The hike to Thompson Peak

It’s funny, that this summer doing all my training hikes, I have probably seen more of Idaho than I’ve seen in a very long time.  I am hiking with two women from California, and they both say Idaho is #morethanpotatoes.  It really is!  I already knew that, but it’s good to be reminded of what an amazing place we live in!

We have now been hiking every week for 9 weeks, and completed the most challenging training hike of all.  Our requirements were to hit 15 miles, 4000 elevation gain, and 6 hours on our feet.  Just looking at those requirements felt intimidating, and it has been a constant challenge trying to find trails that fit all the training requirements.  When I saw Thompson Peak in the Idaho Sawtooths, it looked perfect.  It was a little short on miles (13.3), but perfect in elevation gain and time on our feet, so we decided to go for it.  It turned out to be the tallest peak in the entire Sawtooth range at 10,700 feet elevation! Talk about intimidating! The whole plan worked perfectly, all three of our families were able to come up to Stanley, ID (3 hours from Boise) and spend the weekend camping together.  Our hike was planned so that on Saturday, us three ladies left on our hike and the husbands and kids spent the day exploring the local natural hot springs and the infamous (and crowded) Redfish Lake.

We started out on our trail at 6:30 am.  It was freezing cold, and I soon realized that my “layering” clothes system was severely lacking in many layers.  I will be updating my hiking wardrobe very soon!  It was perfect timing because the first few miles of the trail were climbing up to a ridge trail through a grove of aspen trees (my favorite), and we got to see a beautiful morning sun peeking through the aspens.

Up on the ridge we got a wonderful and continuous view of a huge chain of the Idaho Sawtooth Mountains across the valley.  Oh my gosh, and we thought that was beautiful.  We had no idea what was coming!

We got into beautiful sloping wildflowers, and, as the trail started disappearing more and more, I crossed my first boulder field and came upon our first alpine lake.  We stopped for a few pictures and to admire the view…we were a few hours into the hike at that point, and felt pretty high up in elevation.  We could see Thompson Peak straight above us, but it still seemed so high and unattainable, we just kept plugging along, trying not to look at it.  We stopped for lunch at the next alpine lake – unnamed – and it felt good to let our feet have a rest and fill up our water bladders again, we were all almost out at that point.  One hiker, Bethany, looked up from the lake to say something and saw, directly behind Michelle and I, a large white mountain goat!  He was looking at us with the funniest expression on his face – can goats have facial expressions?  If they could, he would have said, “What are you and what are you doing in my pond?”  It was very peculiar.  So he looked at us a while before plodding off somewhere else.  Probably to his other pond for some water.  After this point, our trail basically disappeared completely and we were left to find our way based on the directions of our online resources and just assessing our route on our own.  We spent hours and hours picking our way across miles of boulder fields, which is basically what this mountain seemed made out of toward the top, and snow field crossing.  During the next few miles, the mountain didn’t look any friendlier, and Bethany took two pretty bad falls and was okay physically but mentally very shaken up.  After another fuel break a few hours later, we decided to reach the saddle of the mountain below the peak and reassess how we were all doing.  This involved a last push up a very steep and loose boulder field, you know the ones that make you feel as if you’re going to start a rock slide by walking on it.  That was very unsettling and just added to some of the more dangerous aspects of our time on the mountain.

Just so you get an idea of the kind of slope and rock we were dealing with!

I reached the saddle first and enjoyed some very windy conditions and amazing views before the other two reached me.  We all knew, that while managing a peak is awesome, it is absolutely not worth it at the expense of finishing well.  With that in mind, Bethany decided not to finish the last climb to the peak, but offered to wait for Michelle and I if we wanted to.  I knew I could peak, and just had to, since we were right there!  So Michelle and I went on.

Can you find us? 

