Highlights from today: (click here for pictures)
We slept late this morning and no one stirred until 7:30. The boys didn’t really cough much so we all had a restful night. We sent Reagan and Anderson to Grannymom’s room to get their clothes on. Anderson was ready to go but as soon as Robby stood Reagan up she collapsed back on the bed-she was still tired. Graham woke up when I started working in the bathroom so we put his clothes on him and sent him next door too. Campbell woke up at 4 to eat so when she awoke this morning, her tummy was still full and she was as happy as she could be.
The gps said that we had two and a half hours until we made it to Capitol Reef National Park. The drive was very pretty and lasted less than two hours. Last month we saw the Grand Canyon and it is wonderful and impressive but on this trip, we have seen mile after mile of beautiful scenery. We have driven through hundreds of miles of canyons and rock formations-that have been just as spectacular as the Grand Canyon. I still recommend the Grand Canyon for a trip but I also highly recommend Southern Colorado and Southern Utah. Back to the day, the drive was interesting and beautiful but also desolate-kind of spooky a little!
Grandpa wondered where we were going and questioned Robby’s planning skills but we did make it to Capitol Reef and we weren’t the only people there! As we entered the park we stopped at the welcome sign and for a bathroom stop. A few miles down the road were petroglyphs that we walked out on a board walk to view. It took forever for the kids to find them-when Anderson finally saw them he said “ok, put me down.” Reagan was fascinated with the caterpillars and wanted Robby to take pictures of every one she could find.
Throughout the park there are orchards-cherry, apple, peach and other fruit trees. When the trees have fruit you can pick them and enjoy the fruit in the park. Unfortunately, it isn’t fruit season but the park is gorgeous. It is known because of the spectrum of colors displayed-reds, oranges, greens, blues and purples. We stopped at the visitor center to walk through-I have been so impressed with each of the visitor centers that we have been too. I have made Robby take picture after picture of things I want to buy for the kids.
We went down the park road and turned down a dirt road. The signs everywhere said to watch out for flash floods. It was called Grand Wash, the wash cuts right through the reef, has sheer cliffs of Wingate and Navajo sandstone up to 500 feet high, many colorful strata and eroded rock formations, going straight up on both sides of the car. I wish I had the words to better describe all of the different types of rocks that we have seen on this trip. At the end of the road, there was a parking lot full of other people-I had thought that we were the only crazy people driving down that road!
We got out of the cars and took a walk down the trail. There was a cool rock that had two holes to look out of-spectacle rock. Next was a few back pictures and Reagan wanted Robby to take pictures of the flowers and Anderson wanted him to take pictures of the lizards. Then we drove back to the Gifford Farm. And yum, they were selling homemade pies, salsas and jellies. After our picnic on the grounds we enjoyed some apple pie and ice cream. It was windy today so we fought the wind all during the picnic but I certainly held on tight to my pie. It was delicious-just needed to be warmed up!
Near the picnic table was a fenced area with two horses. Graham has looked for horses every time we have been in the car this week and he was excited to see them…until we came close! Then he was ready to run back down the street. Reagan wanted to pet the horse and tried but she just really poked him which made him show his teeth and after that Anderson didn’t want anything to do with it! When we talked to Graham later about the horse, he said “neigh neigh bite”-the horse didn’t bite him.
After another short walk over the Freemont river and to the bathrooms, we ran in the grass before loading back up and heading back to Green River. We made good time on the way home and were back at the hotel by 3:30. We unloaded from the day and Robby worked on changing our tomorrow night’s hotel.
Right next door is the John Wesley Powell River Museum. Robby said that it was strange that the museum was there since Powell has no connection to Green River, Utah-he did start his trip in Green River, Wyoming. And that is why you study geography in school (so you don’t open up a museum in the wrong state). But it is located next to the flowing Green River which he explored and mapped in the 1800s – along with the Colorado River. The museum was small but nice. They had a movie which the kids sat through, boats, art and lots of memorabilia in it. When we finished the museum, we walked across the street to eat-but the restaurant looked like it only had a buffet so we opted for the other restaurant in town.
Yes, the only other restaurant in town! Ray’s Tavern. And it was full on this Saturday night. There weren’t many other children in the tavern but my kids sure did enjoy watching the people play pool. The burgers were good and everyone in the place had a hamburger. My book said that it was the best hamburger across two counties. After supper, we headed back to the hotel for a “family movie night.” Robby thought of this so we could skip swimming tonight. We watched Nemo for a little bit and now we are watching Mickey.
Tomorrow we head back to Colorado. We don’t have to much on the itinerary since it is mostly a driving day. Most of it will be a different route so I am sure we will find something interesting to do!
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