We spent our Spring Break in Utah this year. We started in Goblin Valley, and then headed down through Capitol Reef, Bryce, and across Zion to St. George. I think southern Utah is gorgeous... probably one of my favorite places in the world. But when we asked the kids what their favorite part of vacation was, it was the hotel (a crappy roadside motel) and the rec center pool. I remember that about vacations as a kid. We used to go to New Hampshire every year, and while my parents probably remember the scenery, I remember the cool hotel that had bunkbeds and was attached to a mall.
As we were driving through Capitol Reef with huge red rock walls towering above us, and Logan was staring at his leapfrog tablet, we tried to cajole him into looking out the window. We finally told him we'd take the leapfrog away if he didn't humor us. He learned to say "oh, cool, that's awesome" without looking up. As we rode through Zion, Mark pointed out the climbers scaling the huge walls. Logan's response was, "I can't look dad, I'm looking for squirrels". He named his squirrels Cutie and Squirrely.
Ama actually took some interest in the rocks. Every rock to her looked like Red Rocks in Morrison where we often hike, so she kept pointing out potential spots for us to hike. We did several hikes... most under a mile but often painfully long, drawn out two hour affairs with lots of stops to play in the sand, jump off every rock in site, locate the perfectly shaped bow and arrow sticks, and find precious rocks to add to Ama's ever growing rock collection. The other kids on the trail were also of great interest. Ama loved every girl we saw... "I wuv her. I want to have a sweepover. I want to have a pwaydate."
Here are (too many) pictures from our trip:
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| After a 6 hour drive, we let Amelie out in Goblin Valley and she took off without a glance back. |
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| Amelie at Goblin Valley |
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| Amelie & Logan |
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| This was a fun park for the kids. The rocks were just the right size for climbing and hide and seek. |
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| Puppy was miraculously resurrected just before the trip. He had been missing over a year, but was found zipped inside one of Logan's "Stuffy" stuffed animals. Logan and puppy are once again inseparable and he came everywhere with us on our trip. |
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| The next morning, we hiked into Little Wild Horse Canyon |
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| Logan was a big fan of this canyon. He said it was "amazing- no- infinity amazing!" |
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| Through the narrow part |
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| Some stemming action |
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| Ama holding her precious heart rock... and whining that she wants to go to the hotel (which is still 2 nights away) |
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| After Little Wild Horse canyon, we headed a few hours south to Bryce and hiked down the Navajo Loop trail. Here's Logan & Mark on the edge of the trail. Mark swore it was safe. It didn't look very safe. |
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| I was somewhat terrified to have the kids standing that close to the edge. I don't know when I got so scared of that kind of thing. I guess when I became a mother. |
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| Natural bridge at the bottom of Bryce Canyon |
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| The next day, we headed to Zion. We mean to do another canyon hike, but figured we'd walk the quick Overlook trail while we waited for it to get a little warmer. The quick trail ended up taking about 2 hours at Amelie's pace. Logan found a bow and arrow stick, occasionally hunting other hikers. I'm glad he chose a bow and arrow though... more socially acceptable than a gun these days. |
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| One of many, many stops to play in the sand |
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| Logan climbs a rock while he waits for Amelie to finish playing in the sand |
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| Throwing rocks in the river at the bottom of Zion Canyon |
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| The next day we climbed in Snow Canyon State Park. It was a perfect spot for kids because of all the sand at the base of the cliff... just like the beach. We forgot Ama's shovel, so we bought a $1 set of measuring cups. Kept her busy for hours... a very good investment. |
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| Snow Canyon routes |
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| Logan diligently recorded all our activities in his journal. I guess he got that idea from school. He also really liked to play hangman, which is an interesting game when you can't quite read. |
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| Helpers pulling the rope |
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| Logan climbing up under the arch |
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| Snow canyon hike |
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| More sand playing/ rock collecting |
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| Climbing at Turtle Rock on our last day. The kids did really well at the crag... we didn't bring out our go-to babysitters (the tablets) once. |
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| Rope swings at Turtle Rock |
