Great Basin Day 1

We arrived at Great Basin National Park in the early afternoon. The kids were great on the drive as always, but we had the unsavory task of finding a campsite. This wouldn't have been so bad, but we needed to find a site that would accommodate a 27 foot RV, and we had no idea how to do that. Luckily, there were only 2 such sites left, so we had a 50-50 chance of choosing the right one. We set up the tent on the road in the pull-in because it was the only place large enough for our 10-man circus tent. This turned out to be a blessing, as the rain would've washed us out if we'd been in the bowl where tents were supposed to sit.

This was a beautiful campsite, but any guesses on why we didn't pick it?

Seth is so cute right now.

And these two are such great boys! They love playing Big Fish, Little Fish.

Our tent in the middle of the road.

After we got camp set up, we went on a hike around Visitor's Center nature trail and worked on our Junior Ranger stuff. Laurie, Glen, Nate, and Grandpa showed up around the time we were cooking up our tinfoil dinners and approved the campsite (not that they had much choice!) The site was nice and shady-- and rainy. We were lucky to have the motorhome to spend a little time in during the intermittent storms.

On the first night we went to the Night Sky Program because Great Basin is a Dark Park. The skies were beautiful, if a bit cloudy. The boys really enjoyed the program, which include a slideshow projected onto a white trailer and two huge telescopes. In addition, they got to earn a bonus Junior Ranger badge called the Night Sky badge. We love the Junior Ranger program and what it teaches.

Our boys did great in the tent, and it didn't rain during any of the nights we were there, just sprinkles every few hours during the day. We also enjoyed seeing a lot of animals on our trip this time. We saw deer, rabbits, squirrels, and a 4 foot long snake crawling right on the road. It was another great start to a great trip.

Seth really wanted to be a Junior Ranger, too!

See those big telescopes in the background? Our neighbor's is better.
We're so glad he lets us use it! :)

Jack rabbit 

Seth loved staying up late.