More Driving! (a.k.a.- Spring Break)

Yes, I am a glutton for punishment.  So, of course we loaded up the car & headed south for some spring break fun! We were joined by the Whitemyer & Buss families, who luckily are also huge fans of cheap thrills and low-budg hotels :)

This was the plan: They drove down to our house here in Price & spent the night Wednesday.  Thurs. morning we headed out for Goblin Valley where we spent the day in the park and doing some local hiking. Thurs. evening we drove to Hanksville to stay at the swanky Whispering Sands Motel.  Friday took us to yet another park, this time National- we spent the day at Capitol Reef, not far from Hanksville and one heck of a gorgeous drive to boot.  Friday night it was back up to the Wallace Inn for some R & R before heading home Sat.

Here’s how it actually played out……..

First stop, Goblin Valley State Park

 

The kids had a fabulous time exploring here and climbing all over the hoodoo’s.  As we were leaving we realized we didn’t get a group photo.  At that exact same time a rip-roarin wind-storm rolled into town.  The ensuing pictures were hilarious…..

You can pretty much see all the moms yelling “Hold still damnit! I don’t care if there is sand in your eyes!  This is fun and we need a photo to prove it!  Don’t make me kick you!”  Bahahaha!! 

Slightly better….. (but not as funny)

After a windy lunch at the Goblin Valley campground we did the Wild Horse slot canyon hike.  This is one of my favorite slots just because its so easy to access and it can be enjoyed by any level of hiker.

 

After a long day of hiking we were so happy to retire at our awesome hotel.  I made fun of it a lot because it was so cheap and in the middle of nowhere, but in all honesty, it was pretty great.  I would recommend it to anyone, especially to all those poor saps we saw camping out in the wind tundra that blew in that night.  And really, who wouldn’t love a hotel that includes free breakfast at the gas station next door?  That’s what I call classy!

The next day we awoke to slightly lower temperatures than one would hope for on their spring break weekend, and we had a hard time deciding where to go. Rich called the visitors center at Capitol Reef National Park and said “Hi.  We are traveling with 6 adults and 12 children.  Tell me why Capitol Reef is the right place for us to spend our day.”  The poor lady on the other end of the line did a great job selling him the place, but really she had us when she said it was warm and not windy there. 

I’m so glad we spent the day there!  Capitol Reef is a beautiful National Park that is often overlooked because there are so many bigger, more spectacular parks nearby (Arches, Bryce, Zion’s, etc.), but we had such a great time.

We started our day with a hike to Hickman bridge.  Fun, short hike with great narration of the scenery provided by Amberlee :)

Next we found a great park to have our lunch in and us moms planned an easter egg hunt for all the kiddos.  We asked the husbands to take the kids to the visitors center for 5 minutes so we could hide the eggs and exactly 1 hour, 3 junior ranger badges and a short video at the park amphitheater LATER, they returned for the hunt.  men……

Pre-hunt instructions.  I had hid a five dollar bill in one lucky “golden egg” (which was actually green, but whuteva…) 

And they’re off!

Cute little Nelly actually ended up with the golden egg, and she was over the moon about it!

After the hunt we wandered around the park checking out the sites.  There was a fun Nature Center for the kids, tons of beautiful orchards with gorgeous spring blossoms, and an old historic pioneer house where they sell delicious homebaked goods.  So we stopped for some afternoon pie and ice cream!

At last it was time to head back to Price.

In hindsight, I suppose I shouldn’t have let my little puker ride home in Whitemyers car on a full bell.  Sorry guys! :)

The next morning, safe & sound back at the Wallace Inn, the men woke up at the crack of dawn for a little Mtn. Bike riding.

After that, it was time for our vacation to be over.

 

Or was it?????

 

So, Saturday afternoon, we climbed back into the car and drove North to spend Easter Sunday with our families.  I KNOW.  MORE DRIVING!!!!!

Here we are at the annual Harward family easter egg hunt.  Just for future reference, squinkies do NOT make good egg hunt prizes!

Proud to say I did their entire Easter ensemble this year on hand-me-downs.  (Or as my dear friend Jami would say- hamme-downs)

So, thank you Julie for baby J’s awesome dress!  Thank you Michelle for picking up Sparky’s shirt at the local garage sale :)  Thanks to Lisa for Smurfy’s awesome outfit- courtesy of the quads.  The list goes on, we could be here all night.  Anyway- I made it work.  They all matched & zero dollars were harmed for the making of this photo.

The Whole fam.  Hoppy Easter everyone!

Here’s hoping we can stay put for the next few weeks.  (Ya right!)