Family Vacation to Captiol Reef National Park, April 2018
Since we're having a baby in July, we decided that we'd better make our big family vacation of the year a spring break affair. Nate, master of logistics that he is, planned it all out for us, I got the kids packed, and we headed southeast in April.
First stop was in Provo at the BYU Museum of Art, where they had an Escher exhibit that we really wanted to see.
Once we finished at the MOA, we stopped at a really fun park that Nate had discovered in Spanish Fork for a picnic lunch and some playtime.
After we got all dried off and put back together from the hot springs, we started on the long and windy road to Torrey. On the way, we stopped at Wingers in Richfield. It was not a hit with the kids. Luckily, we were all famished, so they ate anyway.
After dinner, we finished out our drive and made it to our motel, which the kids thought was the coolest. We were all glad to go to bed and excited to start our Capitol Reef adventure in the morning!
We went straight from the visitor's center to our first hike: the Cassidy Arch trail, named after none other than Butch Cassidy. I gotta say, as a family, we chewed this hike up and spit it right back out. I was proud! Three and a half miles with a ton of elevation gain is nothing to sneeze at! The kids enjoyed climbing up in the rocks and finding the perfect hole to sit in and then having us take their picture.
Once we made it to the top, it was time for a picnic lunch. To be totally honest with you, I was rather grumpy during said lunch. As you can see, there's a huge drop-off behind us, and it made me nervous. So to alleviate my fears (?) Nate said that he'd take whoever wanted to go out to stand on top of the arch. Let's just say, I was not a fan of this plan. But all the kids ended up taking turns going out there with Dad, who swore it was extremely safe.
Our next adventure was a drive to the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon, and Glass Mountain. Addison was excited to the max to go, and especially to see glass mountain. He'd learned about and seen pictures of Capitol Reef in school, and could hardly bear the excitement as we drove there. The drive was 17 miles down a really bumpy dirt road, and it was slow going. Our trusty van has off-roaded many a time in the name of adventure, and this time we sustained a little damage. The back window popped off its track. So we found ourselves about halfway down the dirt road, no cell service, no duct tape, and not a lot of options. Luckily, Nate is good under pressure and also a genius, so he rigged up this nifty little fix. He tied the pink bandanna to the seatbelt inside, stuck it through the hole where the window holder used to go, and then secured it with a pen. Gotta love that guy. That fix lasted us for weeks. And then we retired our van and got a new one.
Anyway, we finally made it to our destination. In the front is Glass Mountain, with the Temple of the Sun right behind it, and the Temple of the Moon in the back.
This adventure is what our family calls an "explore." It's like a hike except you can just wander wherever you want and play and dig around. We're all big fans of explores.
Nate and I, to be honest, were a little underwhelmed by the size of Glass "Mountain." But the kids thought it was the coolest.
Upon further investigation, it actually was quite cool. It's full of pieces of gypsum. The day was pretty overcast, but I can see how it would sparkle in the sun.
During this very remote explore, not one, not two, but three of our children had to go to the bathroom. Not the easy kind of going to the bathroom either. Numero dos for all of them. And all at different times. So Nate would triumphantly come back from helping one, to find another running toward him with a look of panic on their face that told the whole story. It got a little ridiculous, and from my perspective, hilarious.
Here's Leah by the Temple of the Sun. It really was enormous. Also notable - upon investigation, it appeared to be something along the lines of a giant mud pie that had baked in the sun for a long, long time. It was very crumbly, which I found a bit alarming.
The kids loved exploring here. So many rocks to climb.
After this explore, we were all bushed, so we headed back to our hotel, cleaned up a bit, and ate at the hotel restaurant. Then we hit the showers, blessed day, where I'm sure we left the plumbing with at least an inch of sand throughout.
The next morning, we headed to the Hickman Bridge hike pretty early to avoid crowds, which turned out to be a good choice. This was one of those hikes that has numbered posts every so often, and a little guide pamphlet to go along with it. So when you see a post, you read the entry by the corresponding number on the pamphlet to find out interesting facts about the vegetation or landscape or ruins around the area. Pretty fun. The weather was blessedly cool. Once we reached the bridge, we stopped for a snack break. The kids were delighted to find a little chipmunk friend while we were eating.
