Weekend Journey

I love getting out of town. It doesn't have to be very far or very fancy. Sometimes I just need to leave. This weekend was such a time, so Scotty and I planned a last-minute trip to Vernal - which is about three hours east(ish) of Salt Lake.

We left early Saturday morning and, after a few food and toilet-related stops, we rolled into town around 11:00. We headed to McConkie Ranch where we went on a little hike to see some petroglyphs. Three of the children were in good spirits. The other one... well... it's nothing new. We're happy with 75%.

There's a little shack at the trail head where you can sign in, leave a donation, and hang a post-in note. It also has a fridge full of soda you can buy for a dollar (honors-style). The petroglyphs are on private property, so it's really nice of this family to allow access for hikers.

{Nicky's note}

After our hike, we checked into our hotel and then we headed to Dinosaur National Monument. We took the tram to the quarry and saw the dinosaur bones. We went to Vernal when Nicky was a baby, and the quarry was shut down (it was closed from 2006-2011), so I was excited to get to go this time.

We bought the kids the National Parks Passports - which we should have done a long time ago because we've already been to a lot of places and missed out on the stamps. I guess we'll just have to go back!

We didn't realize that the town of Vernal shuts down at 5:00 pm and all day Sunday, so we didn't get to go to any of the dinosaur museums. In hindsight, we should have gone to those first and saved the petroglyphs for Sunday. Oh well.

We stopped by the Vernal temple and attempted a family picture.

Families can be together forever and stuff. This is when the kids kind of hit their breaking point. They had been shockingly good despite the overload of activities, and dinner time triggered the end.

We went to dinner at a place called Country Grub.

We went back to the hotel and took the kids to the pool. It was the slipperiest pool floor I've ever walked on, so it didn't take long for one of the kids to fall and get hurt.

Bed time came along, we slept, and then all the kids were up jumping around by 5:30 Sunday morning (we always ask for a room on the first floor when we stay at a hotel, and I specifically mention my bouncy children).

On Sunday we drove out by Steinaker Reservoir and hiked to Moonshine Arch. It was a great hike - easy enough for the kids but challenging enough to burn a few calories. It also had very little traffic, so we had the arch to ourselves.

After the hike, we hung out at a park for a while where I tried to force my children to do bar tricks like I did as a child. This was when I realized that I have ultimately failed my children. They are completely incapable - it's like they are broken - and now I can't stop mumbling, "Kids these days..." because, really, KIDS THESE DAYS!

Vernal made a great overnight trip. Our kids were really good. I mean, there were meltdowns and fights and stuff, but on the behavior scale where 1 is "they were perfect angels" and 10 is "we left them on the side of the road," they were a solid 3 where on most vacations they are a 7-8. I'm just going to count my blessings and not assume this is permanent.