THE CHRONICLE OF OUR SPRING BREAK ADVENTURE!
By Barry (and Maria)


Well, we spent the last week on whirlwind trip to Utah. All I can say is that we had a blast! We packed a ton of fun into our all-too-brief trip. I was sad to leave, but ready to come home. I wish we would have had more time to visit other family and friends in the area.



Roadtrip

After failing in our original plan to leave mid-day on Friday due to a crazy week that left us woefully unprepared, we got it together enough to be able to get on the road early Saturday morning. I don't think I had one free moment this week and Barry was working late almost every day. That meant that I was left to cover 6 baseball practices and 2 soccer practices, the school open house, middle school band try outs, 2 dentist appointments, an emergency eye appointment and field day all on my own! We made it all the way to Green River, Utah before stopping for the night. Thank you Barry for driving the entire 18 hours! I also have to give props to the kids who were amazingly well behaved on this long drive. On Sunday morning we pointed our trusty 'burb toward Salt Lake City and hit the road again. Maria and I were both struck by how much we missed about Utah- specially southern Utah where the red rocks and unique landscapes hold so many fond memories for us. It's a special place to us. Utah has an unfair amount of gorgeous and varied landscape. We took hundreds (really) photos trying to capture it's beauty. We'll be holding a special 5 hour viewing at our house later. :)


Provo

We made it to Provo by late morning on Sunday and decided to take a detour through town to see how things had changed since we left in late 1998. It was a surreal experience to take our kids around the town we'd spent so much time in - where we met and fell in love -- the different apartments we rented, the duplex we owned, the campus. It struck us how eerily quiet the town is on Sunday, with the obvious exception of all the students in their Sunday best making their way to church. The weather was sunny and beautiful, which is how it was for all of our trip. Ditto.





We made it to Salt Lake in the early afternoon and proceeded to get settled in our hotel, which was near the U of U campus. Over the course of traveling with our children, we have come to the realization that it is worth the extra money to get the 'suite' whenever possible. This room had two king beds, a pullout couch, two bathrooms and a full kitchen. The extra space can make all the difference. Uh, yeah-can't do the single room, 2 queen beds any longer!



The Big Surprise!

Anyway, around four or so we headed to Joy (my baby sis) and Ryan's apartment to meet the new baby, Ari. My mom was also in town, helping Joy out with the baby and visiting her newest grandson. Joy did not know we were coming. We sent Cam to the door while we hid behind some stairs. He knocked on the door and when Joy answered he asked if Ari could come out and play. He was so excited to play this part in the surprise-he was totally cute! I think Joy had a hard time figuring out how her five year old Texan nephew was at her door in SLC, alone on a Sunday afternoon. She seemed quite puzzled at first. Then we all came out of hiding -- it was pretty cool to be able to surprise them like that. Joy cried. See, I'm not the only one. It was really neat. Then we got to meet Ari-- and as expected, he's a cutie. He was great the whole time we were there, even putting up with Cam's sometimes over-enthusiastic attention. What a great baby! I know that the parents always think (most of the time) that they have the best baby. He really was so easy going and adorable!





Snowboarding

On Monday Tanner, Parker and I headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to Brighton to do one of my favorite things in the world that I REALLY miss - Snowboarding. The boys took lessons in the morning and I got the chance to ride the mountain alone for a few hours. I had a lot of fun even though I was missing Maria since we'd boarded there together quite a few times in our pre-kid glory days.


Maria had asked the doctor the week before if she could go snowboarding with her broken arm with three pins still in it -- the doctor said, "I'd rather you didn't", but her tone of voice communicated, "You've got to be kidding me? Do you realize your arm has metal pins holding it together right now? What planet are you from?" We took that as a 'no', so she took Maddie and Cam to spend the day with Grandma and Ari while we boarded and Joy and Ryan worked. I complained quite a bit because I was so bummed I couldn't go-just ask Barry. I mean, how often are we going to get back to Utah?! I did enjoy just hanging out a bit. It was really nice to talk with Mom and play with Ari.




Anyways, boarding alone was still fun. Not feeling bad about that. Considering it's been years and years since I last boarded, I'd say I did pretty well. I went back to check on the boys, only to find that Parker was having a hard time and was getting quite frustrated. Tanner, on the other hand, was doing quite well. He is the skateboarder in the family, after all. After the lesson and a pep-talk for Parker from both Maria and I, we headed out to conquer the slopes. Both boys did great for their first time. We had a beautiful sunny day and had a lot of fun. I think we might need to plan some weekend road trips to New Mexico to get a couple more days in before the season ends...I am really glad that Barry got to take the two older boys. I am disappointed they didn't get more pictures though! I don't think the boys got even one picture of Barry-and you know I reminded them several times too!



Mayan Adventure

Monday night, we regrouped and went to the Mayan Adventure restaurant, which is part rainforest cafe, part cultural center, part Olympic diving show. The diving show was very cool, in spite of a storyline that I just couldn't figure out. They dove from about 5 stories. There were back flips and somersaults. There was also fire stick dancing. It was cool! The wait for a table was horrendous. The service was atrocious. Really, really bad. The food was mediocre. Hair in my food-so gross! Anyway, its a neat idea, with pretty disappointing execution. I didn't mind the wait so much as I got a chance to play with the kids a little bit, but it was a ridiculous amount of time. I talked with the manager and got a free meal for Joy and Ryan, so I guess that is something. I will be writing a letter to Larry H. Miller-the owner (maybe he'll give me a free car from one of his lots...)



