4th of July in Southern Utah

Monday holidays are perfect since Jason has most Tuesdays off work.  The 4th of July fell on a Monday this year so that meant we had a four day weekend.  We decided to head to southern Utah and show the kids some of our favorite places from when we were in college.  Unfortunately I waited until the week before to plan the trip and found out that most camp grounds and hotels were reserved.  I found a couple hotels that still had rooms so Friday afternoon when Jason got done with work we drove to Torrey and got there just before dark.  While we were checking in I noticed a sign for a 5K the next morning.  Jason decided that since he had to get a workout in anyway he would run the race in spite of having done some really hard workouts that week.  Andrew decided to run too.  It was hot and a tough course so neither of them broke any time records but they did both win ice cream gift certificates so we got ice cream every day we were in Torrey!

Saturday we spent the day in Capitol Reef National Park.  It was the one national park I had never been to in Utah.  It's not as popular as some of the other parks and it was nice to get away from the crowds.  We didn't get started on our first hike until about noon and it was around 100 degrees that day.  We found a beautiful slot canyon to hike into but unfortunately there was no shade in the middle of the day.  We got about a mile in and decided to climb up the rocks to see some water holes.  Kaitlyn was having a hard time climbing over all the big rocks but we finally made it.  When we turned around to head back she said "I can't go another step!"  I looked over at her and she was beat red!  We haven't had heat like that yet this summer and I was really worried about her.  I sent Jason and the boys ahead and hiked back slowly with her and had her sit down and drink lots of water whenever we could find a small spot of shade.  We eventually made it back to the car and decided the rest of our sight seeing for the day would be from the car.

Hiking in Capital Reef National Park

At last!  A little bit of shade!

Sunday after church we left Torrey and drove over Boulder Mountain.  Jason loved reliving the memories of his summer working on Boulder Mountain for the Forest Service.  I think if he could have made enough money to support a family doing that he never would have gone to medical school!  He was really wishing he had a truck to go exploring on the dirt roads again but since we were in our van we stuck to the highway.  We enjoyed a picnic in the cooler air in the mountains and then headed back down the other side into the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  We wanted to hike to Calf Creek Falls but when we got there it was 102 degrees and we discovered it was a 6 mile hike.  It was beautiful but we didn't want a repeat of the day before with Kaitlyn so we decided to save that hike for another trip.

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

Instead we stopped at the petrified forest and went for a short walk.  The kids thought all the petrified wood was great!

Yes, that's really petrified wood we are sitting on!

Sunday night we arrived at Bryce Canyon and caught up with all the crowds.  We learned our lesson and got up early Monday morning to go hiking.  We were also at 8,000 feet elevation, which made for much better hiking conditions!  Bryce Canyon has always been one of my favorite places!  We did a three mile hike with about a 1,000 foot climb at the end and the kids did great!

My favorite picture from the trip!

The never-ending switchbacks we climbed at the end of the hike!

The kids loved doing the Jr. Ranger programs at each of the parks and monuments.

The kids working on their Jr. Ranger booklets.

Jared loved the Jr. Ranger t-shirt!

Tuesday on the way home we stopped at Panguitch Lake and Cedar Breaks National Monument.  As Jared put it he was "sick of looking at scenery" by that point so when we got back to the not so scenic I-15 he was delighted to watch a DVD the rest of the way home!

Cedar Breaks National Monument-The kids were tired of posing for pictures!

Like all vacations, it was too short and we played too hard.  We came home exhausted but hopefully made some fun memories for the kids!