Fall family roadtrip

It always amazes me how vast and barren and completely awe-inspiring the landscape is when you leave the salt lake valley.  We spent 5 days exploring one corner of Utah during our fall break.

We drove south, with our first stop in Springdale, Utah to see Zion National Park.  The incredible scenery of this park stands out among the most spectacular and beautiful places in the world, at least to me.   We stayed at the Desert Pearl Inn, and managed to do a few short hikes with the girls (watchman, emerald pools).

From Zion, we went to Bryce Canyon.  We stayed in the park in a log cabin.  The highlight was seeing the amphitheater on horse back.  Lizzie was not old enough, so she and steve hiked the hoodoos.  A favorite memory was getting board games from the lodge, and watching the girls entertain themselves for hours collecting pine cones and sticks.  Never once did we miss our phones and tvs.  And, the darkness and silence of the night is pretty spectacular.

I should add that I rode a massive farting mule named Corey.  He seriously farted the entire 3-hour ride.  Carolyn (who was riding in front of me) thought it was hysterical.  The woman behind me did not appreciate it as much.

After Bryce, we continued on through the Grand Staircase and Escalante areas.  While we did not do any major hikes or exploration in this area, we did stop and admire the incredible and distinct scenery along the way.  Without any schedule or agenda, we stopped at lower calf creek falls so steve could fish and the girls and i could hike a bit just to break up the time sitting in the car.

Our final night was in Boulder, Utah.  There is not much of a town here, but there is a beautiful little resort and renowned restaurant called Hell's Backbone Grill and Boulder Mountain Lodge.  We had a delicious dinner and brunch, and a very restorative night of sleep.  The girls's favorite part was having their own bedroom, separate from us, in the lodge.  They slept in until 1030. 

While we covered a lot of mileage on this trip, it was just one little corner of Utah.  We have a lot more of our nation's beauty to explore.  The girls liked our "luxury" lodge accommodations on this trip, but they also said they missed camping.  Next, we will probably show them Moab and Canyonlands National Parks.  I guess we will bring the tent and sleeping bags with us then.

Witches

Who doesn't like all the fun halloween activities around town?  Seeing the witches at Gardner Village is always a favorite of ours.

Snowbird

With season ski passes at snowbird, a fun fall perk we get to enjoy is free activity passes and a few night's stay at the lodge.

Lizzie's favorite was the alpine slide.  Carolyn's favorite was the mountain coaster.  We all enjoyed the bungee trampolines.  And, lizzie got so tired, she fell asleep waiting in line for the ropes course.

Fall is fun!  But we are ready for winter!

Cornbelly's

I have only lost a child in a public place once.... it was carolyn, about 4 years ago, at a place called cornbelly's.  We had told her and her friend annie that we were leaving in five minutes.  They then disappeared.  They ended up only being a few feet from us; they had gone into something called the "rat maze" where you crawl through rat tunnels in a completely covered truck.  They were out of sight for about 15 minutes.  As i stood in the same place with the two younger girls (babies in strollers), the other mom started circling the area searching for them.  They were nowhere to be found.  Once they found their way out of the maze, the two girls came back around the corner, not realizing they were "lost" and said they were ready to go. 

Ugh!  I probably lost at least a year of my life during those 15 minutes.  And, i have not been able to go back to this place again...... Until this year. 

The same mom and i decided to go and bring the girls.  And, what a fun night it was.  We did a huge corn maze, went through haunted houses, played for a long time on corn beach, shot apples from canons, bounced, rolled in giant hamster rollers, and stayed way past our bedtime on a weeknight.  I wish i took better pictures.

Pumpkin patch

The pumpkin patches out west do not sell caramel apples or apple cider.... i miss that part of fall.  But, we still enjoyed a  afternoon picking out our pumpkins, playing in a corn box, doing the pumpkin sling shot.