It was incredibly tricky getting up, and right at the end (the last 50 feet or so) it was as much of a rock climb (or more) as it looks – much like climbing a rock ladder to the peak.  We reached the top and got our first glimpse of a view amazing enough to make you cry!  I wish pictures could convey the emotions you experience in the moment.  It had taken us 9 hours to hit the peak but it totally rocked my world.  There was no wind up there, but one little slip and you would fall right off and die – not joking!  It was really intense!  I sat on the tippy most TOP of that mountain, and we, very carefully, enjoyed a few pictures and laughs up on top (maybe the altitude getting to us, laughing hysterically at things only marginally funny?!) before edging off the peak and heading down…verrry carefully.  We took the – climbing down the rock ladder, looking down between our legs for the next sturdy foothold – type of descending.  Talk about nerve wracking.

And just to think, the view would have been even BETTER – but the whole valley had filled with smoke from the California and Oregon wildfires while we were hiking, and that obscured much of the view of the valley.

Our way back down was so much better.  From the top, we were able to see a much better (and safer) route and took that.  So much better!  At the last steep snowfield, we were needing to cross it, make our way down a boulder field, and then come down to a gorgeous mountain meadow.  I suggested that, to save time, we instead slide down the steep snowfield – avoiding the jagged rocks 100 feet at the bottom, and end up directly in the meadow! Good idea, right?  So that’s what we did.  It ended up being the funniest and best thing we did all day!  We all held hands, pushed off, and sped down the mountain screaming and laughing all at the same time.  By digging our heels into the snow, we were somewhat able to control our speed and slowed down before hitting the jagged rocks (always a good thing), and then just stood up and traipsed across to the meadow with our freezing bottoms and wet pants!  It was fantastic!

The way back we were able to see the opposite end of the day – with the sun setting behind Thompson.  The scenery was so fantastic, we spent a lot of our time on the way back saying, “Oh my gosh, look!” or, “Wait, I have to get a picture!” or, “I can’t believe we did that!” or, “Oh my gosh, we DID THAT!”

We managed to cross all the boulder fields, or go around on an easier route (again, route finding is so much easier from the top!) before it got dark.  We had to balance stopping for photos with the urge to get off the trail before it got dark.  We almost made it – we all had brought headlamps (thankfully) and had to pull them out for the last half mile.

We arrived back in camp at 10:00 PM.  That is approximately 14 hours on the trail.  After all that, we all came away feeling ready for our big endurance hike coming up NEXT WEEK!  Yes, it was a little crazier than we had anticipated, but, it adequately prepared us and let us practice for the appropriate terrain and time we will be hiking for on the big one.  I will never regret it – it was an unbelievable experience.  I can’t wait to do more hikes of the same nature, why not let yourself be amazed?

Along that train of thought, I was thinking along the way on Saturday how much personal growth happens when you’re doing something hard.  Or when you’re uncomfortable.  Rarely do you experience anything worthwhile or grow into a better person if you only stay in familiar places.  I was also thinking of how much personal growth comes from doing something for others, and not thinking about myself.  I am always reminding myself that this hike is not about me.  This whole summer of training has been challenging, but I’m coming out of the other side knowing that I can do some hard – but amazing – stuff!  I encourage any of you reading to try it – it may not be climbing a mountain, but whatever it is for you, just try!

Check out more pictures here…there are a ton of them.  Take a look if you want, I want all of them for ME to look back on them later!

National Public Garden Day

One great thing about Boise is that there really is no shortage of things to do, especially if you like being outside, and if you have a family, all the better.  One of those things is the one and only, fantastic, Idaho Botanical Garden.  We don’t go there too often, since it costs a fair amount to get in, and to be honest, gardens are only moderately interesting to me!  But last Friday was National Public Garden Day (as the name of this post may suggest), and they were letting everyone in for FREE!  All day!  So of course, we went.  It’s a great place for the kids to run around, and they already love being outside and seeing nature, so it’s a great place to go with them.  They really had a good time, which meant: we all had a good time!  (Despite the rain).

Aren’t they the cutest?

I had stopped on the way there to pick up some coffee to go, you know, for myself.  I foolishly didn’t know how much Quinn loves coffee.  In fact, every 5 minutes or so she would sit down in the middle of the path with her legs stretched out and say, “I need a coffee break!”  I don’t mind giving her coffee, to be honest, but I will say that I don’t like sharing!