Asa by the #4 post, since his #4 birthday was approaching.
This was a fun little place to stop and climb around.
Hickman bridge. Can you spot it?
Once we got back from Hickman Bridge, we hit up the petroglyph walkway. We saw some pretty incredible rock art there, and also a couple familiar faces! Grandpa and Dayson were there, ready to get their adventure on with us.
We had a picnic lunch in the adorable town of Fruita. It's within the park, and is named Fruita because it has several working orchards that the park service maintains. They sell jam and pie from the fruit that they grow. They also have several old buildings there from the early settlers.
Blossoming fruit trees.
After lunch was done, we headed back to the visitors center and the kids turned in their completed workbooks and took the junior ranger pledge and each got a shiny new badge! An exciting day!
Four new Capitol Reef junior rangers!
This old kiln was a favorite discovery.
It was nice and cool inside!
More treasures for Leah.
Cool rocks everywhere!
First stop was in Provo at the BYU Museum of Art, where they had an Escher exhibit that we really wanted to see.
I loved this woodcut. My grandma, who was also my piano teacher, introduced me to this piece of music when I was young, and it totally captivated my imagination. I see I'm not the only one.
Addison was loving the many optical illusion artpieces.
Right down the hall, they had a tiffany glass display, which we all found delightful.
(I think this one was actually in the "fakes" section)
By the time we were done with the glass, Asa was done with the museum. So he and I went outside and enjoyed the spring blooms.
While the other guys stayed in and explored the more modern art. From morse code-popping popcorn, to a lady who took hilarious photos of herself in airplane lavatories all decked out in toilet paper, the children were loving it.
This display had a soundtrack called "SkyMall Kitties," and the kids have been singing it ever since.
Once we finished at the MOA, we stopped at a really fun park that Nate had discovered in Spanish Fork for a picnic lunch and some playtime.
After lunch, we ventured to Meadow in search of hot springs. They were so cool! Three hot springs in the middle of nowhere. This was a highlight of the trip for all of us. The pools were comfortably warm and didn't even smell like sulfur. There were some other people there, but we had plenty of room and spent a good bit of time swimming around.
It was truly out in the sticks.
The largest pool was full of tropical fish! Somebody apparently dumped some in for fun several decades ago, and their population exploded!
After we got all dried off and put back together from the hot springs, we started on the long and windy road to Torrey. On the way, we stopped at Wingers in Richfield. It was not a hit with the kids. Luckily, we were all famished, so they ate anyway.
After dinner, we finished out our drive and made it to our motel, which the kids thought was the coolest. We were all glad to go to bed and excited to start our Capitol Reef adventure in the morning!
Our first stop in the morning was the visitor's center in Capitol Reef, where we picked up Junior Ranger packets for the kids. You may remember how much fun they had becoming Junior Rangers in Yellowstone last summer. Excitement levels were through the roof at the prospect of earning another badge.
We went straight from the visitor's center to our first hike: the Cassidy Arch trail, named after none other than Butch Cassidy. I gotta say, as a family, we chewed this hike up and spit it right back out. I was proud! Three and a half miles with a ton of elevation gain is nothing to sneeze at! The kids enjoyed climbing up in the rocks and finding the perfect hole to sit in and then having us take their picture.
After a steep hike up we got our first glimpse of the arch. Pretty cool.
Once we made it to the top, it was time for a picnic lunch. To be totally honest with you, I was rather grumpy during said lunch. As you can see, there's a huge drop-off behind us, and it made me nervous. So to alleviate my fears (?) Nate said that he'd take whoever wanted to go out to stand on top of the arch. Let's just say, I was not a fan of this plan. But all the kids ended up taking turns going out there with Dad, who swore it was extremely safe.
Nate, Leah and Asa on the arch.
Eventually we became friends again.
