Road Trippin' to Spring

Remember how we never had a mid-winter getaway to warmer climes, like we have been doing for the past couple of years?  Well, we made up for it during spring break (March 31st through April 3rd) in Mesquite, NV.  Our itinerary was similar to that of our St. George trips of before: be outside as much as possible at parks and on hikes.  Check and check.  We invited my parents to come along for the adventure since my mom had spring break the same week as us.  We scored super cheap hotel rooms ($23 per night!) with connecting doors at the Virgin River.  That doorway into Grandpa and Grandma's room may have been the best part of the entire trip for the kids.  (That, or the bowling alley. :)

We left home after church and some lunch, heading South on I-15.  My parents were a little bit behind us (they got delayed by church duties), but we met up at a park in Fillmore (number one for the trip).  We caravanned for another couple of hours to Leeds, where we "parked" again and had dinner.  Then it was one more leg on to Mesquite, where we checked into our hotel room and got settled.

Monday morning brought smiling faces bright and early (the kids were still on Mountain Time) and breakfast in our rooms.  Then it was off to play.  We visited three different playgrounds by lunchtime!  It felt so nice to be outside without jackets, soaking up the sun, climbing on the toys, riding (and fixing bikes), reading, and playing a little pickleball.  We headed back to the hotel for Sam's nap after lunch, while Callie and Grandma played lots of card games and the rest of us relaxed.  When he woke up it was time to swim!  The pool(s) at the Virgin River is outside, and since the season was just starting to really warm up, the pool was COLD.  A couple of us were brave enough to get wet above the knees, but our pool time was definitely shorter than we were hoping for.  We warmed up in the hot showers and then visited the arcade (aka "kids' casino"), where Cal and Sam learned that when money is put into the machines, the buttons and knobs and balls actually do something (all previous arcade visits have just been walk-throughs with no quarters involved).  This was a revelation!  And the tickets that came out after the time ran out?  Amazing!  And the fact that those tickets could be exchanged for prizes?  BEST DAY EVER!  $5 in quarters went a long way between these two, and they were thoroughly happy with their finger trap and fruitie and pop rocks treats.  We decided to try the hotel buffet for dinner, and while it tasted good, we unfortunately got there right behind a giant bus of tourists, so the place was packed.  The lines to get food were enormous!  And the place smelled smoky (I don't know why I was surprised by this, but I was and it wasn't my fave).  After dinner, we still had daylight to spare, so we visited yet one more park (number six for the trip) before bed.

Breakfast beauties!
(Yes, I purposely packed their matching "Canoe tuck me in?"
jammies.)

This girl dominated any and all monkey bars on this trip.

Bike ride with grandma!

It was cut short because Cal's back tire went flat.

Dad (and Grandpa's tool box) to the rescue.

Trying to get warm at the pool.

Arcade!
(aka "kid's casino")

Tuesday morning we woke up early (always), ate breakfast, and hopped in the car for a visit to Valley of Fire State Park, about an hour southwest of Mesquite.  This is what I was most looking forward to on our trip, and I was not disappointed!  It was fantastic!  We hiked and climbed and oohed and aahed at the desert and the petroglyphs and the flowers.  It really was the best day ever.  We stayed in the park all day, planning to have dinner at one of the picnic areas.  Unfortunately, the wind picked up, and wind + loose, fine sand/dirt does not make for a good picnic experience.  I felt like the Berenstain Bears as we drove from spot to spot in search of the perfect (sheltered) picnic spot.  It was not to be within the park.  But we did find another playground (number 7 for our trip) in Logandale on our way back toward Mesquite that, while still windy, at least was grassed, and we could cook and eat our burgers without sand in our teeth.

Our first stop was at the entrance gate parking
area - and it was amazing!  There were rocks
to climb on right next to where we parked, plus
a fun, short trail to get us warmed up.

Yes, we took the photo op.

Our first hike of the day: the Elephant Rock loop trail.

The camelbaks get their first use in the desert!

This amazing rock was just the beginning of
the awesome things we saw in this state park.
We were already in love!

As we drove further towards the visitor's center,
we saw our first mountain sheep!

And a widdle baby mountain sheep!  Awww!

Outside the visitor's center, Cal and Grandma
admired the plants . . .

. . . and explored the rock formations.

The visitor's center doesn't provide free maps of
the park, but they do have this one on display
in the gift shop.  Gregg snapped a pic for reference
and started something of a trend among other visitors.

More map deets.

More blooms, admired by me.
(I also thought these seed pods were cute.)

Another option for map use - and an easier one to follow on my
phone - we snapped this pic at the trailhead for our second hike
of the day: Mouse's Tank Trail.

I don't know why I was surprised to encounter a sandy trail,
but I kind of was.  It was sand all the way. 
The kids were in heaven.  They even
laid down in the middle to bask in the warmth.

Petroglyphs!  There were TONS on this hike.  I've never seen
so many in one place.  It was awesome.

Something beautifully blooming.

