We're finding that a four-day workweek (thank you, COVID) has a lot of perks. Take, for example, our
Elwood Family Reunion. It was slated to start on Friday, August 7th at whatever-time-you-can-get-there-after-work-o'clock. Well, since Gregg doesn't work on Fridays, that turned into why-don't-we-take-the-long-way-and-make-this-an-adventure? A free hotel night that needed to be used by the end of the year made things a little more interesting, and soon we had a route to Bryce mapped out through Green River (where we stayed Thursday night after work). On Friday morning we headed down to
Goblin Valley State Park, and then along scenic Highway 24 through Hanksville with lunch in
Capitol Reef National Park, a turn South at Torrey and on down scenic Highway 12 through Boulder and
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, through Escalante and Tropic, and up into the city of Bryce. It was definitely the LONG way, but holy cow! what a drive! We had virtually no traffic to deal with and the views were incredible the entire time. It was completely fantastic!!
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| They were SO excited for our trip that they woke up WAY too early and subsequently zonked in the car on the ride up over Spanish Fork Canyon. |
Goblin Valley was one of those places where we knew that we loved it and we knew the kids would love it, but actually seeing them loving it was such a delight! They ran and ran and climbed and climbed and squealed and yelled for joy at every turn. It was so fun!
bonus videos!
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| It was fun to see where the water flows through the goblins. |
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| You could peel the dry mud off the top like peeling paint! (One time we even saw a little lizard scurry out from under a mud chip when we pulled it up!) |
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| She looks like a little talk show host ready to visit with her next guest from the comfort of her red-rock couch. :D |
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| A fun surprise was learning that there is a disc golf course in the park, so naturally Gregg had to try it out. The kids and I lasted half a hole before we were too hot and hungry to play. So Gregg jogged the course by himself while we checked out the shady covered picnic area in the group site in the campground. |
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| I spy Gregg playing a hole near the bowery. |
The drive from Goblin Valley to Capitol Reef was new to me and I loved it all! Sam fell asleep and we listened to some kid podcasts about
why ice cream melts and
what happens after wildfires burn a forest. Super interesting! We ate lunch at the shady, grassy picnic area in Fruita and then decided to head out for a quick hike to see petroglyphs. It was super hot, so we didn't want to do any strenuous hiking, but this was a quick little walk down a boardwalk and we had fun spotting some pictures up on the rocks above us.
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| Sam was trying not to be grumpy, but that smile isn't fooling anyone. (Also: bean dip on road trips for lunch is a big win in my book!) |
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| Petroglyph walk. |
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| Can you see them? |
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| Pretty girl and pretty rocks. |
After our hike and our lunch, we headed into Torrey for gas and then turned left onto Highway 12 to take us up over Boulder Mountain and on through Grand Staircase-Escalante. It was simply a gorgeous ride. We took it slow and stopped at some of the overlook points to check out the views. Amazing!
Check in at the house in Bryce was at 4pm and we pulled in just a few minutes after that, got ourselves settled, ordered some pizza and waited for the family to arrive. What a great long-cut - one I'll take anytime!
