a trip

Months ago I put on the calendar that we'd go camping this weekend at a National Park or somewhere similar in southern Utah. Only, I didn't actually do anything about it until last week. Some families do this stuff all the time, but we don't, so it was a bigger deal. I knew it would be chilly, and bagged the camping idea.  Last Monday and Tuesday I finally reserved places for us to stay Fri/Sat and went from there. My friend Emily works for the Utah Department of Tourism and has done all sorts of awesome stuff along scenic byway 12. Although we didn't do as much as I thought we would, we did as much as we wanted to and could :)

At Capitol Reef we had a picnic among the red rock and deer, ate fruit pies from the Gifford House, and hiked Hickman Bridge. We stayed at Circle Cliffs motel (which only has 3 rooms total but is totally funky and awesome) in Boulder. We played on the grass at Boulder Mountain Lodge and ate at Hell's Backbone grill-amazing food in the middle of nowhere. Loved it.  I've seen pictures often and have always wanted to go to Calf Creek Falls. Its 6 miles roundtrip and I knew it would be a lil slow with the girls. Mark carried Ruby in the backpack most of the way (she snoozed part of the time on the way back). The trail has number markers 1-14. Those kept Siri and Jane motivated, especially on the way back! Once at the waterfall it gets a lot cooler. I took my socks and shoes off for a bit but that water is coooold. It would be even more refreshing on a hot day.  The weather was amazing-usually cloudy, and mild. Pants or shorts were fine, jacket or no jacket. 

I'm not a scenic drive kind of gal. Ever since I can remember, I haven't loved driving just to drive. I get motion sickness fairly easily. So I am thankful I was fine this trip. The views were beautiful. Utah is so cool and weird. After Calf Creek we were all super tired. We detoured to Kodachrome state park but only managed to park and look at the views. The girls were too tired to hike so we headed onto Tropic where we stayed the night.

This morning we went to church (a young couple spoke and I loved their message and personal stories on love and charity). We hiked to the "mossy cave" and "tropic ditch" waterfall...its just off the road before you get to Bryce Canyon. It was beautiful! Short and sweet. We took the long way home via Richfield, Salina, Levan.  And then, when we got home, we stayed in the car a few minutes longer. Why? Because we had to finish Harry Potter book #2 we'd been listening to all along! Siri had just finished book one before we left and Mark is loving her love for it. It made the drive so different-being excited to get in the car and drive. Thankful the car ran as it should, we were healthy and no one got hurt. A successful trip!

Click here for pics by Mark