Since we had no big extended family vacations this summer (a first since Michael was born), we decided to do a little trip with just our family. I've been wanting to explore things in Utah since people come from all over the world to see Utah's national parks, and I've never been to any of them. I decided that we've lived here for over 10 years; it's time to settle in and embrace all things Utah. Because of the summer heat, I didn't really want to head South. We also have a new baby, so I didn't want to rough it too much in a tent, but I kind of wanted a camping like experience. I looked into lots of state parks with cabin options and looked at the National Parks/Monuments in the northern parts of the state for one that had a nearby campsite with cabins. I then presented the options to the crew. Everyone decided to go to Vernal to see the Dinosaur National Monument. We stayed in a 2 room cabin at the KOA in town.
We left on July 6 and drove the 3.5 hours to Vernal, stopping for lunch in Roosevelt. I did a little online research to know what we should go see while we were there, and so many sites listed this pink dinosaur, so when we stopped for lunch, I showed them a picture and said that the first person to spot it would get a dollar. When we arrived in town, everyone was on the lookout. I think Brian spotted it first, but Michael spotted the temple first. We had to stop and get our picture taken.
After seeing the dinosaur, we checked into the KOA. The kids were excited to have their own bunk bed room. They were excited about the playground and the pool too, so they weren't very happy when we made them get back into the car to head over to the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, but once we were there, they had a lot of fun. The museum is very cool with lots of hands on exhibits.
Brian and I love doing silly poses in front of statues and things, so this trip, we taught our kids how it is done. It was the best way to get Michael to get his picture taken:
After the Field House, we tracked down some firewood and few other supplies and then spent the rest of the evening at the KOA hanging out. We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. We got the kids in bed and made sure that Gabe wore his dinosaur pajamas.
And since he isn't rolling over yet, he got to sleep on the top bunk of the bunkbed like his brother, right above his sister.
The next morning, after breakfast, we headed out to the Quarry side of the Dinosaur National Monument. First we stopped at the Museum
and picked up Junior Ranger books for both Michael and Rachel. Then we caught the shuttle
and headed to the Wall of Bones--and enclosed rock where the fossils are just hanging out, partially excavated and partially still where they were found in the rock. It was really cool to see:
They had more hands-on exhibits there as well
and they even allow you to touch some of the bones:
It was really, really cool. We took the shuttle back and the kids got sworn in as Junior Rangers for Dinosaur National Monument:
After the Quarry Museum and Wall of Bones, we headed down a loop in the monument in search of pertoglyphs:
and the Josie Morris Cabin:
It was a pretty loop, but we were all starving by the end, so we stopped at a little Cafe, just outside of Vernal for lunch, and took a picture by the dinosaur there. Notice Michael posing like the dinosaur? He's a fast learner.
Funny story about Vernal--there are dinosaur statues EVERYWHERE!
After lunch, we went back to our "camp" and headed over to the pool. It was a little windy, so we didn't last too long, but it was Gabe's first time swimming, and he really liked it, once he got used to the slightly chilly water.
He even fell asleep a little while I was holding him.
After showers, we grabbed some dinner and headed out in search of Fantasy Canyon, about an hour south of Vernal. It was pretty cool to see, but it is very much in the middle of nowhere.
Of course, everyone in the back seat crashed on the way back to camp:
Brian and Gabe kind of had a rough night. We finally decided that Gabe must be cold, and brought him in our sleeping bag with us. He slept great after that, and so did Brian.
The kids don't know what sleeping in means, so I went out with them for an early breakfast. We lit a fire and tried cooking biscuits over it. It didn't go so well.
Before we got everything put away, I snapped a few pictures to remember our time in the little cabin:
And Brian and Gabe eventually woke up, so there was more fawning over Gabe. He's quite the VIP around our family:
After we got everything packed up and back in the car, I convinced Brian to head over to the Canyon Visitor's Center section of the park. Dinosaur is not like Yellowstone where there are loops to just drive through the park. There are really only 3 roads into it, and they don't connect together. In fact, most of the monument can only be seen by rafting the rivers, which really wasn't an option for us. Someday, I think we'll go back and try that. The Quarry side is really close to Vernal, but to get to the Canyon section, you have to go into Colorado. It was more driving, but I'm really glad we went. We were going to grab lunch in Dinosaur, Colorado, but that was a pretty scary looking town, so we avoided eye contact when we grabbed gas and headed on into the monument. It was mostly driving with lots of scenic overlooks. At the end of the road, Harper's Corner, there is a 1 mile-one way hike that takes you to an overlook of the green river and Steamboat Rock. We hiked until we could see Steamboat Rock, and then hiked back to the car. It was the perfect amount for our little family:
We headed back to Vernal, got lunch, and went over to see the temple.
After seeing to the temple and returning to the Field House for souvenirs, we hit the road for home. We got home around bedtime. It was the perfect little trip for our little family.
