Utah Spring Break Adventure!

Months ago, Brian started thinking about cool destinations for our Spring Break. Last year, we took a road trip through the Outer Banks which was really fun, but this year we wanted to go a bit bigger. Brian wanted to go out West- specifically Utah. I totally agreed b/c Utah had been on my short list of Spring Break options last year. He was looking into Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, but after some research we decided that those two places might involve too much hiking (and complaining) for the kids. I wanted to go someplace where we could do hiking plus some other cool activities, plus visit a national park. Turns out Moab, UT, was the perfect place for us. So we honed in on Moab, and months of research followed including hundreds of You Tube videos, studying of maps, tons of reservation, lots of anticipation and finally...the trip. Utah, here we come!

Wednesday, April 6, 2022 

Time: 3:57 am, and my children are smiling. I just knew it was going to be melt-down city leaving our house in the middle of the night, but they were so excited about our trip they just handled it like pros. American had informed us that instead of leaving at 9:30 am like we had booked, we were now taking off at 5:30 am. That was not very nice, but of course Brian thought it was great because it would give us more time in Utah to go mountain biking! :) So the night before, we got completely packed, went to bed at 9 pm, got up at 3 am, and off we went on our adventure...

I was not looking forward to our two flights, but I was excited to see Luke's reaction to them. The last time he flew was to Colorado, and he was too little then to remember it. He loves planes and airports now, so I thought he would love the experience. And of course he did! He was my seat mate on the first flight to Dallas, and he did great. He observed and enjoyed the whole flight and interacting with him made it less nerve-wracking for me.

After a smooth first plane ride, we did a very quick changeover in Dallas and boarded a smaller plane to take us to Grand Junction, CO.

The landscape changed quickly to this...

Like Addie's dramatic mountain shot. :)

We finally made it to the tiny airport, found our rental car, and started our two-hour drive West. Turns out Moab was not an easy place to get to...

which is why this happened pretty fast once we hit the road. :)

But the drive was instantly interesting so I tried not to close my eyes too much. This is why we came out here- to see a completely different landscape.

Our final destination? Dead Horse Point State Park and our new home-away-from home- the yurt!

Brian gets all the credit for figuring out that this would be a cool place to stay. He found out that there was a really incredible state park right next to Canyonlands, a national park. He looked into camping options there and found these yurts. They had electricity and heat and enough room to sleep all of us, plus the price per night was much more reasonable than the hotel rooms we found in Moab. The only catch? There were no showers. He asked me if I thought I could go without a shower for three days? I wasn't convinced, but Addie said it was no problem- she didn't even like showering! So we decided to make it work, and I'm so glad we did. The yurt provided a cozy, interesting, convenient and beautiful home for us for the next three days.

This is Dead Horse Point State Park! The views were jaw-dropping. This was the overlook from the Visitor's Center down the road from our yurt.

This is the view that the park is known for- where the Colorado River carves through the canyons. It was stunning to see in person.

We were too tired from our long day of traveling to do any hikes that Wednesday afternoon so we just went to all of the overlooks. But they did not disappoint!

Can you see me? They were scared for me to go out on this rock, but it wasn't as bad as it looks. The view was crazy!

Moab is apparently the place to go if you like mountain biking. Turns out my husband does so this was another selling point on coming here. And Dead Horse just happened to have an excellent series of mountain biking trails that connected conveniently to our yurt. So we could just hop on our bikes and go. Unfortunately, Luke was too little to do this- they didn't have 16" bikes for rent. So one of us had to stay back with Luke at all times while the others explored a trail. But honestly this worked out great because the kids loved playing at the yurt, and it was a good mix of down time and biking.

This was the view from our back porch, and the site of a pretty interesting game of hide and seek. You had to watch out for the cacti!

Addie and Luke drawing the sunset...

Brian was excited to have a campfire, but we were all too tired to enjoy it. At this point, it was 9 pm which meant it was 11 pm Eastern time, and we were officially DONE. A long, but fabulous day. But it was not a fabulous night. While the weather during the day was nice (although on the chilly side), the temperature really dropped that night. And unfortunately it was a cold night for me and Brian who didn't have warm enough bedding. Then in the middle of the night, the scariest thing happened- we heard a loud crash and then a scream. Luke had fallen out of the top bunk onto the floor! He started screaming, then I started screaming- we had no idea how badly he had been hurt, if he had landed on his head, and what to do if he had gotten hurt. It was a terrifying moment. We pulled him into bed, and I tried to talk to him to make sure he made sense and he did. Finally, we let him fall back asleep and turns out he was fine. I think he fell on his elbow, and it turns out that his side of his bed had a slat missing that we hadn't seen. That was the last night he slept on the top bunk! So after an awful, cold, restless night, we were thankful to see the morning light and to start a new day.

