Guess what though? It turned out to be pretty darn cool. There is something to visiting small town USA. You could ride off road vehicles through the town. We could take the ranger to run down to get milk at the market. Fun right? Everyone waves as they drive by. You can let the kids play in the yard without any worries. And, you can have the whole entire lake to yourselves! Sweet.
I certainly didn't have to worry about finding things to do for the week that we were there. Every day was stuffed with all sorts of adventures. And of course, here are the pics to prove it...
Here is our cute house that Brent and Lorna rented for us. Isn't it darling? There were plenty of rooms for all of us and it had a big kitchen and a nice living room for watching Olympics!
The house is located right on the Paiute Trail. It is one of the longest ATV trail system in the world.
We took a ride one morning to explore the area. Cord rode his bike and I stayed with the small people in the Ranger with Grandpa.
We got to ride around the beach too.
We scouted out a good place to come play in the water, so the next day we gathered up all our beach gear and spent the day at the lake! We were the ONLY people there. It was awesome.
Of course, we had plenty of kite fun as well.
We actually had so much fun at the lake, we decided to come back again a few days later.
Libby was able to kayack by herself! She zipped right off the shore and around the lake like a pro. I was so surprised that she could do it!
It was hotter that day too, so most everyone took a dip in the water. The girls all squealed when they touched the muddy bottom with their toes, but they eventually decided it was worth the gooey mess to cool off.
Redneck canopy at the lake! Shade is pretty awesome.
We went for a tour up through Gold Canyon. It was full of old miner's artifacts.
We wandered around the miners camp and then headed up the trail to find the waterfall.
Check out this muddy mud puddle!
The "easy" hike described in the information pamphlet was a bit more intense than we were led to believe! It was up, up, up and twice as long as expected. But, the cool waterfall at the end was a great payoff. Here, the girls spotted it in the distance. We were almost there!
Cord took Libbers down the cliff to the base of the falls.
I wouldn't let the younger two go down.
We sat and soaked our feet in this tiny river while we waited for the others to climb back up the mountain! I was certainly ready for my yummy BLT from the little town restaurant down the street once we were finished. We were all half-starved! It's amazing how good food tastes when you are truly hungry.
It rained almost every afternoon/evening. It was actually quite nice because it kept the temperatures down! One evening the kids all had foot races on the front lawn in the pouring rain. You should have seen tiny Natters running with the big kids. She is like a lightening bolt. That girl has serious speed! She ran and ran!
Granny B brought a bunch of cookie mixes for the kids to bake. They each partnered up and mixed up some cookies to share. We had quite the variety! Fresh cookies in milk. Mmmmmmmm.
The boys doing some good quality control monitoring.
On day we drove over to the Big Rock Candy Mountain. Have you heard of that? It really is a weird looking mound. The kids were excited to see a candy mountain!
It was cute Abby's birthday so some of the folks decided to try out the zip line system there.
There were six different lines that they zipped across, over a river and through the trees!
Cord joined them!
Remember how I mentioned that it had been raining off and on. Well, that rain created a little thing we like to call mud. But, down at the Rock Candy Mountain, they call it glue.
Gage found some to tromp through. Are those the muddiest shoes you have ever seen???
Cord doing a bit of zipping...
There was a fun ropes course playground that we got to play on while the others were flying around.
The kids had a great time testing out their skills.
After they were finished we ate a picnic by the river and then the whole group hopped on their bikes and went riding. There is a great bike trail that borders the river in the canyon. Natty and I rode for a bit until her tiny legs got tired and then we turned back. We each got an ice cream cone and enjoyed our treat as we waited for the rest of the group to return. It was fun having a bit of one on one time with my girl.
Cord rode with Gage on his back. Not sure how safe that is, but I trust him. :)
Libby was able to hold her own with the big kids! She had a great time riding.
Of course, we did a bit of roasting. Can you see that awesome sunset?
It was so intense! It almost looks like a forest fire.
We took one day and drove into Bryce Canyon. It is about an hour away from Junction.
We ate breakfast at Ruby's Inn. I got the biscuits and gravy. I could sense the envy of the others around me as it came to the table. It was yummy in my tummy. :)
We ate breakfast at Ruby's Inn. I got the biscuits and gravy. I could sense the envy of the others around me as it came to the table. It was yummy in my tummy. :)
We went on a hike just outside the park to the "mossy cave" and to a waterfall.
It was a nice little wander through some cool red rock.
Look at all those cute kids!
We spent the rest of the day exploring Bryce Canyon National Park.
There are tons of "view points" you can drive to and then hike out to the edge.
It is a very beautiful place.
Having a picnic!
Once we had finished our tour of the canyon, we headed back to the little town at the park entrance to have dinner and see a show at the Bar G Wranglers Barn.
Yeeee-ha! Those are some good looking cow folk.
Here is a shot of the Bar G Wranglers in action. The kids had a great time dancing along to the music. I wasn't too impressed with the food, but all in all it was a nice entertaining evening!
Oh, and we spilled three glasses of soda throughout the night. So, it was a bit sticky.
Eating out with kids is a JOKE.
They ended the show by singing "Happy Trail's to You." I think that can pretty much sum up our fun little small town middle of nowhere vacation. It was happy trails all the way.
We watched our fair share of the Olympics, played horseshoes, fixed yummy meals and ate like kings, sat on the front porch, and enjoyed spending time as a family.
It really was a nice little vacation.
3 comments:
Looks like it turned out to be a fabulous trip!!
I am a little bit jealous! Looked like a fabulous trip to me. I think I'll have to make up for it next summer, when I'm not pregnant!!
Adelle, such cute pictures of our adventures. It was a marvelous time. I was surprised how fun it was being in the middle of nowhere. Too bad we had to come home.
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