STAR GAZERS
WHERE CAMPING IS ONLY HALF THE FUN
The Star Gazers is an adult only camping chapter. Since we are a chapter of FAMILY CAMPERS AND RVERS, our primary focus is camping with as much fun thrown in as we can think up. We camp all over the state of Colorado in a mix of State Parks, National Forest campgrounds and private campgrounds. We do a mix of full hookup camping as well as dry camping on occasion. Our members camp in popups, camping trailers, fifth wheels, class As, class Cs and tents. We generally limit ourselves to within 150 miles of Denver metro area for our monthly campouts. However, in May 2013, some members of the group planned a longer trip to Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota area as an extra outing for those interested members. In May 2014, several of us traveled to Mesa Verde for a long holiday weekend.
We meet the second weekend of each month, year-round. April through October will find us on our various camping trips, and the remainder of the year we find all types of other fun things to do. In The past years we have gone bowling, visited Comedy Works, played games at Dave and Buster’s, visited the Colorado Railroad Museum, toured Sports Authority Filed at Mile High and Coors Field, laughed at Adams Mystery Dinner Theatre, toured the Wildlife Experience, made our annual pilgrimage to the big RV show in Denver, howled at the wolves at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, visited Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, played with Rosie the tarantula at the Butterfly Pavilion and have eaten very well at a large number of restaurants around the area.
Our campouts are always fun-packed weekends, starting with a group dinner on Friday night. We usually base our weekend of fun on our location. One thing many Star Gazers enjoy is fishing and whenever a lake or stream is nearby, we will find many of our members trying to catch their dinner. Saturday nights are usually potluck dinners, with whatever theme the host chooses. We have eaten Mexican, Italian, salads, BBQ, crock pot, Dutch oven, picnic, wiener roast, etc.… Some members are pretty creative in their choice of theme-appropriate dishes.
Our potluck is usually followed by our monthly business meeting. After that we might sit around the campfire (where permitted) and chat for hours. The rest of the weekend may be spent hiking, shopping, visiting the local sites, or just visiting.
The group is also very active in the state level of FCRV. Many members attend both the Spring Fling in May and Fall Statewide gathering in September. For years we have volunteered at these two annual functions by helping with security, helping with the teen functions as well as the teen queen and king pageants; collecting donated items for the goody bags that are distributed at each camping unit at Spring Fling; holding bake sales at the two annual events as a fund raiser for our chapter; sponsoring a “drive-in” movie night for attendees at Statewide; participating in many of the contests including pet parade, fly casting contest, red wagon contest as well as many more.
Giving back is also one of our goals, and we have made donations of door prizes, and bingo prizes at the state gatherings as well as have donated many items for the Elbert County school supplies drive and the Elbert county food drive as well as Ronald McDonald house.
Our historian has been very creative with our chapter Scrapbook, and in 2012 won first place at the national Campvention. In 2013, our scrapbook won second place at the national competition.
All in all, the Star Gazers are a very active adult group who enjoy camping, having fun and enjoying each other’s company.