The Long and Winding Road

Any time I see blank spaces on my calendar, the wheels start turning.  The wheels of the car, I mean.  Presidents Day weekend was just such a time.  Scott escaped to Park City Friday night, followed by lots more of us Saturday afternoon, after orchestra and all the ballet classes were done.  (We left Freestone home to go to a party (teen priorities) and Ruby home to sleep and finish her Swaziland book project.) We rode the public lift from the parking lot to the plaza at The Canyons.  We've been on a skiing sabbatical for most of the past 15 years, because we simply can't afford to ski with 7 kids.  We could invest in equipment and season passes, but that would cost upwards of five, six, seven thousand dollars, and we can't do everything.  That said, I do have major guilt over not teaching my kids how to ski, and I do miss it very much.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the weather in Park City.  The Salt Lake Valley has been under a heavy inversion for what seems like forever.  We can see the air we're breathing, and it's brown.  We can go days without seeing blue sky through the muck, even when it's gorgeous above the smog.  It's heavenly just to get above the inversion, if only to see that the sun still exists.

Early Sunday, we set out from the Ranch to southern Utah.  The credit for this itinerary goes to my brother Josh, who did the same trip with my dad last year for work.  A few weeks ago, Josh mentioned that the hotel they had stayed at in Bluff, Utah, was nice and had a luxurious indoor pool and hot tub.  I booked it.  Scott waffled and said it sounded like a long drive.  I said, "So?  It's a road trip."  He jumped onboard and had a marvelous time.  In fact, he kept saying, "I don't know why I'm having so much fun on this trip!"  We decided he should start each vacation a day early, like he did this one, so he has time to decompress before it even starts.  It was true, Scott was relaxed and happy to meander and explore, which the kids loved.  At Arches National Park, our plan was to hike Delicate Arch.  Unfortunately, the road was flooded, so we went to Windows instead, and that turned out to be better for the kids.  They could just roam and climb to their hearts' content, and I could sun myself on a rock, pretending I was a lizard.  It's such a luxury to see the sun after so many weeks of inversion!

I love that outside, kids' confidence levels increase as they own the landscape and explore without rules.  Tizzy kept saying, "I'm a good hiker.  I really good one.  I can do it by myself."  All of them discovered that they can do things that look scary, and that those things aren't even that hard.  It's fun to watch, although nervewracking to see them scale cliffs and teeter on edges.  I'm what Nana would call a "pantywaist" over heights.  We really don't take chances with falling off cliffs, but the kids sure feel brave out there.

Bluff is in the southeastern corner of Utah, in case you've never been.  I hadn't.  The Canyon Rose Inn exceeded out expectations.  Josh was right, it was world-class.  This is the big poolhouse lobby.  Nice, huh?  I was wishing we had at least 3 or 4 days to make Canyon Rose Inn our home base and explore the ares.  There is an overwhelming amount of things to do and see.  We almost stayed an extra night.  Having spent the whole day exploring Arches and driving through magnificent country, we spent the last fading hours of the day in the hot tub and pool, looking out over the red rock mesas and being thankful to be together, away.