The garden has really expanded over the years and by this point it is really extensive, even going up into the some of the foothills above!  They have done a superb job planning and executing the entire layout of the place along with all the flowers and plants.  Rylan loved exploring so much (and I let him take charge and lead the way on this venture) that he wants to go back for a picnic on his birthday.  Who knows!  We might just have to do that!

We really aren’t up to much around here besides normal in-town sort of things.  We are excited for a good weather and hope to get going on family bike rides regularly.  Check out more pictures here, I will be adding to this “album” as the year continues, so there are a few random pictures included of our most recent (and most successful) pizza night, as well as the kids riding bikes around a new tennis court that is going in by our house.

Thanks for tuning in!

Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, and, oh I’m THIRTY!

Well you only turn thirty years old once in your life, and I always knew I’d have to do it up right.  And well, not to toot my own horn, but I did it right!  Somehow the four of us managed to skip town for five days and go on an absolutely phenomenal road trip in Southern Utah, Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.  No I did not get birthday cake, or really even a party.  But man!  I got so many things that were much better.  Now the problem is how to put it in big enough words!

I will start at the beginning.  I planned this entire trip myself, to an area we all have wanted to see for a long time.  Kevin had to take most of this vacation unpaid, but he’s always up for some sacrifice if an adventure is included.  Kevin and I (and by extension, our kids) do not take relaxing vacations.  We take trips to go, do, and experience.  We know that wherever we go, we most likely won’t be revisiting anytime soon (or at all), and therefore I make a flexible itinerary, doing all my research ahead of time, and we utilize every second of our so-called, “vacation” to do just that.  I say flexible itinerary because, in reality, traveling with kids demands flexibility (sometimes more than a little)! Kevin worked on Monday and Tuesday while I prepped the house, car, and packing.  We left Boise at approximately 9:00 pm that evening and drove all night, arriving in Moab, UT at 6:00 am.  This might have been crazy, yes, but also necessary!  We have learned through all our national park travels in years past that in order to secure a campsite in popular areas with no reservation (because, of course, we don’t plan anything with enough advance notice to make reservations, but rather move freely about), if you don’t claim a spot incredibly early, they will be all gone!  We have also learned from experience that there is nothing more stressful than driving 8-14 hours in one day (we’ve been there) with kids only to find that you have nowhere to sleep!  As we pulled in to a BLM campground on the Colorado River, an older gentleman was drinking coffee, asked if we were looking for a spot, and he was leaving a just a bit if we wanted to claim his.  So we pulled our car in, took a walk for a little while, and there we were.  A perfect spot on the Colorado River, surrounded by some seriously jaw dropping sandstone cliffs for miles.  Right across the river were the rocks of Arches National Park, with the gate being only a five minute drive away.  Boo-yah. 

^^^THIS WAS OUR VIEW!!!^^^

That first day Kevin and I were definitely tired.  Driving overnight was harder than either of us had remembered.  In one sense, it makes a lot of sense because we don’t have to stop every hour for snacks, bathroom breaks, or any wiggling that needs to be done with the kids.  On the other hand, I don’t think we’ll ever do it again, it’s so exhausting, and obviously not a good idea to drive while drowsy, despite our attempts to prevent that with copious amounts of caffeine and 5-hour energy drinks.  I think the kids were tired as well though, because they had slept in car seats all night!  Does anyone sleep well in those things?

The first thing we did after setting up camp and cooking breakfast was go to the local dinosaur museum, “Moab Giants”.  I had heard great things about this place, but man, it was so LAME! I tried not to voice my displeasure too vocally because obviously both kids loved it, but Rylan somehow knows my stance on the subject.  Admission was ridiculously expensive and also ridiculously a waste of money.  We paid the minimum amount just to go walk through the outdoor section of model dinosaurs.  The model dinosaurs were sub-par.  For one, many of them were flat out incorrect, were all labeled in a very confusing way, AND it looked like they had used only one mold for all the dinosaurs, which looked ridiculous.  For example, the Iguanodon species was all the exact same pose, all facing the exact same way, all lined up next to each other, only painted differently!  The Diplodocus had spikes on his back for some reason, and the Velociraptor they portrayed was only two feet tall!  On top of that, the Allosaurus had spikes on his head, which is clearly a Carnataurus trait!  I know I sound like a total dinosaur nerd, but honestly!  If you go to all the trouble to create a dinosaur museum, you might as well do it correctly!  Don’t go thinking that every 5 year old there (or 30 year old for that matter) doesn’t know any better!  I see I have gotten on a rant, so I will force myself to move on.  Clearly stupid dinosaur museums really make me unreasonably angry.  And that doesn’t even include that we had to pay MORE to get into the interesting paleolithic aquarium to see a mosasaurus and the actual fossil museum!  We didn’t.  Anyway, my heart rate is really rising so I will switch gears here…

