Dirt Trip #1 2012 - Southern Utah

I say "#1" because, with what David has envisioned for the year, this won't be our only one.  We headed out into nature for President's Day weekend.  Originally, we had planned a ski trip to Taos, but when we were invited by David's brother Brian and family to meet them in Southern Utah (they were coming from San Diego), we gave our kids the choice: ski, or meet your cousins in the desert?  Unanimous vote - meet the cousins! Hiking in the desert!  Sweet!  Harriet was all too happy to head to REI for a new pair of Keens for the occasion.  Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Christine decided to join in too.

So, our "dustcation," "mud holiday," whatever you want to call it - started out with a stop at 4-corners monument.  I drive past this spot multiple times a year on my way to Salt Lake.  I have never actually been there before, though.  It's an hour detour from the main road to Salt Lake and I always feel like I just can't add an extra hour to our already dangerously long 10-11 hour day.  So, we keep passing it by.  It felt good to see it, check it off the list, and I can stop feeling guilty about it.

cousins: Grace, Clare, Harriet, Jeremiah

Chapman blood relatives:  Christine, Brian, David, Earl, Barbara

(I'm not claiming them!)

We stayed in Bluff, UT at a cute little inn.  (by Monday morning, I was SO glad we weren't camping!!)  We spent Saturday afternoon exploring the town cemetery, full of pioneer graves.  Harriet is always fascinated with cemeteries.  So is her uncle Brian.  I thought Harriet was pretty funny - she was eating a Haagen Daas ice cream bar from the motel gift shop and couldn't finish it.  She asked where she could keep it for later.  I told her we didn't have a fridge in the room, so she'd have to finish it or throw it away.  She said "oh, that's right - the pioneers didn't have refrigerators."  She thought we were staying in a REAL pioneer cabin - it must be super rustic if it doesn't have a fridge!  Again... glad we weren't camping!

Harriet was also excited to learn that she has a good, solid, pioneer name.  Her name was found on pioneer plaques all over town.  It's rare she sees her name in anything modern (like a keychain at a gas station) so she has to get excited over old stuff.

We opted to spend our Sunday "going to church" in "God's Country."  That U2 song from Joshua Tree will always be my favorite soundtrack for driving through the desert.

We started off by heading to the San Juan river "Goosenecks."  This would have probably been more interesting to me if I wasn't so cold.  The kids investigated with David.

We made poor Grandpa relive a terrifying moment from his life when he was out exploring with his young family and went down a super steep, narrow, windy, dirt road full of switchbacks and sheer drop-offs, only to be met by a giant uranium truck going the other way and had to back his car all the way back up the road.  When we got to that spot on this trip, he looked like he wanted to cry.  He says he's never been more scared in his life.   When we got to the top of this road (which, has been much improved since then, but still made me nauseous enough to never look out the window), we were met with a snowstorm.  Luckily, the drivers got smart and decided not to head to Natural Bridges and turn around - wait -we have to go back down?  More looking deep into the car avoiding any glance out the window.  No pictures of that, sorry.

Then, we drove through the "Valley of the Gods."

The kids went on a good hike with Jeremiah and most of the rest of the family.  Clare, Christine, and I wimped out and decided it was too cold and waited in the car eating junk food.  Plus, I am still trying to make my knee better from my epic walk a couple of weeks ago.  I'd love to get to the point of walking without a strap on it again.  (Actually after spending 3 days, mostly sitting down in the car, it IS starting to feel better.  I just might be able to head out for more walking in another week.)

And, then, onto Monument Valley.  I have never been here before either, but we have a photo hung in our house that Brian had taken on a previous trip.  I love looking at that photo.  Seeing it in person was stunning.

(this is my version of the same shot)

Again, we met with another desert snow storm.  Can I just say how much I love quick desert snow storms?  They make everything look so pretty, but they come and go within about 20 minutes and so don't make your life too difficult.  I loved the loose horses all over the monument.  We're pretty sure they belong to the local Navajo tribe and weren't wild horses, but it was cool to see them roaming completely free in a totally gorgeous setting.

do we look cold?!  

ok - these two family photos look like someone photo-shopped us onto a postcard or something!

storm rolling in...

check out "Three Sisters" before the storm

ponies headed towards "Three Sisters" - snowflake near the lens.

 Storm - white out conditions - we couldn't even see a giant mesa that was right next to us for a while.

"Three Sisters" during the storm

cool, weird, sad tree

"Northern Window"

It was so cool to watch the storm clear and reveal what was behind the "window."

"Three Sisters" after the storm.

Our good little Pathfinder was a trooper and lasted through the trip.  It feels like that car has been on it's last wheel a lot lately, but we put some extra trust in the new tires, crossed our fingers when the check-engine light went on, sang praises when it went off again, and made it home without any issues.  It's nice to have an old car you don't care about scratching up or getting dirty though.

Cool trip.  Thanks to Brian and Wendy for dreaming it up and inviting us.

We opted to head home early Monday morning when Harriet came down with another cold Sunday night.  This has been a dreadful several weeks with the kids just cycling through viruses.  She's home from school today.  Again.  At least we are home in our warm house.  Wish I had gotten JUST a little bit more done today though.