Grand Vacation-Day One

My brother Ed came for a visit and I went down to St. George to pick him up. We decided we would take a little excursion and go camping for a couple nights. Ed let me pick the destination and even was willing to have me keep it a secret from him.

So we headed off to the east of St. George and after a couple hours found a good place to take a break.
The Fredonia public swimming pool. Because we don't have a swimming pool in our community, we are always on the lookout for good swimming pools.

Fredonia has a nice pool, with a little kid section, a main pool, and a diving well.

Uncle Ed got to have some bonding time with Desert Boy and Desert Girl.

Desert Boy always had plenty to tell Uncle Ed.

Desert Boy got brave in the kiddie pool section.

He went under water several times and thought it was great.

I like how he smiles with his eyes shut.

Then it was time to continue on, and we stopped at an overlook with some beautiful views.

The colorful cliffs in the desert made the drive very pleasant.

Then we finally arrived at our destination: the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It's the much less-visited side of the Grand Canyon due to its remoteness. The park entrance station said the campground was full, so we retraced our steps about seven miles to a Forest Service campground.

It was called the De Motte campground, and it had three spots left.

Desert Boy helped Uncle Ed put up the big tent while I made some yummy dinner. Well, it was yummy by Desert Boy's standards, combining his two favorite foods: ramen noodles and bean and bacon soup. I found it quite edible and would even eat it again.
Little Emma (who is starting to get enough adventures under her belt to be called Desert Girl once in awhile), enjoyed watching the whole process. This was her first time camping in a tent.

How did she sleep? Check back for the next installment!