Stow Aways: Everything from Slot Canyons to Shakespeare

This was a pretty epic trip. Who knew you could do so much in 4 days in a small town like Cedar City, UT?

I hadn't been to Grandma Primmer's house in 4 years, since Grandpa's funeral. The kids hadn't been since Harriet's 1st birthday, and David hadn't been in a decade. It was high time. David and I have always loved visiting Cedar City. We don't know why it took us so long to get back, but we're sure glad we did.

It was a long drive, mostly on skinny 2 lane highway to get there, through hot dry Arizona/Utah border towns. Half way there, I called Grandma to tell her when we would be there. She reported that she currently had no water in her house (hadn't for 3 days) and had a crew digging up her front yard for a sewer leak. She was afraid to tell us because she thought we would change our minds. Oh, she's a funny one! When we arrived she had cooked up a storm for us (somehow... with no water...) and in the process had sliced her thumb really bad on a meat slicer. (Thankfully, the water was back on by the time we got there.) Poor thing though. We dragged her out to a late night movie after dinner and I succeeded in accidentally locking us out of the house as we left. When we finally broke into the house by flashlight after 10pm, I thought my grandma had about 1000 reasons to be irritated and grumpy. Instead, she just laughed her head off about the whole day and went to bed smiling. If I ever learn anything in life, I want to learn how to do that. She is so amazing. I think that's the thing I like most about spending time with her. She laughs most of the time you are with her and doesn't let anything get to her. (Not to mention... her A/C unit stopped working while we were there too. We felt so bad for her! She really had a rotten week.)

Next morning - 4th of July! The best kept secret of small towns is that they are the BEST at celebrating this holiday. Their parades are small so you can show up a few minutes before-hand and still get a great seat. They are super fun and quirky and always provide plenty of beanings-in-the-head by thrown salt water taffy. They have great fireworks shows, again, no showing up early needed. Just drive on out to the little airport strip, sit in your car, take in the sparks, and head home. It was really fun to take Grandma with us and celebrate with the Cedar City-ites.

Fun in the park after the parade... that's Grace climbing and Harriet wanted to do this spinny thing. Crazy girl.

Friday we kind of had the day open and decided to head out for some adventure. I was a little shocked when David suggested that we ride horses through Bryce Canyon. He usually wants to hike those kinds of things. It was a really sweet gesture that he threw the horse idea in the mix. The kids and I have been dying to ride all summer. So, even though we went to bed super late on the 4th, we got up super early on the 5th to make the 90 minute drive to Bryce and be there by 8. We were kind of crazy tired and grumpy, but the second the kids saw the big corral of horses and mules, all was cured.

The rest of the family were all assigned to horses. Harriet got the biggest horse by far! I was given "the mule that they don't give to beginners." Hmm... I was wondering what kind of ride I was in for, but I really was up for riding anything they wanted to give me. I have never ridden a mule before and was curious how it would compare to a horse. My mule, Jake, turned out to be a total sweetheart and I had one of the best trail rides ever on him. (fellow horse-people, don't faint! yes, we all rode without helmets. It wasn't even an option... glad I didn't stress too much that we were all wearing athletic shoes instead of boots!)

The kids did SO well on their horses, especially considering the terrain and steepness of the trail. Harriet was super timid at first, but warmed up to Kid.

Grace bonded with Red River immediately and took every chance she could to let space develop between him and Kid so that she could trot him to catch up. She's lucky I was behind her so that she didn't cause the whole group to take off trotting. The guide totally let her get away with it too after expressly instructing everyone not to do that in his pre-ride speech. That was pretty cool of him to realize she could handle it and the rest of us could too.

David rode like a regular cowboy on El Paso. What a fun morning! It was a really awesome way to see Bryce Canyon. It was also the first time our whole family has been on horse-back together!

The whole fam riding! Kind of my dream come true.

(silly guide riding backwards. our kids weren't impressed - they've been doing that since they were babies at Hybid Farm!)

After our ride, we ate some lunch and then did the drive south through Zion National Park. That was really incredible. The kids have never been there and were oohing and ahhing all they way. Pictures of things such as these are just no comparison to the reality. This picture looks totally wimpy.

