I have maps of Utah and the United States hung up in our basement. Every time we travel a new road, I mark it off with a red sharpie. This is pretty exciting to me! It makes me want to go exploring! Well, I got to mark off a new road for our family this weekend! I actually planned this trip a few months in advance. Are you proud of me? I am.
You ready to see a lot of photos of kids on rocks? Ok, here we go.
Last week, for Spring Break, we headed down to the Moab area where we had a grand time in the red desert. I'm in love with the red desert, especially in the Spring and Fall. It was beautiful and the weather was just perfect.
We left on Wednesday, and before checking into our condo, we took a little detour along Potash Road, which was a beautiful drive! We stopped to check out some petroglyphs. Can you see them at the top of the photo?
By the way, I'm really grateful for people who offer to take family photos. Thank you, kind stranger!
Another stop to find some dinosaur footprints. We were a little nervous we might lose a little person off the cliff here, but we all made it safe and sound. See the two dino prints on the rock slab, right above Maren's head?
Thursday morning was spent at Arches' National Park. We wanted to be sure to get some use out of Ellie's fourth grade park's pass. And we did! After this last week, we've seen all of Utah's five National Parks, all in the last 6 months. Go us!
South Window:
Turret Arch:
Double Arch:
This was my kids favorite stop. They LOVED climbing the walls! My little monkeys.
Oh no!
Can I just say that we are almost there? Almost to the point of independent children? Daisy walked along with the rest of us and did so well! Now, if we can only get her potty trained...
Kids in a tree:
Thank you to another kind soul.
Playing in the sand at Sand Arch:
Lunch break!
The highlight of any vacation? The pool!
They deserved it after all that rock climbing.
On Friday, we headed south to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. Another beautiful drive! We stopped at Newspaper Rock:
The kid's favorite hike at Canyonlands was Cave Spring. And, here it is:
Daisy would often climb a rock, raise her arms and then proclaim, "I'm queen of the world!"
And, this was why the kids loved this hike:
A ladder? Cool!
Made it!
We found a little friend along the trail:
See the rabbit? It was obviously friends with many a hiker because he wasn't very scared of us.
Good thing we had Nick along to hold up the rock for us:
With a little help from Maren:
Ah, we're cute.
More rocks at Pothole Point:
They were hooting like monkeys, can you tell? After this hike, Maren proudly announced that she's sure she has "monkey power".
Here's proof:
We called that one Elephant Rock.
Lu is afraid of nothing. Sometimes I wish she were.
At one of the potholes:
That afternoon was also spent at the pool.
Saturday, we packed up and headed out. I wanted to go the 'scenic route' on the way home, so convinced Nick we should go see the last National Park, Capitol Reef. So we did, and I'm glad. Another beautiful drive!
We stopped to see more petroglyphs and then had a picnic and played some frisbee:
Capitol Reef is home to Fruita, which is an old pioneer-settled place, and Fremont Indians before that. They still grow fruit there, and make and sell homemade pies:
This was a fun trip full of petroglyphs, red rock, beautiful rivers and river-carved canyons. We ate a picnic lunch at three National Parks in three days. Not bad! In fact, very good! It was a great time! I love this beautiful state! And, I must brag about my kids for a moment. They were such great little trip buddies! I didn't hear much complaining at all, and they were, for the most part, thrilled to be along for the ride. Yeah for good travelers!