^^^LOOK at these dumb Iguanodons!  Really?  You can’t even face them in different directions to make it look like you’re at least trying?!^^^

Ugh.  Anyways…

After a very hot walk around that place, we drove into Moab, UT to see the sights.  On the way there both kids fell asleep in the car, which was fine by Kevin and I!  In fact, we just pulled into a shady parking spot off the main downtown strip and all four of us took a nap!  This became our routine for the most part every afternoon during the hottest part of the day.  It was actually really nice and we all seemed to look forward to it.  In the evening we finally drove into Arches National Park and got Rylan his Junior Ranger work book to have for the next few days, and drove a few miles on the scenic drive through the park.  We found out very quickly that Arches is family-friendly place, with the scenic drive taking you most of the way to many of the most awesome arches!  This means you can pull up and park, walk on a well designated path for a few hundred yards, and BAM, you’re there, right under a monstrous natural sandstone arch that is millions of years old!  It truly is an experience I will not soon forget.

I so wish that pictures could convey the full experience of actually being there.  I know all the arches look big and grand from pictures, but they look bigger and grander and more beautiful in person, and they make you feel smaller and humbled standing inside them.  In that way, these arches truly are the “doors of time” that the native “Utes” believed about them.

We stepped inside Double Arch as our first experience, and saw the Windows from the trail head.

We climbed right up inside.  Look at those tiny people in there!  It was SO BIG!  It was this first hike that we were able to assess the kids abilities and inclinations and then set some serious ground rules for future hikes.  For example, after this hike, due to Quinny constantly arguing about what she was physically capable of, she got to ride in the backpack for almost every other hike – no questions asked.  That prevented a lot of future arguing about her hiking abilities!  With Rylan, he had to agree to unquestionably hold our hands when needed, even if he didn’t feel it necessary.  This proved to be important on more dangerous hikes we went on later, so I’m glad we established that rule early on.

We also stopped by Park Avenue, but we were tired and it was getting dark, so we didn’t go too far down into the canyon where I think it would have been truly spectacular.  As it was…still an awesome sight!

On Thursday, our second full day, we went straight into Arches.  We didn’t get into the park until about 10:30, which we assumed would be the most popular time to get into the park and were anticipating large crowds.  But, despite about a half hour in line to get our car through the gate, the park was relatively empty!  We had our pick of parking spots, scenic viewpoints, and pullouts – it was fantastic!  We stopped and hiked the Delicate Arch Viewpoints, upper and lower.  You cannot get to the arch itself from this way, but we wanted to at least see it, still being unsure if we would complete the full hike itself later.  We stopped at Panorama Point, the Salt Flats, which are exactly as their names might describe.  We stopped at the Fiery Furnace Overlook, where Rylan was extremely disappointed we couldn’t hike into.  That is a permit only or guided ranger hiking area only, and everyone who goes in has to be at least 5 years old.  Rylan suggested that we just leave Quinny behind, but we didn’t really encourage that idea.  As it was, he had to be content with just looking at it.

We also hiked into a sandstone slot canyon for a short hike to Sand Dune Arch, which, is exactly as you may picture it as well, an arch over a sand dune.  Unfortunately we arrived right around the time a first grade field trip was happening, so it was very loud and busy when we were there.  It further strengthened my opinion of why I hate sand dunes after a slight wind blew sand in my eyes.  And have you ever tried to explain to a three year old how to get sand out of her eyes?  I have!  There’s no explanation that can make it better, believe me!  But despite all that, the hike itself was really cool, but maybe that’s just because I really love a good slot canyon!  It was this hike that Rylan spotted a pretty good sized snake, that Kevin and I (and several other people) had tromped right on by due to it’s camouflage!   That was exciting and kind of gross!