On our way back to Cedar, we stopped in Kanarraville for a hike to Kanarraville Falls. Jared had suggested the hike to us as we were setting out on the trip to Cedar. I had no idea there were slot canyons so close (15 minutes) to Cedar City. It was brutally hot, but so nice when we finally got into the slot canyon and hiked in the river. Pardon the volume of pics; this was a very cool place. And, I kind of can't believe the kids and I did it.

about to enter the slot canyon... every claustrophobic's worst nightmare (mine)

because this is your only out - about 100 feet up.

Or, you can keep going forward, because this thing looks easy to climb. Harriet and Grace did not hesitate, they just scampered right up. I took note of how many of those little rails were barely hanging on. Some locals have hammered in random bits of wood and metal to make steps and strung fraying ropes for safety on the side.

In case you are wondering if hiking in a skirt is a great idea... it's not. I wore it because it was the only thing I had that was quick dry material and it is my swimsuit coverup (which I had on underneath.) I thought it was short enough not to get in my way. Nope. Several times I wished it was stretchy or shorter. It was a pain to hike in. But thanks, honey for trying to get an "up the skirt shot." :)

The reward? If you KEEP going (and yes, I put up a fuss about it, but lost the battle) you can arrive at some really fun waterfalls over mossy rocks. Nature's water park! Grace went right for it and slid down about a dozen times. Harriet was a harder sale to make. She really wasn't going to do it, but we knew she would be so upset if we left and got home and then she realized that she regretted it. So, David slid down with her on his lap and then she finally went by herself! I was so glad that she could go back and tell everyone that she did it too!

We may have had a grouchy hike back (sorry guys, sometimes mommy loses her perspective on life when hiking, especially when hiking with whiny kids.) We got back to Grandma's looking like a giant dirty tired ball of mess, and collapsed in her kitchen with a pizza. We couldn't believe it was still the same day we had gotten up to ride in Bryce. We were wrung out, exhausted.

Grandma Debbie arrived later that night and we stayed up hanging out with her, getting excited for the next day. She came down to go to the Utah Shakespeare Festival with us! I love that festival. It is so well done and attracts top-notch actors and productions. It's very worth the many pennies you spend to go. Between us and the Grandmas, we scraped up enough to go to one play - wish we could have done more, but maybe another year...

the girls with my mom and grandma before the play

all of us with Grandma Primmer

We saw Peter and the Starcatcher. We thought it would be the most kid-friendly play of all that were offered (and it probably was) but we were unprepared for how adult it turned out to be too. Thankfully, the adult humor went over our kids' heads. It was HILARIOUS though. The guy who played the pirate completely stole the show. We kind of forgot all about Peter AND the starcatcher girl because of him. He was amazing. I also loved the staging. The set and props were so creatively done. It was truly a work of art to watch.

The girls totally loved it and had a grand time shopping in the gift shop. They bought some really cool dress-up accessories for their own "plays" at home. I love this picture of them standing next to the statue of Juliet outside the fancy theater. (There are statues of Shakespeare's famous characters all over the grounds.)

The girls probably had the most fun with the mustache kits that Grandma Primmer bought them. Hahaha! King David, the pink-haired ruler!

Later that day, Grandma Primmer took us all out to eat at her favorite steak house up the canyon to celebrate my mom's birthday. She treated us all to whatever we wanted on the menu. Grace was ecstatic when Grandma told her she could order her own filet. Grandma is so generous and kind.

Sunday morning, we went to church at probably my favorite LDS church building. My Grandma's church, the Old Rock Church, in Cedar City is so unique. It was hand built out of irregular local rocks. Each rock is different in every way - different colors, textures, sizes, shapes. The inside of the building is really pretty too - the chandeliers in the chapel, the wood cedar benches, the brass fixtures on the doors... it's gorgeous.

bye Grandma, we love you! Thanks for the great weekend!

Our drive home Monday took a lot longer than expected. Between road closures, construction, and a detour that forced us from NM back to AZ and then back to NM, it was a LONG day. But, in the middle we stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam in Page. The kids have never seen Lake Powell, so that was fun for them... and that dam is so HUGE! Every time I see it I vow to never set foot in that lake again. It is so deep!!