Zoe's Fifth Birthday

Well... It's been a while... I thought I would try out this Blogging thing again and post up a few picts from Zoe's fifth birthday. We split the party over two weekends. The first weekend was a birthday party with friends while the second weekend was a camping trip with Friends of Nevada Wilderness.

Zoe and friend with balloon animals whipped up by our friend Ali

Directing traffic on the playground




Lighting up the candle for some "dirt cake" birthday cake

The following weekend we drive out to central Nevada for a group camping trip organized by Friends of Nevada Wilderness. Five other families came along. We drove Route 50 (the loneliest road in America) to Austin, NV. From Austin it was 50+ miles of dirt roads with several stream crossings to get back into the Arc Dome Wilderness.

Kids running ahead at 8000' elevations while adults were left gasping behind them

Zoe and Kai Lala taking a break among the aspen and sage for a picture

A creek ran through the campground. Although the water was icy snowmelt it did not stop Zoe from dipping her toes in.

The aspen grove that we camped in had many arborglyphs carved in from Basque sheepherders who once roamed this area. The higher elevation aspen groves were used to beat the summer heat on the basin floor below. Jean Pierre was here in 1950 and 1951. Notice the fancy script. We found carvings like this dating back to 1924 (including quite a few ancient silhouettes of naked ladies ;-) It must have been lonely in these mountains back then!

The only road into the campsite. 10 miles from an indian reservation and fifty miles out from the nearest town.