We always go on a big family trip over spring break. It's what gets me through the soggy, rainy, muddy time of year. This year, we planned Ruby's graduation trip for spring break, so our family isn't enjoying a week of sand and ocean like we normally would, but we still had 4 days of break before Spain, so I planned a little road trip. And I use the term "planned" loosely, because I started planning but then the kids got all these things going on, and our window got smaller. Freestone had Little Mermaid performances, and Araceli had things for her new modeling thing. It looked like the trip was going to be about 40 hours, from Sunday after Mermaid to Tuesday night when Freestone really wanted to be at ballet because Mr. Jeff was coming back from Germany.
Solution: leave Freestone home with Scott and Ruby. I felt badly, but hey, he got to be in Little Mermaid. We left Saturday afternoon, after I got the music store in order, made a hotel reservation for that night, and picked up Araceli at Urban talent in Salt Lake. We were lucky enough to recruit Jake at the last minute, and all the kids brought their ukuleles. I loved having them noodle around in the car, Jake teaching Araceli some chords, both of them plucking out new tunes. Xanthe wasn't as into it with hers. She'll have to take a class and learn some things.
We stayed Saturday night in Price, so we only had a 2 hour drive. Right before Price, we stopped in Helper and strolled down Main Street. The town is dilapidated and depressed, but we hit an arcade and admired the crumbling architecture. I stopped to talk to two hipster dads outside a bike shop that looked like it belonged in Brooklyn. I said, "Is this where the cool people hang out?" The one guy invited us to see his gallery across the street. I was picturing a dusty little antiques shop, but when the doors swung open, it was a full-on art gallery. I felt like I was in Park City. It had a couple of attic spaces, and the kids used their curiosity to explore while Steven Lee Adams and I talked Utah art.
In Price, our hotel was dirt cheap, so we got two rooms. Can you believe it!? Ha. The pool was pretty awesome. It's called the Greenwell Inn. I highly recommend it. We procured some food and swam, relaxed and played ukuleles. Jake and Araceli roamed around town a little bit. Frank and I took Ptolemy to a sporting goods store to buy a swimsuit because the one I brought was Freestone's. Then Ptolemy was attacked by a treadmill before he got in the pool and got his knees all scraped up. Poor kid!
Sunday we had a 6 am departure time. After a couple of hours of heavenly driving with sleeping kids, we stopped for breakfast then forged on to Cortez. The nice kid at the Retro Inn let us check into our hotel at 10 am, so we sprawled out for a half our or so before going into Mesa Verde National Park. Had this trip been planned at all, I would have realized that some of the cliff dwellings are closed this early in the season. But who cares? The kids took off running down the hill at Balcony House and 2.5 hours later, we were back from a loop hike that took us down in the canyon and up the other side. My legs are sore! All the kids were awesome hikers. They felt so free! I heard Ptolemy's little voice from way up ahead of me singing, "This is awesome! This is my best memory! I'm guessing we go this way! I was right! If we'd gone the other way, we would have died!" There were stretches where we were on the side of a cliff wall. But everyone survived.
By that time, we were ruined out. We stopped caring about these crumbling structures from the 11th century and started dreaming about being in the car and relaxing. We chilled for hours with our motel room door open, ukulele wafting out, kids doing arts and crafts on the sidewalk. It was so nice.
Monday, our route home took us to Hovenweep National Monument, which is out of the way, but worth it. Nobody wanted to do Arches. "We ALWAYS go to Arches!) So we went off the beaten path. After Hovenweep, we took a 6-mile dirt road turnoff to the future site of Bears Ears National Monument, which encompasses some Indian ruins that we didn't stop at. I love the national parks, and I'm so excited to have Bears Ears protect those ruins that are now just pull-offs on the remote road.
We hit one more park, Natural Bridges, but didn't spend too much time because it was cold and rainy. The drive home was spectacularly beautiful. I love driving through that area north and east of Lake Powell. It was a fun trip, I wish it could have been longer, but it was nice to get the kids out there and spend time with them before we abandon them to go to Spain. I love these kids. They are so fun to be with. Traveling with them is so easy and so enjoyable. We're lucky to have such amazing little people in our lives.