We also continued hiking another mile to the neighboring Broken Arch.  It’s not really broken, but it does have a good sized notch taken out of it.  Almost all the arches you can walk right into, but some are more breathtaking than others, and this was one of them.  It’s a really big one that just towers over you, blocking the sun and making you feel like a little baby walking in such an ancient giant.  This one was too slick and steep for Kevin and Quinn to go up safely, but Rylan, who is amazingly sure footed and a good hiker, went into the arch plus explored a little further on the other side.

This kid loves hiking.  He was always asking when and where the next one we were doing was, and always up for more, even after completing more strenuous ones.  Even on those where he might have been struggling, he was very intrinsically motivated to keep going to see those “incredible views” and he was very proud of himself just for “persevering”.  I was really proud of him!

After Broken Arch it was getting a little hot and the kids were getting tired, so we drove in Moab again and napped in the car downtown.  After we all woke up we perused the downtown tourist shops, bought an iced coffee and and ice cream bar before heading back to camp for dinner and bedtime.

Camping is fun with the kids for several reasons, but also makes Kevin and I a little crazy.  This is where their personalities can make it great or…not.  Rylan has really been reading a lot, and the books he chose to take were a couple of the Calvin and Hobbes comic books.  The only difference is that for some reason he reads it as Calvin and Hobbles, which I find very entertaining.  You bet that’s what we all call it now! We bought one book at a thrift store here in Boise for 69 cents, and two others he borrowed from my parents, and he flew through them.  So he spent a lot of time quietly reading in his camp chair, working on his Junior Ranger work book, or playing/bugging Quinn.  Quinn, on the other hand, had her baby doll, which took up a lot of her time “mothering” that thing.  She also spent more than her fair share of time singing, and playing with/bugging Rylan.  She also had to overcome her – fairly understandable – fear of using a pit toilet.  That was challenging for the first day or so!

Friday was my big BIRTHDAY! And, you are so lucky, I will share with you my glamorous first moments being old:

Yes, I know.  I am in my prime, what can I say?  Maybe I could have blamed this horrible picture on the fact that my coffee was not made yet, but do you know what we forgot on this trip?  I will tell you that we will never forget such a minuscule object ever again: MUGS. MUGS!!! What else can you drink coffee in, I ask you?  I scoured our camp supplies, and we only had thin plastic drinking cups.  I will tell you that coffee has never tasted so good as it did when we got back.

Anyway, back to my coffee-less birthday.  We decided to wake up early-ish and take on the difficult hike to the famous Delicate Arch.  We were warned that it was difficult, mostly on slick rock, with a narrow rock ledge the last several hundred yards or so, but Kevin and I both felt like we had to at least try.

We got a good start and headed up the trail with a busy, but not yet crowded, line of other people – including another family with young kids, so we felt slightly more confident.  The Slick Rock proved to be no problem, but did provide some amazing viewpoints all around us while we hiked!  We felt free to stop in the shade of the cliffs for snacks.  Rylan had on his Camelback hydration backpack, and he had read in the ranger packet how important it is to drink at least one gallon of water per day, especially when hiking, so he was very aware (and vocal) of how he needed to stay hydrated, even when he didn’t feel thirsty.   The whole trail itself was actually not that hard, and even the narrow rock ledge at the end was still about the width of a sidewalk, and I felt like I could trust Rylan to have enough sense not to walk off a sidewalk, so I wasn’t too paranoid about holding his hand until the very end! When we came around the trail’s end and saw the Delicate Arch for the first time…wow.  It really is awesome.  It’s famous for a reason!  And the closer you get to it, the bigger it gets.  I know that seems like common sense but let me rephrase, the closer you get to it, it turns into a freaking GIANT.

I mean, seriously.  Rylan is standing right underneath Delicate Arch in this picture.  I can barely see the little guy!

I wasn’t planning on going all the way over to this arch, considering the slick rock terrain and sheer cliff if you lose your footing, but Rylan was absolutely begging to go touch it and you know what?  It was my birthday!  So we went together and touched history while I believe Kevin had quite the time wrangling Quinn and arguing about whether or not she was a capable hiker in these conditions.  Oh man.

