Camping in Northern NM

"MOM! I haven't been camping when I was five yet!"
That was pretty much the argument that Bekah gave Rus and I for needing, having to go camping this weekend. So we cleared our ultra busy schedule...if cleaning the church and garage sailing (yes I did spell it like that on purpose, why not) qualify for "ultra busy"...and we loaded up the pop-up and headed north.
And drove.
And drove.
And drove.
It took us about four hours, actually. Crazy, huh, for just an over-nighter.
We got to our campground, set up everything in the dark, and enjoyed hot dogs and marshmallows by the campfire.
Bekah and Jacob loved it. Beau did too, as long as he was sitting on my lap or Rus's. We told stories, ate too many marshmallows, and did a thorough job of making ourselves smell like a fire.
It was delightful.
Then we headed off to bed in our cozy but not airtight (and thus cold) pop-up, where I froze half the night, Rus worried about the kids freezing half the night, and the kids all slept, the whole night.
The next day we all woke up too early (thank you Bekah), had breakfast, and headed out fully bundled up to go fishing before the sun even touched the frosted floor of our canyon. Rus was able to catch a fish in the stream right by us before we completely lost the kids' interest, but my attempts at catching one were too much for them. Whining ensued (I know. Shocking.) and so we headed back to the jeep to adventure out on a drive.We wound up later at the Salman Raspberry Ranch and found it to be a picturesque, energetic little place with rows and rows of raspberry bushes and all sorts of people, young and old, with hats, canes, walkers, and umbrellas, filling up their buckets and baskets with fresh raspberries. The air was warm, the sun bright, the company friendly, and the raspberries delicious.
And let me tell you, Beau loved it.And loved it.And loved it.Eat raspberries much?I'm sure he ate at least a half a pound all by himself. In fact we told the lady to charge us extra, he ate so much! He would pull off a raspberry, and if it was ripe he'd eat it, but if it wasn't he would spit it out.
Bekah and Jacob had fun too, but they found holding the buckets and letting us fill them up much more enjoyable than actually picking very many themselves.After we picked our fill we walked up to the Salman Cafe and Salman Ranch Store. The whole place was beautiful. It's located right next to an old mill and the adobe brick construction was simply fascinating. Go there. I'm serious. Just for the pictures you can take.
Then we came home. The kids slept for almost three hours on the drive home. We loved it, although we didn't really acknowledge it because, well, you know. Then they would have woken up.
It was a wonderful trip.