Thursday, April 7

First National Park for me and the kids! 

See the tiny car at the bottom of this next shot? This is the White Rim Road accessible only with a 4WD, and Brian desperately wanted to drive it but alas the Ford Escape just couldn't handle it. 

We lucked out when a man with a $21K camera offered to take our picture at the first amazing overlook...

Our first hike of the trip was a doozy, and it turned out to be our favorite one. Brian had found this one too, and it was called Aztec Butte. It didn't seem like a big deal at first (and Collins was in heaven climbing around all these rocks). 

But after we rounded the bend after the first large rock structure, we came to this point. And realized we were climbing to the top of the dome in the background. It was quite high and steep! I have never been afraid during a hike before, but there was a moment when I thought I would not be able to go on. My bookbag was full of water bottles, and I thought I'd fall backwards off the rock during the steep part. So I ended up shedding the bookbag and leaving it on a nearby rock while we finished the climb to the top. 

The view from the top was incredible so I'm so glad we pushed through and made it. 

Getting down was much easier than getting up, and we headed to the other giant rock formation where we saw areas that apparently were used as pantries and shelter for the Native Americans a long time ago. We thought this would be a good place to stop and eat a snack. :)

Our second hike of the day was to Whale Rock- can you see the back of the whale straight ahead? This was a short, easy hike, and we picnicked up on the top with not another soul in sight! Pretty cool lunch spot.

We were pushing our luck with asking the kids to do a third hike in one day. But we did it anyway. :) This hike was Upheaval Dome, and the white part in the middle of this canyon is a mystery to scientists. Some think it was a meteor that hit a long time ago, and some think it was a salt deposit that rose to the surface in this giant canyon. It was cool to see in person- for me and Brian at least! The kids were over it at this point, but they finished the hike without TOO much complaining. 

We loved that there were free ranging cows everywhere. We kept having to stop driving to wait for a cow to cross!

After our busy and physically active day, we really just wanted to crash in the yurt but we had already planned to drive into Moab. Also- we hadn't bought enough groceries the day before to get us through dinner (remember there was no refrigerator in the yurt- only a cooler). So we piled the kids in the car and made the 30 minute drive to town. Turns out it was a good decision because we got to eat this. Our favorite You Tubers (Adventures of A+K) had recommended this Neapolitan style pizza joint, and they were so right. It was amazing. 

Moab was a cool, but busy little town and we were happy to get back to this peace and quiet. 

Luke put himself to bed, and we thought this was the cutest moment so had to get a pic of this sweet boy and his Oreo.

Friday, April 8

We were a little conflicted on how to spend our day on Friday. There were more hikes we wanted to do in Canyonlands, but there was also a lot of mountain biking trails we wanted to explore at Dead Horse. In the end, we decided to stay at Dead Horse and spend the entire morning mountain biking. And I'm so glad we did, because it was really fun! I was not super excited about mountain biking going into the trip- I was looking forward to trying it- but not expecting to really get into it. But I really got into it. It reminded me of skiing- very physically challenging with a stunning backdrop. The girls and I headed here first...

Addie and I had gone out biking the day before, and she found it to be really hard (and it kind of is for an 8-year-old). But Brian encouraged us to try this easy trail out to an overlook and back, and she loved it. That encouraged her to go out with Brian once we got back and try another trail. They were gone forever! I started getting really worried because they were out in the middle of nowhere with no cell service, and started imagining all these terrible things that had happened. But turns out she liked the trail so much she wanted to do the full loop and it just took a really long time. Whew! But I would be taking my phone the next time I went biking. 

So once they FINALLY got back, it was mine and Collins's turn and we had a great time going out together because we were on the same level/speed. She did not like when I got to close to the cliff for a picture though!

Back at the yurt for jelly sandwiches and BBQ potato chips (our trip staple)...nothing like a nourishing lunch to fuel you for a day of biking and hiking. 

A great day of yurting and biking....

And then we headed back to Canyonlands for some adventures...Collins did not like our rental car because she was squished b/w her very loud (and very silly) siblings. 