We were really feeling the heat coming down off that hike, and that afternoon it actually reached about 88 degrees, so we spent the day back in Moab, but this time at the city park.  It wasn’t that nice, but it was something to do.  We had my birthday dinner at Moab Brewery (which was nice but I like Boise Breweries better!), and then drove back into the park at dusk for one more hike which would cover several arches: Landscape Arch, Partition Arch, Tunnel Arch, and Pinetree Arch.  It was a good “bang for your buck” type of hike.  When we parked, the previously full parking lot was nearly deserted, so we had the trail very quiet and almost all to ourselves.  It was a magical evening!  Perfect weather, perfect lighting, the kids were having fun, and to top it all off, we spotted a family of six white tailed deer grazing underneath Tunnel Arch, a jack rabbit, another snake, and a whole bunch of lizards.  As I walked back from the arches we had just seen, I was holding Rylan’s hand, and it was one of those completely contented moments where you want to take a mental picture and carry it with you forever.  And I think I will.  That was a good birthday gift that this trip gave me.

It was this same evening that Quinn really perfected her picture pose.  You guys.  We do not tell her to do this stuff.  In fact, sometimes it would be better if she could just be a tad more normal, but oh my gosh it’s funny.  Literally, as soon as I would lift the camera to catch a candid shot on this hike (and almost all picture moments afterwards), she would immediately stop whatever she was doing, tell me, “wait, wait” and then strike this pose, or something similar:

I told Kevin that’s the cover of Shape Magazine or something!  Haha!  I’m sure she must have seen a pose like this somewhere and is trying it on for size, but I have no idea where in world….oh well.  She’s three so it’s still cute.  Kevin said I should try to pose like that but I graciously declined.

Kevin had brought with him a birthday present for me, which I am really excited about.  It’s called a Life Straw, which is basically a water filtering straw!  I can fill up a water bottle and just immediately use the Life Straw and filter out any impurities.  I’m so excited to use it on my big hiking trip this summer, plus all the training I’ll be doing!

Saturday we dropped by Arches to get Rylan his Junior Ranger badge.  This last part where he has to talk to a real Park Ranger and answer some questions has always been the hardest part for him.  I refuse to do it for him, and at certain parks he’s had to flat out leave and come back later to try again!  But this time he did super good, and talked to the ranger about all the rocks he had seen and animals he had counted.  He also learned how to find the Big Dipper and O’Ryan’s Belt as constellations in the night sky as one of his work pages, and he was very proud of himself for knowing that stuff.  So, of course, did you have any doubts?  He became a Junior Ranger for Arches National Park!

Our next stop was not in Arches, but rather shifting gears and seeing a place called Poison Spider Dinosaur Tracks.  We did a quick steep hike and got to a really neat slab of Cretaceous period therapod tracks (that would be a three-toed meat eater for any non-dinosaur nerds out there).  Amazing to see and stand next to and touch the footprints of a dinosaur!  It really is pretty cool, and not just for 5 year olds, okay?!

We continued on down the road to Dead Horse Point State Park, where we were going to have lunch and stop at the scenic viewpoint.  Kevin was onboard with that plan until we learned that it cost $15 to get into the state park.  Well!  That just was an unreasonable amount to pay to just eat lunch and see some viewpoint!  We will turn around! What a waste of money! etc. etc.  You see where his attitude was.  I didn’t let up, I had heard that this place was worth seeing, and let’s just do it.  If it’s completely lame than I take full responsibility.  So all that to say, we went in under Kevin’s protest.  We had lunch, we saw the visitor’s center, we went to the bathroom, and did all the things.  Then we drove further in to the grandiose view point I had heard about.  Kevin took one look on that view and his jaw dropped.  He said, “Hands down, this is the best view I have ever seen in my life.  That was the best $15 we have ever spent.”  And you know, he was right.  Again, pictures just don’t capture the full magnitude and emotion of being there, but here’s just a taste.

