Surprise!

After we left Moab, Utah we headed to Alton, Utah for three nights.  This was the one place we were staying that we did not let the kids know about.  It was a glamping resort in the middle of nowhere.  When we first pulled up, they didn't know what to think of sleeping in a covered wagon.  In fact, they were not on board with the idea.  However, once they learned the wagon was heated and began getting comfortable, they ended up having a fantastic time.  They played badminton and horseshoes and a couple times throughout the weekend we even saw deer come right to the stream to take a drink.  So cool!   

Whispering Pines Glamping Resort - Alton, Utah

Here is our Oregon Trail Photo - We forded the river, lost 50 lbs. of meat, nearly lost the little one to a fever but finally made it to our destination. 

 (If you knew what any of that meant, you totally just dated yourself!) 

Queen Kiah 

Our humble abode. 

The campground looked so pretty all lit up. 

It was good to be unplugged in this place for a few days and we just enjoyed relaxing in between our NP visits.  

Smore Time!  We love our family time by the fire when we camp. 

The owners of this place are so incredibly kind and have thought of everything one would need.  Since we flew to CO, we definitely didn't bring our camping gear but they had all we needed and we were so grateful.  A few of our kids were the same age as their kids so they had a great time playing together.  

Yes, it was chilly at night and if we were in a tent, we would have froze!  Thankfully, there was a heater in the wagon and each bed came with a heated mattress!  Talk about glamping! 

So awesome to see this sweet deer each day. There seemed to be a mama and baby that were quite comfortable at this resort. 

And what camping trip would be complete without hatchet throwing.  Yikes!  Daddy was camp director for this activity.  I couldn't watch but they had fun! 

She seemed to sleep well in this covered wagon.  She was snug as a bug right between mommy and daddy each night.

If you ever find yourself in this area of the country, do consider staying here. So fun and unique!

Arches and Canyonlands

We were in the boondocks over the weekend with hardly any cell or wifi service so I haven't been able to update you on our travels!  At the end of last week we went to Arches NP and Canyonlands NP.  We actually ended up doing them both in one day which worked out well.  Glad we chose to do Arches first because when we left they had closed the park because it was too full!  And I understand why.  Arches is definitely one of my top favorites.  It was beautiful! I will try to do it justice with some pictures.  

To be honest, Canyonlands was not much to write home about in our opinion.  The canyons were cool and some of us did do a little hike up Whale Rock.  It was difficult to capture the canyons on camera so we definitely took some pictures in our head.  My favorite part was the short hike we took to see the Mesa Arch.  I guess I am partial to the Arches! 

Balanced Rock.  Such creative names, right?

The double window was definitely a highlight. 

Those are my people up there! 

One of my favorite views.  So amazing.

It was like a hunt to find all the arches big and small within the park.  

There are over 2,000 of them so we definitely didn't find them all!  

A couple of times we have seen some painters at the parks.  So cool to see 

them using their gifts to capture the beauty in front of them. 

Caleb went across the way to take this picture of Dave and I.  The sun 

was tough to capture what we wanted but I will take what I can get! 

Here is where he was! Good thing these kids love to climb!

Love these girls! 

It was fun capturing them in all the different crevices everywhere.  

Then it was off the Canyonlands...

Josiah was the token picture man at the moment apparently! 

This boy has been taking pictures like crazy on this trip.  He wants to capture EVERYTHING and I love watching him take it all in.  If I think I missed something, I am sure I can just get a hold of his memory card!  He's got it all! 

My and my girl.  This little monkey couldn't always do the walking. 

Grateful she still fits in this carrier! 

Those are my boys on top of Whale Rock for some great views.  

The girls and I didn't make it that far...

Not too much wildlife to see in these two parks.  So much different from Yellowstone.  

The most we saw were some lizards which were still fun to see! 

Mesa Arch - it was quite the canyon drop behind that arch.

Me and my man. 

This was a really cool view when you first entered the park.  As you can see, it is actually hard to capture the canyon itself.  Tough to see the actual depth in a picture.  

After these two parks, we headed back to our hotel for a swim and to get ready for our next leg of the journey.  Tomorrow we have a day to just be.  We are at a great house this week and planned a day to NOT GO ANYWHERE!  Shocking, I know! It will be good to not get in the van for a day and I am planning on catching up some more here so stay tuned...

Olympic Pit Stop

We have made it to Utah!  We stayed a night in Park City, Utah and while we did, we made it a point to stop at the Olympic Park and Village where the 2002 Winter Olympics took place.  (Trivia Fact:  2002 was the last time the Olympics have taken place in the U.S.) 

You could see where all the sports took place and even watch some athletes train.  It was so fun to see them practicing their winter ski tricks in warm weather into a pool!  Pretty neat! We walked through the ski museum where the kids learned about some of the history behind some of the sports and the creation of the park.  Did you know that the bobsled track is all smoothed out by hand?!?!  Can't get a Zamboni down that thing!  The kids went on a simulation ride to see what it would be like to bobsled!  It was a great simple take and I am glad we stopped along the way. 

