Maya and I are just east of Danish Knoll in the mountains east of Ephraim, Utah. Elevation is approximately 10,000 feet above sea level.

When we got here last night, it had been raining. Well, it had been pouring off and on. We were concerned the camping trip was doomed to be miserable, but it hasn't been so bad.

It has had its share of pitfalls, though. We were supposed to leave around 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, but we didn't really get on our way until about 1:30 p.m. We met up at a Carl's Jr. in Draper and went from there.

We stopped in Nephi to hit the restrooms and tank up. Our next stop was Ephraim, where it poured a torrent of rain while we were at the Wal*Mart there so my mom could get a book to read.

But, the rain stopped as quickly as it had started and, despite warnings on the weather radio of continual showers in the central Utah mountains, we proceeded into the canyons to Ephraim Mountain.

The rain was a blessing because the dirt roads in the canyon and on the mountain top were just barely wet enough to prevent dust from being throw about as we drove, but not wet enough to create a mud issue.

We found the campsite and met up with the other family members there.

Besides me and Maya, my sister Allison, her (new) husband Darvell, Allison's kids Benjamin and Audrey, my brother Tom, Tom's kids Brennan and Cole, and my mom and dad came.

After making it to our campsite, we figured out where we were setting up our respective tents. Maya and I found a really sweet spot under the trees for our tent. Tom and his boys found a similar spot.

We got our tent set up, pumped up the air mattress we bought for this trip, and set it in our tent.

We had a delicious dinner of beef stew over white rice, rode the four-wheelers and the motorcycles for a while, then gathered around the campfire when it got dark.

We roasted some marshmallows and then went to bed.

I had a headache all day and it got progressively worse the later it got. I was hoping I just needed sleep, but it was getting so bad, I couldn't sleep. And, I felt terribly thirsty.

Just after midnight, I slipped as quietly as I could out of my tent to get some water. I also searched my first aid kid for some acetominophen for my headache, but found only buffered asprin.

I found some ibuprofen in my car and took that. My mom heard me looking for water and poked her head out of her tent and shined her flashlight around. I told her I had it under control.

I went back to my tent. Around 2, I still could not sleep and started feeling sick to my stomach. I decided I needed to get up and vomit. As soon as I tried to get out of the tent, the vomit alarm was blaring loudly and my goal was to get as far from our campsite as possible. I didn't want them thinking there was some bear in our camp making, “Roooooowwwwwweeeerrrrrrrghhhhhhl!” noises.

After I expelled the contents of my stomach, I felt a whole world of better and fell asleep right away.

Maya and I woke up around 9 and had breakfast. It was an excellent breakfast, of course, because my mom prepared it.

After breakfast, Maya and I jumped on a four-wheeler and tried to find a way to the top of Danish Knoll. We didn't make it clear to the top, but we got pretty close. I took some “aerial view” pictures of the campsite and some video.

Viewing our campsite from near the top of Danish Knoll.

We roasted hot dogs for lunch. That was my food assignment and I brought 16 polish sausages and 20 regular weiners. We had a lot left over!