Park City

On Tuesday, we went to Park City and browsed the shops downtown. Not long enough for me, but I appreciate the patience and endurance of all. After lunch at Squatters (spotty service again -- is this a Utah thing?), we met up with Ari, my Mom and Ryan at a tubing hill on the outskirts of Park City that is serviced by a lift (yeah!). In spite of above freezing temps that slowed the hill down, the kids had a lot of fun. Barry got some funny apparel from Squatters. I don't know about any above freezing temps-I was very freezing! I was thankful for my broken arm this day as I got to spend the time in the warming hut with Mom and Ari!



U2

Tuesday night, we decided to hit the U2 laser show at the Clark Planetarium downtown SLC. The planetarium was cool - Cam could have played there for hours-- and the show was neat. What a cool place and a fun show! We ate at the Pie-another memory revisited!




Wednesday

On Wednesday, we had lunch at Bajio -- YUM! Great food-thanks for the suggestion Joy! Then we said goodbye to my mom who was headed home and we headed to Thanksgiving Point to see the 3D dinosaur show. Thanksgiving Point has grown a lot since we were last in Utah. After the show, we said goodbye to Joy and Ryan and headed back to Green River. It was really great to see my mom and Joy and Ryan and to meet baby Ari for the first time. We had a really good time! Hopefully, our surprise was a good one for them!


The kids got in a swim at the hotel pool before heading to bed for the night.




Goblin Valley

On Thursday Morning we headed south from Green River to Goblin Valley State Park. Maria and I love this park and have always talked about taking the kids there. When we pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car, Maria was kind of overcome with emotion from being back at this special place with the kids and she started to cry (she's been a little weepy lately, don't you think?). Hey! That's not fair! I just am in awe of this place and was thrilled to share it with our kids! Anyway, it was awesome. No picture ever does that place justice. It's just too incredible. It is like a giant playground and the kids had a ball. We hiked and climbed for hours. Like the rest of the trip, we had perfect weather. As we left, the kids thanked us again and again for taking them there. Goblin Valley was definitely a highlight of the trip. This was one of my favorite parts of our trip! I probably should have been more careful, but it's all good. Barry was sure to video my riskier adventures so we would have evidence for the doctor when I re-broke my arm.

Moab - and Arches

After Goblin Valley we headed to Moab, where the annual Jeep Safari was going on, and got a room. The town was packed with 4X4's, mostly Jeeps. It was cool to see all of the different rigs rolling up and down the street. We decided it'd be nice to take in a movie, so we all went to see Horton Hears a Who, and we all loved it. I recommend this movie to all. I think it is so hilarious with several valuable virtues wound into the plot.




After a well-earned rest, we headed to another of our favorite southern Utah spots, Arches National Park. Once again, we had great weather for hiking. We took advantage of it and after a false start at Delicate Arch (we couldn't find an open parking spot at the trail head), we hiked to Landscape Arch, Navajo Arch, Partition Arch and Wall Arch. The kids had fun and Maddie says that Arches was her favorite thing we did on the trip. This was again really fun and amazing! It makes me wish we could enjoy that kind of thing on a daily basis. I suppose maybe it would lose some of it's grandeur then, right?




We did have an interesting thing happen with Parker, however. We'd stopped to take a break and the kids started trying to climb this wall to a small ledge. Tanner managed to reach the ledge after a little struggle but Parker couldn't reach as far and got stuck about 3.5-4 feet off the ground. He wanted us to help him get down but we told him he needed to do it himself and that he could easily jump from that height (he'd done plenty of higher climbs and bigger jumps both earlier in day and the entire previous day at Goblin Valley). He was adamant that it was too high and that if he jumped, he would die. We were committed to seeing him work himself out of the situation, and he was committed to hanging on until someone came to help him. In the end, he hung on to that wall for over an hour before finally making the death-defying leap.. narrowly escaping the grasp of the grim reaper once again.... That boy can be awfully stubborn when he wants to. Wonder where he gets that from? What are you implying here Barry?




Heading Home

After Arches, we were all pretty wiped out and hungry, so we went into Moab and got a late lunch-early dinner before starting the long trek home. Plus spent way too much on souvenirs to remind us of our great trip! We made it as far as Gallup, New Mexico that night. Based on our limited experience there, my advice to you would be if you are ever in Gallup, New Mexico.... keep driving- particularly if you are even remotely tempted to get a room at the Days Inn. D-U-M-P. Kids! Don't touch anything! Don't take your socks off and just get into bed-after you check for bugs! Okay, not quite that bad, but close! We lucked out the rest of the trip, so I guess those odds are pretty good!


Anyway, we drove hard all day Saturday and arrived home sometime around 9pm. I actually drove for a few hours to give Barry a much needed break-plus, we couldn't afford another ticket! ;) We got some awesome donuts in Amarillo! We were on vacation so calories don't really count. Now that we're back from vacation, maybe we can get some rest! It was a really nice family vacation. I hope the kids created memories that will a lifetime-I know I did! Now I am looking forward to a vacation with just Barry and I.

(We'll post some more pictures from our adventure soon)