Little Journeys

Last week we took off for a little getaway. I'd been itching to go somewhere, so a few weeks ago, I proposed the idea to Scotty, and he was on board. We decided to head south-east and hit Goblin Valley and Arches National Park.

Traveling with children is not easy. Let's establish this early in this post.

Hotel rooms and campgrounds were scarce, so we ended up booking two nights at the Motel 6 in Green River.

Remember how I said traveling with children is not easy? Well, staying at the Motel 6 in Green River with children is especially not easy. And here is my question: when a hotel is terrible, should I write an online review, or should it just be expected that a Motel 6 in Green River isn't going to be great? Part of me thinks it should be assumed, but the other part of me really wants to type out all of the reasons.

But I digress.

On Thursday, we drove straight to Goblin Valley. One thing that's great about Goblin Valley is that you don't have to walk very far to enjoy the rock formations. You just go down a slope and then your kids can run from rock to rock to their hearts' content. The bad things about Goblin Valley is that you could lose a kid very easily. Regardless, our family enjoys the state park. My kids love climbing, so it's perfect for them.

 

We spent about two hours playing among the hoodoos, and then we decided to leave and head over to Little Wild Horse to hike the slot canyons. 

(I have no idea why the text is now blue, but I can't get it to stay black). 

After the short drive, Zoe was asleep, and Daisy was super cranky, so we hung out in the van for a while to "rest." As we were sitting there, I realized that attempting the hike had "bad idea" written all over it. You have to hike for quite a while to get to the slots - not far for an adult, but far for kids, and if Zoe got two miles in and threw a tantrum, we'd be in big trouble. I was sad to admit the truth, but I knew we shouldn't do it. I told Scotty, and he agreed, so with much sorrow, we left. 

We needed to burn some time before we retired to our hotel for the night, so we went to dinner at Ray's Tavern. It has great reviews online, but we weren't very impressed. Partially because a bar isn't very equipped to deal with large families. Also, it was full of spring breakers who had come for Jeep Safari Week in Moab.

After dinner we went to Swasay Beach, and our kids were in heaven, especially Zoe who is our little beach bum. 

The beach is right along the river, so it was a lot of fun. We let Eva crawl around in the sand, and it was hilarious to watch her. 

 

We also stuck her in a hole, and she wasn't very thrilled with that. 

There weren't many people there, so that was nice, but we were a little shocked when we saw a dad walk down to the water right in front of us and hold his daughter naked-bottomed over the river so she could pee in it. There was an outhouse right there!

After everyone's pants were full of sand, we went to our hotel and spent a long, miserable night in beds that were way too small. The good news is we had no problem having everyone up and ready to get to Arches National Park when they opened at 8:00, and because we arrived so early, they were short staffed, and we got in for free!

We saw a lot of the arches. We didn't do the hike to Delicate Arch, but we went and saw it from the lookout point below. Nicky wanted to hike it, and I was going to take him while Scotty stayed in the car with sleeping children, but he changed his mind after he ate lunch. 

 

 

  

Arches National Park is incredible, so if you ever have the chance to go, you have my recommendation. I've been three times, and each time, it has blown my mind. It's like entering another world.

 

When we left Arches, we wanted to stop at a little malt shop in Moab. We went around 3:00, thinking it wouldn't be packed, but oh my! It was ridiculously crowded, so we opted for the Moab Diner instead.

Then we went to Hole N the Rock, which is a quirky little tourist spot where, 60 years ago, a family dug out a huge hole in a rock and built a house in it.

On our way out of Moab, we stopped at the large sand dune across the street from the entrance to Arches. Our kids love sand. It's not my favorite thing, but I deal with it so they will think they had a magical, sand-filled childhood.

 

The hill is intense, though the picture doesn't do it justice. Nicky and Daisy climbed to the top, and it took them several minutes. After a while, I decided I wanted to climb it, so I set out on the journey. For every step forward, you slide half a step back. I had to stop and rest several times. It was quite a calf burner. 

A little while later, Scotty climbed it, and he too had to take a few rests on the way up. It's a crazy workout!

(If anyone has climbed this dune, you need to chime in!)

After our dune climbing adventures, we went to Crystal Geyser. The drive there is the type of route that makes me think, "We could break down out here and die and no one would find us for days!!!" Fortunately we didn't test that theory. 

When we got there, it was windy and freezing, so we didn't stay long. In fact, most of this trip was very cold. 

 

We stayed away from our hotel for as long as possible. Then we had another long, miserable night. Kids started getting up at 4:30, and we had to keep them quiet until 6:40 when we left for a restaurant that opened at 7:00. We had a delicious breakfast at the Tamarisk Restaurant (I had the Tamarisk omelet, which had mushrooms, bacon, and cream cheese).

From there we began our journey home.

Like I said, traveling with kids isn't easy, but by the time it's done, all of the awful parts melt away. Unless you stay at Motel 6. You don't forget that part.