Our first stop in Canyonlands was Mesa Arch, the most famous stop in the park, and actually the only arch in the park. It was really cool and not very crowded. We hit it around 3 pm which turned out to be perfect timing. It really was amazing seeing this long arch with a giant canyon behind it and behind the canyon a giant mountain range. Truly a stunning view.

Our next hike was a miss in my opinion, but Brian had researched it and wanted to do it. At this point in the day, the kids were tired from biking all morning and it was the warmest day we had the whole trip (around 80 degrees). Plus the start of the trail is just a walk through a prairie so the kids were not feeling it...

which led to the sillies. 

But this overlook is what Brian came for, and the kids could have cared less. So instead of hiking a little farther down into the canyon, the kids and I played a funny game of hide-and-go-seek in the rock formations. Probably the coolest place I've ever played this game!

C was sweet to help her brother on the way back because they were all starting to slow down. A silly movie quotes trivia game also helped pull us through the last leg of the hike to the parking lot. "I'm sailing!!"

This is the Grand View Overlook, the last stop in Canyonlands and a vast expanse of land and canyons that is hard to wrap your brain around. There was a hike along the rim of the canyon, and Brian was scared for us to do it. But it was impossible to not check it out because you just wanted to get a closer look at this vista. But he was right- one wrong step and you die. But luckily we survived- and just look at this place- it seems to go on forever.

Things got super silly in the car on the way home...I'm pretty sure you call these the tired sillies. Again, Collins DID NOT like her middle backseat spot in the Ford Escape. :)

Our last night in the yurt we had quesadillas and smores, and we were a little sad that we had to leave the next day. Although I was REALLY looking forward to a shower (I cannot describe how filthy we all were at that point- the kids had literally rolled around in the red dirt), the cozy comfort of our one-room house and the peaceful and beautiful surrounding of our yurt were wonderful. I'm so glad we had the experience. It was absolutely worth not showering for three days. 

Saturday, April 9

We woke up to the prettiest sunrise behind the mountains and started packing up to leave the yurt. We had a 10 am trail ride scheduled on the other side of Moab, and we could not wait! This was the activity the girls and I had been looking forward to the most.

Goodbye Dead Horse! We will miss you (and the cows).

Lucky for us, we got ready to leave fast enough to have time to stop in Moab for doughnuts. 

The croissant doughnut in the middle was Collins's Holy Grail of doughnuts! 

So once you left Moab, you took the most gorgeous scenic road (Hwy 128) by the Colorado River and giant cliffs to get to this place, the Hauer Ranch. Apparently it has been featured in several Western movies! We were so confused when we arrived and no one else was there. Turns out we were the only ones going on the trail ride. Score! 

We mounted Cash, Cowgirl and Zenia and were on our way...

Look at this scenery! It was crazy cool. I couldn't believe we were just taking off into the desert by ourselves with not a soul in sight. I was also surprised by the terrain she took us on. We were guiding these huge animals up tall hills, down steep hills, across creeks, under bridges, etc. We learned how to lean back going down a steep hill, how to lean up going up the hill, and some helpful hints to get Zenia (my horse) to stop snacking! 

But as we were going under the bridge in the creek, Collins's horse tripped on a rock and went down on one side. Cowgirl was able to recover and stand back up, but it terrified Collins (we didn't learn this until the ride was over- she was brave right after it happened.) This was near the end of the ride. As we were coming back to the ranch, Jamie (our guide) told us to keep our horses to one side away from the coral of other horses. Apparently they had recently gotten some new horses, and they weren't all acclimated yet. Well Addie's horse went too close to the other horses and freaked out and started running...with Addie on her. Addie started SCREAMING, and we all started yelling for her to pull back on the reigns and finally she was able to do that and slow down her horse. But now she was terrified and couldn't calm down. Oh, and a snake slithered right in front of us as we were coming back! It was an eventful end to our epic trail ride, and that is unfortunate because that is what the girls are going to remember about it. They really both got scared and probably won't get back up on a horse for a long time. But I'm going to remember how cool it felt to wander out through the desert on that horse. So thankful for that experience.

Can you guess what Luke (and Brian) did while we were riding horses? What could have caused my child to get this dirty??? They spent the whole time down by the Colorado River throwing rocks and playing in the dirt. 