If you look closely in the dark "desert varnish" on the rock
you can see a bunch of petroglyphs.

Here's a zoomed in portion, thanks to my mom.

Close ups from momma.

More petroglphs.

And more.

And still more.

I'm tellin' ya!  Tons!

The end of our trail was here, at the Mouse's
Tank.  We learned that a tank is like a water
tank - a natural crevice or bowl that collects
water.

Our next stop was the White Domes Loop Trail and parking
area.  We ate lunch at the picnic tables first, then headed out on
the trail.  Again, very sandy to begin, but notice the different color?

More cute flowers.

It was a rather steep descent at the beginning.
We went ahead while Grandpa and Grandma
waited at the top - we didn't know if was going to
loop back to this spot or not and the thought of
climbing back up these rocks was a bit too much!

Down we go.

I love all the color!

A bit of modern history in this canyon.

Just look at that!  Gorgeous!

Pit stop in the shade for some de-sanding and
re-fueling.

A little slot canyon!  So cool!

By this time we were realizing that the trail
didn't seem to be heading back up the steep
part we came down, but rather around in a bigger
loop.  We hoped my parents were figuring things
out at the top!

Look at the bud sticking out!  So cool!

These are pretty.

Ah-mazing!!

A little arch for the kids to explore (and photo bomb
some other hikers' instagram shoot).

From the other side - see, it really is an arch!

He was wiped out!  So we drove around slowly,
enjoying the scenery and checking out one
of the campgrounds while he slept.

This was called the Fire Canyon road/Silica Dome overlook.

That big whiteish rock on the right?  Almost completely pure
silica!

My parents stopped to watch this herd of sheep
playing on the rock.

Sam kept sleeping, but we reached Atlatl Rock,
so Gregg stayed in the car with him while Cal,
Grandma and I ventured up the 84 (I think?)
stairs to see more petroglyphs.

Simply incredible!

Hello down there!

Now how did the ancient people get up there to
leave their mark?!

More of this blooming beauty.

I went back up again with Gregg and Sam
once he woke up.

Cal snapped this of the logo on the picnic table we rested at.

This spot was nice, too, because it had a water spout so we could
fill up our bottles.

Sam, I mustache you a question . . .

Do you like oreos?

Pretty close to Atlatl Rock was the Petrified Logs area.

Ah, those clouds!

It was time to let the kids play.  We went back
to a big picnic area called Seven Sisters and just
lounged and visited and climbed and pretended
to our hearts content.  It was the most perfect
way to spend the afternoon.

We are a happy family!

Cutest sibs.

She's pretty good at posing.  :)

Tight quarters.

We planned to stay all evening, at least through dinner, but
the wind picked up and spread plenty of dirt and dust everywhere,
thus urging us to seek a different picnic spot.

We stopped by The Cabins, built by the CCC
to house workers and visitors to the park, to see
if it was sheltered enough from the wind to
be a good spot to picnic.

It would have been fine if we could have grilled our burgers
inside a room, but out at the picnic tables, we were in the same
dust storm as at seven sisters.

Cal had a good time pretending and dreaming up her ideal
interior designs for a few minutes anyway.

On Wednesday morning, while eating our breakfast, we got to watch some work crews unloading big palm trees from flatbed trailers into the parking lot, then carrying them to their planting spots with a big forklift.  What entertainment!  Sam had been begging to go bowling, so after breakfast it was finally time to do that.  Callie bowled her best game ever, scoring two strikes (!!) and over 100 points (!) (no ramp, but yes bumpers involved).  Gregg, on the other hand, didn't even get a single strike (which Cal is eager to remind him of regularly).  After bowling, we loaded up our cars again, cleaned out our hotel rooms, and headed off to play at another park.  Since this one didn't have tables close to the parking area, we headed back to the turtle pond park we had eaten lunch at on Monday, but on the way, only a block or so away from where we had come from, was a brand new (to us) park to try out (number 9 for our trip).  We played and (early) lunched and then loaded up for our journey home.  Sam fell asleep pretty quick, and Cal even zonked out for a while, but by the time we were nearing the exit to Beaver, they both woke up, and we decided to check out the cheese factory for an ice cream cone treat.  We said our final farewells to Grandpa and Grandma via HAM radio as we exited in Farmington, and made our last stop in South Ogden at McDonald's for dinner and some play time (park number 10?).

Palm tree unloading and staging area.

They were quite large!

Then that blue fork lift drove them over to their
prepared holes on the other side of the parking lot,
where it then held the tree upright in a hole until
all the workers filled it in with dirt.  Then the
process was repeated.  They planted probably 10
or more that morning!

Check out Cal's score!  And evidence of her two strikes (and
Gregg's zero, don't forget).

Lunchin' again.  It was so great to eat outside for so many
meals!

The sign of a successful vacation - both kids zonked on the ride
home.

Another sign of spring (besides the green grass and flowers
and sun and blue sky) - bug guts on the windshield.  It's been
a while since we've had those to deal with!

A most marvelous adventure with some much-needed sunshine time!