Winter Weekend in the Desert {Little Wild Horse, Goblin Valley, Canyonlands}

We needed a getaway to the desert in early February, so we planned a quick weekend (Saturday, 5 February - Sunday, 6 February) adventure down south. We booked a room in the Comfort Inn in Green River (it was cheap and had a good breakfast spread, but the hot tub was out of commission which was a big bummer!) and left home right after breakfast on Saturday morning. 

We drove directly to Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon, which is right next to Goblin Valley. I had heard good things about this hike and was eager to check it out, especially since the weather was blue sky beautiful and not a chance of precip. We all loved hiking through the canyon as the walls got higher and the rocks cooler and the path got narrower. Such a fun, beautiful, unusual place!

Our drive down listen. We're fans of
this series!

Welcome to the desert!

I feel like this tree has stories to tell.

Just look at that bark!

Lounging on Sofa Rock.

Into the canyon we go.

So many cool colors and designs!

Walls are getting higher!

Ziggin' and zaggin'.

Sun soakin'!

Narrow canyon time!

This heart shaped rock represents my love for
them and the canyon. (ha!)

This tight part was super fun!

Rock plug - tricky to get over when you're
only four feet tall.

My view of the plug.

Love these waggles.

Our next destination was back down the road into Goblin Valley State Park. We love this place! It's the perfect mix of a wilderness-feeling playground. You can run and climb and hide and jump and pretend and just have a perfect afternoon in the sunshine.

Hoodoos!

I feel like we could recreate this scene
with playdoh.

Family group shot on top of the white dome.

I took Sam back to the parking lot to use the bathroom
and just had to take a pic of the inside of the stall because
wow! what a shade of green!

Down we go into the back valley.

Professional nose picker!

Aptly named, but not the same one we frequent 
in Flaming Gorge area.

After we made it back to the car following our major detour off "trail" (we were never lost because we could always see the car, we just weren't sure how to get back to it ;) we headed to the hotel in Green River. We warmed up our leftover dumplings and funky noodles from our Chinese New Year feast a few days earlier for dinner and checked out the pool (spoiler alert: it was freezing but the kids had fun anyway). Then we hit the hay.

Sunday morning we got our breakfast from the breakfast room (waffles and other hot foods were back! hooray!) and then headed south again, toward Moab. We weren't sure exactly what our destination would be even as we left, but we listened to the beginning of Stake Conference as we drove and ended up in Canyonlands National Park. We explored a couple areas and short hikes and views that morning, ate a picnic lunch of leftover pizza, did one more hike to see Mesa Arch while Sam slept in the car with Gregg, then headed back toward home (while listening to the parts of Conference that we missed earlier - thank heavens for zoom church! ;) We made it home in time for bed, rejuvenated and rested and pooped all in one.

Upheaval Dome is pretty weird and cool.

A bit breezy, but the sun felt lovely.

Cal picked up a Jr. Ranger book to work on
during the day.

We spent a bit of time sunning ourselves on the rocks
like lizards.

Grand View Point is certainly grand!

I think the trees are as cool as the rocks!

It looks like a giant dinosaur footprint!

I promise I deleted at least as many photos of that giant hole as I
posted ;)

Mesa Arch was magnificent.

I was trying to remember the name of this plant all day
so I appreciated seeing this sign on our way back from Mesa Arch.

Whoop! Flashback to the last time we were here (just us two)
way back when in 2017!

 What a weekend! Sign me up for more like that!