After staying at Dead Horse for over two hours, we continued on to Canyonlands National Park, the least visited national park in all of Utah!  And…well, there sure are a lot of canyons in those lands over there!  It was basically a lot of driving and viewpoints of…more canyons.  It was incredible!  But if we’re in the business of comparing national parks to each other, which Kevin and I decided we should stop doing, Canyonlands really does not hold a candle to Arches.  But I am glad we went.  As well as several overlooks, we stopped at Mesa Arch which I had heard great things about but turns out was much smaller in real life than I thought it was going to be!  And as we were driving out, Rylan was just dying to go on a hike and at this point can read all the signs as we drive for hiking pullouts.  So he picked one called Whale Rock.  I was tired and not in the mood to go on a hike, but I went anyway, while Kevin and Quinn napped in the car.  It surprised me by being totally awesome!  Whale Rock turned out to be simply a huge slick rock mountain, but Rylan had no trouble!  On top of that, there wasn’t really even a trail, but rather way finding through following rock cairns (towers, or stacks) placed along the slick rock at random intervals.  Of course Rylan really loved that aspect, and made it seem like more of an adventure.

On Sunday, we had to go home.  We took our time in the morning stopping at two other dinosaur track sites.  It just really is incredible to see these things.  Mill Canyon had six sets of different dinosaurs walking through, which was amazing!  Copper Ridge had either an Apatosaurus or Diplodocus AND an Allosaurus, which is one of Rylan’s favorite meat eaters, besides the Deinonychus and Dilophosaurus.  Don’t ask me how I know these things, I absorb them through osmosis.  The drive was very long.  And kids, no joke, have to stop every hour to go potty and yes, it is incredibly frustrating.  We got back home at about 8:30 pm, all took baths and showers and hopped right into bed.

Overall I see it as such a blessing to be able to go on a trip like this, especially for my birthday, doing things that I love (spontaneity, road trips, hiking, adventure, etc.) with the people I love, and coming back all the richer for it.  Watching Rylan and Quinn grow and stretch themselves in ways they just can’t at home is such a cool gift even by itself, that I just sit back and soak it all in.  It is incredible to know that life is bigger than just our own backyard, and all we have to do is step out into it.

Check out all the pictures here

 

 

Yellowstone and Grand Tetons

We have had such a fabulous time traveling the past two weekends, for the first time in all of 2017 (thanks to the job situation)!  The first weekend in September we went to Lagoon to celebrate Kyndra’s 5th – and golden – birthday, and last week we spent in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Traveling with older kids (versus our experience last year) was a little more of, “are we there yet?”, but they both did great.  The first few days in Yellowstone were spent camping.  It was very cold at night, but fortunately the kids were able to sleep in Mimi and Pop’s trailer, which was a special treat.

*Let me clarify, the first night, Quinn ended up sleeping in the tent with Kevin and I, because she simply would not stop talking.  Even in the tent with us, she was moving around, playing “dancing bears”, singing, etc. despite our best efforts to shush her at 11:00 pm.  Even when she agreed to lay down quietly, after 5 seconds of quiet she would scoot very close to my face and whisper, “I looove you,” before laughing about it.  Sigh.  I think we both fell asleep before she did, but who knows?!

We were able to see many stars, hear the eerie bugle of elk late at night, coyotes, AND a wolf or two.  Rylan didn’t seem to think they were neat to listen to, but heard one elk cry and was ready to head for the trailer (scaredy-cat)!  I convinced to him to stay out and continue listening to the nature sounds by making a story of a whiny baby elk crying to his mama.  He really enjoyed that, and called it, “Elk in Real Life”, then I really had my work cut out for me continuing the silly story line!

Rylan’s favorite part was playing cars in the dirt.

Quinn’s favorite part was taking pictures with her phone.

And making these faces.

Just for the record, we did not train her to do that, or ask her in any way.  She is a girl made entirely of silliness and does whatever strikes her fancy at the moment.

Rylan was able to work hard and get his Junior Ranger badges in both national parks.  He had to speak to a ranger (kind of an interview style) at both parks, and had a hard time of it at Yellowstone, but did much better the second time at Grand Teton.  He was incredibly fun for us to be around last week,  and I haven’t been able to say that for a while because of the stuff we’ve been struggling with over the past few months.  Time to go travel to national parks more often I think!

