Sunday, June 26, 2016

Memorial Weekend: Arch Canyon, UT

Continuing on from a previous post, the drive to Arch Canyon was beautiful. The Globe Mallow matched its surroundings. A super bloom in an orange landscape. We enjoyed the views as we traveled through Comb's Wash.....




Arch Canyon Run (mostly trafficked by 4wheelers) is a gnarly, high clearance road that you only want to travel in dry conditions. We criss-crossed through water all the way. We stopped somewhere in the middle of the canyon to play. It was a remote enough area that we didn't see too much traffic. But, we did see plenty of tadpoles!








Our campsite was absolutely beautiful. We were surrounded by canyon walls. There was water nearby to play in. There were sounds of critters during the day and night. The forest had eyes :) 
Ava, Isaac, and I climbed up the mountain to play on the rocks and get a better view of the surroundings ......





Ava strikes a pose. She's discovered her own Zen poses too .....



We spent much of our time playing by the water near the campsite.....



We managed to do some hiking. We saw 3 out of the 5 arches in Arch Canyon. The funnest part was jumping into the water when we got hot! Ok, it was hard to stay out of the water...






Bryan trying to catch lizards along the route......




Willow, getting the hang of potty-training ;)






Isaac decided to blend more into his surroundings by rolling in the dirt.
lol
Not just a little bit either ;)



lol This kid makes me laugh....








Group shot before heading back.....





It was still hot when we returned to the campsite. We found a great little swimming hole.






The kids were worn out. Thankfully a few s'mores helped give them a little more energy to hang out and listen to the choir of frogs serenading us when darkness fell. We were all feeling pretty gritty after two days of camping and swimming. It would be nice to drive over near Bluff, Utah to stay a night in a hotel. We were eager to go on our next adventure after feeling a little more clean :)

Monday, June 20, 2016

Memorial Weekend: Hovenweep National Monument

I'm having a hard time keeping updated this time of year with my blog. Summer has been a whirlwind. So, here I am posting about our trip in May. We explored a part of Utah that we've never experienced before ~ Blanding and Bluff area. We took an extra day off because it was a 7 hour drive. 
May was a great time to visit. I imagine you would cook in the heat in July and August. 
One of our first sight-seeing stops was Hovenweep National Monument; a home to American Indians where there were neat ruins still standing in the red desert....


Ava, Isaac, and Willow worked on their Jr. Ranger booklets during our visit....


Here are some examples of the ruins. We only did part of the trail; as it was already hot.....


Before departing we went inside the visitor center to check off the booklets and obtain a badge :)





Hovenweep's newest Jr. Rangers!


We had a long drive to get our next destination: Arch Canyon.
We stopped to identify lizards and stretch our legs along the way.


This lizard was shedding.....



We were excited to begin our first camping trip of the season! Yeah! Let the fun continue.....