For the last spring break day before we left for Spain, the whole family went to see beauty and the beast. I loved it. It could not have been better.
And we went to the car wash. Big time! Tziporah was very concerned about the mud on the car from the dirt road to Bears Ears. The carwash was quite the treat!
Solution: leave Freestone home with Scott and Ruby. I felt badly, but hey, he got to be in Little Mermaid. We left Saturday afternoon, after I got the music store in order, made a hotel reservation for that night, and picked up Araceli at Urban talent in Salt Lake. We were lucky enough to recruit Jake at the last minute, and all the kids brought their ukuleles. I loved having them noodle around in the car, Jake teaching Araceli some chords, both of them plucking out new tunes. Xanthe wasn't as into it with hers. She'll have to take a class and learn some things.
We stayed Saturday night in Price, so we only had a 2 hour drive. Right before Price, we stopped in Helper and strolled down Main Street. The town is dilapidated and depressed, but we hit an arcade and admired the crumbling architecture. I stopped to talk to two hipster dads outside a bike shop that looked like it belonged in Brooklyn. I said, "Is this where the cool people hang out?" The one guy invited us to see his gallery across the street. I was picturing a dusty little antiques shop, but when the doors swung open, it was a full-on art gallery. I felt like I was in Park City. It had a couple of attic spaces, and the kids used their curiosity to explore while Steven Lee Adams and I talked Utah art.
In Price, our hotel was dirt cheap, so we got two rooms. Can you believe it!? Ha. The pool was pretty awesome. It's called the Greenwell Inn. I highly recommend it. We procured some food and swam, relaxed and played ukuleles. Jake and Araceli roamed around town a little bit. Frank and I took Ptolemy to a sporting goods store to buy a swimsuit because the one I brought was Freestone's. Then Ptolemy was attacked by a treadmill before he got in the pool and got his knees all scraped up. Poor kid!
Sunday we had a 6 am departure time. After a couple of hours of heavenly driving with sleeping kids, we stopped for breakfast then forged on to Cortez. The nice kid at the Retro Inn let us check into our hotel at 10 am, so we sprawled out for a half our or so before going into Mesa Verde National Park. Had this trip been planned at all, I would have realized that some of the cliff dwellings are closed this early in the season. But who cares? The kids took off running down the hill at Balcony House and 2.5 hours later, we were back from a loop hike that took us down in the canyon and up the other side. My legs are sore! All the kids were awesome hikers. They felt so free! I heard Ptolemy's little voice from way up ahead of me singing, "This is awesome! This is my best memory! I'm guessing we go this way! I was right! If we'd gone the other way, we would have died!" There were stretches where we were on the side of a cliff wall. But everyone survived.
By that time, we were ruined out. We stopped caring about these crumbling structures from the 11th century and started dreaming about being in the car and relaxing. We chilled for hours with our motel room door open, ukulele wafting out, kids doing arts and crafts on the sidewalk. It was so nice.
Monday, our route home took us to Hovenweep National Monument, which is out of the way, but worth it. Nobody wanted to do Arches. "We ALWAYS go to Arches!) So we went off the beaten path. After Hovenweep, we took a 6-mile dirt road turnoff to the future site of Bears Ears National Monument, which encompasses some Indian ruins that we didn't stop at. I love the national parks, and I'm so excited to have Bears Ears protect those ruins that are now just pull-offs on the remote road.
We hit one more park, Natural Bridges, but didn't spend too much time because it was cold and rainy. The drive home was spectacularly beautiful. I love driving through that area north and east of Lake Powell. It was a fun trip, I wish it could have been longer, but it was nice to get the kids out there and spend time with them before we abandon them to go to Spain. I love these kids. They are so fun to be with. Traveling with them is so easy and so enjoyable. We're lucky to have such amazing little people in our lives.
1 comment:
I love your adventures! You are amazing!!
Beauty and the Beast was wonderful! We can't wait to go see it again!
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