Leah is quite the collector. If she had her way, our car would be filled from floor to ceiling with new rocks after each hike. Instead, at the end of our hikes these days, she chooses a few of her very most special rocks that she found on the trail, and turns them into an L for a great picture.
Woohoo! We did it!
While the rest of us were making sand angels and resting at the end of the hike, Addison, still full of energy, ran off to the hills to do a little exploring. He is his father's son in so many ways.
Our next adventure was a drive to the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon, and Glass Mountain. Addison was excited to the max to go, and especially to see glass mountain. He'd learned about and seen pictures of Capitol Reef in school, and could hardly bear the excitement as we drove there. The drive was 17 miles down a really bumpy dirt road, and it was slow going. Our trusty van has off-roaded many a time in the name of adventure, and this time we sustained a little damage. The back window popped off its track. So we found ourselves about halfway down the dirt road, no cell service, no duct tape, and not a lot of options. Luckily, Nate is good under pressure and also a genius, so he rigged up this nifty little fix. He tied the pink bandanna to the seatbelt inside, stuck it through the hole where the window holder used to go, and then secured it with a pen. Gotta love that guy. That fix lasted us for weeks. And then we retired our van and got a new one.
Anyway, we finally made it to our destination. In the front is Glass Mountain, with the Temple of the Sun right behind it, and the Temple of the Moon in the back.
This adventure is what our family calls an "explore." It's like a hike except you can just wander wherever you want and play and dig around. We're all big fans of explores.
Nate and I, to be honest, were a little underwhelmed by the size of Glass "Mountain." But the kids thought it was the coolest.
Upon further investigation, it actually was quite cool. It's full of pieces of gypsum. The day was pretty overcast, but I can see how it would sparkle in the sun.
During this very remote explore, not one, not two, but three of our children had to go to the bathroom. Not the easy kind of going to the bathroom either. Numero dos for all of them. And all at different times. So Nate would triumphantly come back from helping one, to find another running toward him with a look of panic on their face that told the whole story. It got a little ridiculous, and from my perspective, hilarious.
Here's Leah by the Temple of the Sun. It really was enormous. Also notable - upon investigation, it appeared to be something along the lines of a giant mud pie that had baked in the sun for a long, long time. It was very crumbly, which I found a bit alarming.
The kids loved exploring here. So many rocks to climb.
After this explore, we were all bushed, so we headed back to our hotel, cleaned up a bit, and ate at the hotel restaurant. Then we hit the showers, blessed day, where I'm sure we left the plumbing with at least an inch of sand throughout.
The next morning, we headed to the Hickman Bridge hike pretty early to avoid crowds, which turned out to be a good choice. This was one of those hikes that has numbered posts every so often, and a little guide pamphlet to go along with it. So when you see a post, you read the entry by the corresponding number on the pamphlet to find out interesting facts about the vegetation or landscape or ruins around the area. Pretty fun. The weather was blessedly cool. Once we reached the bridge, we stopped for a snack break. The kids were delighted to find a little chipmunk friend while we were eating.
Asa by the #4 post, since his #4 birthday was approaching.
This was a fun little place to stop and climb around.
Hickman bridge. Can you spot it?
Once we got back from Hickman Bridge, we hit up the petroglyph walkway. We saw some pretty incredible rock art there, and also a couple familiar faces! Grandpa and Dayson were there, ready to get their adventure on with us.
We had a picnic lunch in the adorable town of Fruita. It's within the park, and is named Fruita because it has several working orchards that the park service maintains. They sell jam and pie from the fruit that they grow. They also have several old buildings there from the early settlers.
Blossoming fruit trees.
After lunch was done, we headed back to the visitors center and the kids turned in their completed workbooks and took the junior ranger pledge and each got a shiny new badge! An exciting day!
Four new Capitol Reef junior rangers!
Then we headed around the back of the visitors center to do some hiking by Sulphur Creek.
This old kiln was a favorite discovery.
It was nice and cool inside!
More treasures for Leah.
Cool rocks everywhere!
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