters above our campsite.

Esan didn’t want to take a picture, so of course neither did Teagan, so I had to wait until they weren’t looking

Reading books before we go to sleep.

Wakin’ up is hard! Don’t worry, he wasn’t really mad, just pretending.

Monkey See, Monkey Do!!

On top of Phu Langka…almost.