A quick PB&J by the river and then it was time to head back to Moab so Brian and Collins could go rockaneering. If you're wondering what this is, it's a combination of rock climbing and canyoneering (which is repelling down through canyons.). Sounded right up their alley, and turns out it was. This activity turned out to be their favorite of the whole trip. Look at the cool pix below.

See their guide at the top? Once again, we lucked out, and it was just Brian and Collins and the guide. We were like, what is going on in Moab? Why are we the only doing activities around here? Well turns out it was Jeep Week which meant Jeep lovers descended on Moab, booked all the hotel room and did some sort of Jeep scavenger hunt, but had no interest in any of the activities. And that worked out well for us!

How cool does this look?!? They had the neatest experience doing this together. And while they were squeezing in between massive rocks, here's what Addie, Luke and I checking out the Moab food scene adn the Colorado River. Our favorite You Tubers suggested Moab Garage Co. for ice cream and the Mobilla Food Truck for giant quesadillas. I will never forget that quesadilla- best one I've ever had.

I had an elaborate plan to go in search of dinosaur tracks during our five hours of down time, but in the end Addie and Luke just wanted to go throw rocks in the Colorado River so that is what we did. And it was really peaceful and fun.

Once we all got back together, it was time to head to our new place in the mountains. We were not far away from a shower now! We drove through town and up into the LaSalle Mountains and to the cutest little cabin tucked up onto the side of a mountain. It had a recliner sofa in front of a TV (the kids were in heaven), a hot shower (I was in heaven), and a stocked kitchen (Brian was in heaven). We cleaned our filthy bodies, ate spaghetti and fell asleep in the comfiest beds. It was the most wonderful feeling. 

Sunday, April 10

We were up and moving early on Sunday morning because we were going white water rafting! And yes, it was chilly enough that we would need to wear these "blueberry suits". You can see from their faces they weren't sure about this. :)

We took a van ride down to our drop off point on the Colorado River, and ended up in a boat with just our family and Hunter- our extreme adventure and awesome river guide.

You can see from the pictures that the river was calm in places, and a little more rushing in others. I wish there had been more rapids because we opted for the half day excursion and near the end the kids were ready to be done. A few more rapids would have kept their attention better and distracted them from their freezing toes! But we all really enjoyed the ride. It was beautiful scenery, the weather was perfect (not too hot, not too cold), it was a fun adventure, and we learned a lot about the area from Hunter. We saw bald eagles and places were movies were filmed, we got a good workout in with the rowing, and we made it seven miles down the river! So glad we had the chance to do this.

Luke even braved the front of the boat near the end, and made it through one of the biggest rapids!

We were STARVING after our half-day trip, and luckily, I had found the perfect place for us to refuel. Milt's Stop and Eat has been around since 1954, and they are known for their burgers and milkshakes. We scarfed burgers, tator tots, onion rings, fries and had a milkshake contest. I'm pretty sure my classic chocolate won. 

At this point, our toes had thawed and our bellies had been filled so we were ready to take on Arches National Park!

Instantly, we saw that this national park was very different than Canyonlands. These rocks went straight up instead of down! 

We decided we had time/energy to do one hike that day, and we decided to make it a good one. The Delicate Arch is the most famous arch at the park (and the one featured on the Utah license plate), and we thought we might beat the crowds if we did it later in the day. It was not an easy hike- over three miles with lots of scrambling and steep spots- but it was definitely worth it. 

The arch was stunning! Everybody else was comfortable with a safe distance from the arch, but I had to go up close to see it.

It's huge, and you see the most gorgeous mountain scene right through the middle of it. What you can't see from this picture is that it has a crazy sharp drop off right behind the arch. Scary! It really is amazing to think how this rock formation was shaped over time, and to think about how much longer it will still stand.

We all made it safely down from the Delicate Arch and then caught a glimpse of the petroglyphs (ancient art carved in the rock).

After the hike, we headed back to our cozy cabin for some R&R. It had been a big day.

Monday, April 11

We set aside the whole day on Monday to fully explore Arches. And we had a lot of ground to cover! There are over 2,000 natural arch formations in this park (the most of anywhere in the world).

Our first arch of the day was one of the most famous ones in the park- Landscape Arch. It's famous because it's the longest freestanding arch, and you can't get too close to it (hence the fencing) because they expect it to break at any time. On the right side, you can see that a chunk of it already fell off!

Collins likes to take dramatic black and white shots. :)

The next arch we wanted to visit was a little bit harder to get to because you had to climb this steep rock formation. Brian wasn't sure if Addie and Luke could handle it so he and I took turns climbing it with Collins. Turns out once you got up this rock, it was a short hike to two different arches...