 

We are chalking this one up as a field trip for school! 

Simulation for ski jump.  Jonas was happy to be in 6th place from 

everyone that day and beat out all his siblings!  

Checking out what it would be like to bobsled on the simulator.

Really cool to see the athletes train.  They wear skis with holes in them so the water goes right through and they have bubbles going right before they go down so they won't go under the water. 

The view from where the athletes now train. 

The bobsled track. 

It's always amazing to me what work a city puts in to build and 

create the space for the Olympics. 

This is the view of Olympic Village from where the sports took place.  

Our hotel was right in the village area. 

Today we had a full day at Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park.  

Hoping to get that post up over the weekend!  It was a good day in the desert!

Yellowstone and Grand Tetons

This weekend we headed to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Parks.  Though they are literally right next to each, there is definitely a different feel to each of the parks. We saw some amazing wildlife and the scenery is just absolutely beautiful.  I couldn't stop taking pictures!  It will be tough to narrow down so I will try to just share my faves.  We planned 3 days at Yellowstone but only ended up needing two days.  Grand Teton we planned a day and a half but again, found we were able to do what our family wanted to in just one day.  It definitely all depends on how much hiking and stopping you want to do.  Here is a peek at our weekend adventure!. 

Best first day of school picture we have ever taken!

Seeing the bison was pretty cool.  Once we saw this big pack of them we 

started spotting in many places. 

I can't believe I have been to Yellowstone!

These guys are HUGE!

The geysers and hot springs were all over the park. 

 It was crazy how different they could all be. 

Standing by the Grand Prismatic Geyser.  It's a beautiful geyser that you can usually see a rainbow like ring around but not the day we were there.  But it was still a cool geyser to see.  It's amazing the heat you can feel just walking by them.

Old Faithful! 

Okay, forgive me if this is gruesome but it was still kind of cool.  There was a big stop in traffic and come to find out, a grizzly bear had killed an elk at 6:30 that morning (it was 3:30pm when we drove by) and the bear was sleeping beside the elk all day.  There were so many people with very large cameras just waiting for that bear to awake and dine.  I guess killing an elk can take a lot of a grizzly bear.  

Okay, we did see many that were very much alive! This one right by the road.

It was so crazy just seeing animals walking about in nature.  On our 2nd day at Yellowstone, as we rounded a corner, we startled an elk and we saw it running beside our car.  No, there is no picture of that one. It was nice to just enjoy the moment of God's creation. 

Mammoth Hot Springs.  Beautiful.  

Just chillin' in front of a bunch of bison on the hill. 

Love.

Just more beautiful scenery pics. 

Whenever there is a traffic slowdown at Yellowstone, pay attention because there is probably some wildlife nearby.  We just had no idea the wildlife was causing the traffic slowdown...quite literally!  These two were just meandering down the road with all the time in the world holding up all kinds of traffic!  

Can't get much closer than this.  They walked right by our van!  Four hours later as we headed out of the park, they were still walking down the street and causing a couple miles of traffic.  It was pretty amazing.  They are so big! 

After a couple days through Yellowstone, it was off to the Grand Tetons!

The guys who offered to take our picture did this really cool panoramic.  He took our picture on one side of the sign and then we scooted to the other side while he panned to over. 

Super cool new trick we learned!  

Absolutely beautiful.  There was definitely more haze than normal due to the wildfires out west but honestly, we still got an amazing view.  Thankfully, it rained pretty good a couple days before we went and the people in the area said that would clear a little bit of the haze.  The day was gorgeous and sunny so we could see quite clearly. 

Josiah and Jonas are becoming quite the photographers so this is 

Josiah's work with my camera.  

Little history lesson: 

This was a cool cabin at Grand Tetons which was built and owned by a fur trader named John Pierce Cunningham back in the 1800's.  Certainly lived a simple life I would say!  

PLUG: Gypsy Guide is a really cool app that you can use in the parks and other travel places.  It knows your location and is your personal tour guide as you travel the park.  We would have missed this awesome view without it! 

This is definitely one of my favorite pics.  It would have been quite the view 

each day for Cunningham from his cabin.

The famous Jenny Lake. 

So glad we met kind people who would take our picture.  

With Corona we weren't sure about this!  The man who took this picture also 

has 5 kids so he understood how hard it can be to get a picture of everyone! 

Pronghorn was an animal we saw often even before the parks.  But as we finished 

our lunch at Tetons yesterday, these guys decided to join us.  

And we certainly couldn't leave Wyoming without trying a 

bison burger!  It was good!

Today the L52 Bomber Libosine took us to Utah!  (Yes, two of you won for naming our van so we combined them!  Although in the back of my head I just might still be calling her Redemption, Auntie Donna)  I am literally updating this while I watch the kids take a swim in the hotel pool.  We have so far had a good balance of busy with parks and downtime in between.  We will drive some more tomorrow before we head to another national park later this week. 

Thanks for journeying along with us!