Spring has arrived (more or less) and with it comes spring fever. I imagine I am not the only one hankering for warmer weather and spending more time outdoors. We managed quite a bit of outdoor time with our boys, punctuated by complaints that we were outside instead of playing video games.
Antelope Island: a Spring time favorite! Before the heat and bugs of summer hits, this is a very fun place to hike and explore. It seems to be becoming an annual destination for us and I am okay with that.
Salt Lake Bird Refuge: I did actually see some birds! But mostly we talked about all the various birds it would be possible to see and enjoyed the sunshine. In my old age I think I might be becoming the kind of person who knows what every bird is and talks about them with enthusiasm to young people who don't care.
We decided a family road trip would be a good time. Arthur was our little MVP who slept great in the car and was so chill about wherever we went, Paul and I started calling him Zen Baby. Except when I'm eating. Little Man cannot stand me eating with both hands. We spent the first bit of our Spring Break at Bryce Canyon. It was busy. It was chilly. I was stressed. We still managed to have a good time.
Yes. Arthur is that cute! Paul used his camera to take pictures of every single dog. There were many, many people walking their dogs along the rim, and he met them all. He calls it "The Puppy Project."
There was ice anywhere with shade, quite a lot of wind, and there were some grumbles from children who would have preferred to be watching TV or swimming. I bribed them with the promise of a souvenir if they'd hike without whining. It mostly worked.
Arthur really was happy to be outside and seeing new things, he was bundled enough to not mind the cold, but he HATED the wind. When the wind was really strong--and frigid--he screeched and raged till we got him indoors.
I am a massive fan of Junior Ranger programs, and my kids generally like them just fine. We used the booklet to track which animals we saw. A Stellar's Jay? What joy!
The grandparents kept Arthur so Lee and I could take the older boys on a hike down into the canyon--the classic Navajo loop + Queens Garden trail. It's the most popular hike at Bryce, lots of folks on the trail, so we did the entire hike with masks on. Even the steep up hill climb.
This whole hike is extremely cool, I'd love to do it again when snow doesn't have a portion of the loop closed. I'd do it again regardless. It was such an interesting hike my children forgot to complain about how long it was and how tired they were.
I love Bryce Canyon. My recommendation: avoid weekends! I was thinking it would be so early in the season there wouldn't be many people. I was extremely wrong. That added greatly to my stress as I really didn't want a buncha strangers breathing on me, but hey, I'm the idiot who tried to go on vacation. Our next destination wasn't so busy.
We got back from road trip part one and spent just enough time at home to wash clothes and relax for a day before we commenced road trip part 2. First stop: Fantasy Canyon!
Fantasy Canyon deserves it's name. It is a very weird place in the absolute middle of absolutely nowhere. It was a bit out of the way, but I tacked it onto our road trip and I regret nothing. As crowded as Bryce was, Fantasy Canyon was essentially empty. It is, as I said, pretty far from civilization. The only interesting thing to look at in many miles of bland, beige desert.
After a stop off to explore the tiny and otherworldly canyon, we arrived at our glampy camp site in Vernal:
This Tipi rocks, especially the rather untraditional interior. It even has running water! It did, however, get cold enough at night to freeze the water. We were prepared with warm sleeping bags, but we sure didn't want to get out of them in the morning!
After our cold night we had a very warm day at Dinosaur National Monument. We first had to get our Junior Ranger books from the visitors center, then we headed to the Quarry Museum.
Fossils, fossils everywhere. The trick is knowing what to look for, which I don't. Luckily in the Quarry Museum are large bones from large dinosaurs that are difficult to miss.
I wish my kids shared my lifelong love of dinosaurs. They liked it, but not nearly as much as I would have at their ages.
We saw some incredible pictograms and petroglyphs (left by the Fremont people, whose land this was), and enjoyed a very short hike into a neat box canyon called Box Canyon.
And we visited the small, but delightful, Fieldhouse Museum in Vernal. This place the kids truly loved.
And with that we headed home so we'd be ready for Easter. We did an Egg Hunt at Grandma's, we decorated Eggs, had a delicious dinner, and blessed Arthur with family all around for the first time in over a year.
I love it when Arthur does his little old man face. And I am grateful for so many in my family having gotten their covid vaccinations so it would be possible to see them.
But let this be a lesson to you all: we may all have varying degrees of immunity to covid, but not to norovirus! (Causes what we'd commonly call the stomach flu) I so loved sharing my holiday with family, though we are all somewhat less thrilled by the germs shared...