This girl was afraid of nothing!

This is Turret Arch- isn't it cool?

Addie and Luke were LOUD down at the bottom of the rock so we needed to hightail it out of there ASAP. We snapped one more quick shot in front of Landscape Arch and were on our way...

Next on the list, Sand Dune Arch. We loved this one! It had all these cool places to climb and hide. 

Okay, at this point, we had a bit of a problem. A CRAZY wind storm had developed, and that is not a good thing if you are surrounded by red sand! All of a sudden the wind whipped into a frenzy and we couldn't see, our hair was flying wildly around us, my hat was flying off, and it was hard to walk. We dealt with this the whole day which really kept us from enjoying the park as much as we normally would. 

Ok, so we thought Delicate Arch was our favorite, then we thought Sand Dune Arch was our favorite, and then we came to Double Arch and decided that it was DEFINTELY our favorite! We were all in agreeance that this was the coolest one. And I promise, you don't get bored by the arch- they are all different and exciting to see.

At this point in the day, little legs were dragging and we had three more arches to see before packing it up for the day. And this is when the windstorm went out of control. You literally had to push through the wind to walk forward. At one intense moment, Addie dropped to the ground in the fetal position. :) We joked about it, but honestly it was bad timing for our first visit to this national park. It hurts when the sand gets in your eye, our picnic lunch kept flying away, and you could only take so much wind in your face!

So we decided we had had enough and headed back to the cozy cabin. Sadly, this was our last full day in Utah. Tomorrow, we would pack up to leave. :(

But....an unexpected kink was thrown in our travel plans when we woke up to 3 INCHES OF SNOW! I literally could not believe it when I woke up and looked out the window. 

We tried to not freak out (but were unsuccessful) because how were we going to get down the isolated snowy mountain in the Ford Escape and make it all the way to Grand Junction, CO, in time to catch our flight??? We stressed, we paced, we checked the radar, drank hot chocolate, and finally heard the sweet sound of a snow plow coming up the road. We were saved! We really got lucky that the LaSalle Mountains were part of the National Forest system so the roads got plowed. We took it really slow, and made it! And then of course, our flights were delayed so it didn't even matter.

With some extra time on our hands, we were able to fit in a gorgeous hike and lunch in Moab. The hike felt unique because there was green in the landscape and water! It was a nice break from all the red, dry rock. And our kids were probably thankful it was our last hike of our trip, but they had a blast on this particular one because they led the way as our "junior rangers"- protecting the land, the rocks and the water! That badge that they earned at Arches was taken very seriously. :)

After a giant burger in town, it was time to go home. As in North Carolina. I could have stayed for a few more days- that's how much we were enjoying our trip- but our plane tickets said it was time. We started the 2 1/2 drive back to Grand Junction, CO.

What we didn't know is that the car trip back to the airport would be the easiest part of our journey home. Turns out there were severe storms in Texas that night so our flight got delayed several hours leaving CO. Once we took off we had a turbulent flight into Dallas and just BARELY made our flight. We were literally running through the airport. But once we made it on the plane, we sat there for at least an hour meaning our flight didn't taxi to the runway until 10 PM. UGH. 

And then once we were in the air, the pilot came on saying that the flight would be pretty turbulent because of the storm system going across the country. He was not lying. It was one of the scariest flights I have ever been on. Everyone else was sleeping through the bounces, the bumps, the changing altitudes in the air- I was terrified. And I was alone with the girls (Brian and Luke were further up in the plane) so I had to be brave. We did not land until 1:50 am, and I have never been so glad to touch ground. We CRAWLED into our beds at approximately 3 am., and I don't think I've ever been so tired and grateful to be at home.

So the ending to our trip in no way matched the rest of our Spring Break adventure. It was simply spectacular. It achieved everything we hoped it would- it exposed our kids to a new/different part of the country, it took them to their first national park, it gave us new adventures (mountain biking/white water rafting), and it just really fun. I'm so grateful we got to take this trip, and that we did it when the kids were the ages they were. I was honestly really sad when it was over. We had been planning the trip for months and all the planning and anticipation was really fun. When it was over and there was not grand adventure on the horizon, it was a bit of a let down. But luckily, we came back to Raleigh with several free days left on Spring Break and Easter coming up that weekend. And with the most amazing memories made in Moab, Utah!