It was amazing to see our extended Kingsbury family, and such a blessing how much they loved the kids.  We are so thankful for all of that.

Follow this link to see way too many pictures of last week!

Crater Lake and Eugene

Continuing the story…..

We left Redwood National Park on Tuesday, July 12 and had a very long drive to Crater Lake National Park that day.  We ended up not quite making it, and set up camp very late that night, and drove into Crater Lake the next morning.  Once we got a camp spot, we loaded up for the day and went to explore the area.

Crater Lake is so beautiful, and incredibly blue.  We struggled once again with the horrific amount of people there, on a Wednesday (we were surprised about that)!  In fact, we were not able to even get to the main visitor’s center because parking and crowds were impossible.  We did a little hike up to a scenic viewpoint, and were awarded with this:

Honestly though, at that point (after being on the road for exactly three weeks), we were so camped-out.  It also didn’t help that the vast amount of mosquitoes were something I had never seen before.  This was especially apparent when we drove up later that evening to catch the Crater Lake sunset, mosquitoes were literally in a never ending cloud surrounding our car.  It was so bad!  Kevin and I agreed that though this area is pretty, we should give ourselves a break for the last two days of our camping trip and stay in a hotel somewhere!  (I am so glad Kevin agreed to this plan)!  So after seeing a beautiful sunset we spent our last night in the tent!  It turned out to be a good thing we were going, because the mosquitoes were awake bright and early, it was unbelievable.  Before we drove out we stopped at the more accessible visitor center and got Rylan his junior ranger badge AND a junior ranger vest, since he had worked so hard the past weeks camping and junior ranger-ing.

So despite our attitude and quick departure from Crater Lake, I would totally visit there again and gain more of an appreciation for it.

We chose to drive to Eugene, OR and find a cheap hotel for the last two nights of our trip before meeting my family at the beach house in Lincoln City.  Interestingly enough, Eugene is my birthplace so it was great to see it again!  My mom told me all their old haunts, so we looked them all up and went to Prince Puckler’s ice cream shop, Skinner’s Butte (where the Bald Eagles live), the bike shop my dad used to work at, and of course we walked around the campus of University of Oregon.

*Sidenote: As I have mentioned before, the song, “Living on a Prayer” was always close to us during this trip, but it was always us singing it to ourselves.  On our drive into Eugene, Kevin, Rylan and I all got into a fight in the car, and all three of us were mad at something or other.  At that moment, we turn on the radio (not knowing any radio frequencies of the area), and what song is it?  Living on a Prayer!  Both Kevin and I realized this was probably the only time we would hear this song played for us, so we let go of our resentment toward each other and the issue and immediately started rocking out.  Rylan was slower to do so, but eventually couldn’t resist how much fun we were having.  If only all fights could end that way, eh???

The hotel we stayed at (Motel 6) was truly a dump, but at least the sheets didn’t have holes in them (yes, I checked them all with Kevin very thoroughly)!  We tried not to spend too much time in the hotel room though, we had several picnics in the local parks, saw some softball games, walked downtown, and enjoyed the fantastic weather.  It was so great, I almost want to move back!

PICTURES FROM THIS LEG OF THE TRIP ARE LOCATED HERE

Redwood National Park

Alright, where did I leave off on our grand adventure?  Yes, so we left Lassen National Park, drove to the Redwoods in California, and ended up staying in Klamath River RV Park.  We didn’t particularly prefer to tent camp in an RV park, but it actually turned out to be soooo nice!  We were right on the Klamath River, it wasn’t crowded (in the tent camp area), plus there were bathrooms, shower, and laundry facilities, so score!  I had chosen this place to stay because 1) real campgrounds in the Redwoods were all booked out and, 2) Klamath, CA is a little town situated directly in between the four main Redwood parks which are: Jedidiah Smith, Del Norte, Prairie Creek, and Redwood National Park itself.  These four parks contain 95% of the entire world’s old growth redwood trees!  So it was the place to be!

The first day we were there, Thursday July 7, we drove up to Crescent City to restock at Walmart.  With our newly bought groceries, we had lunch at a local park and let the kids play on the awesome playground there.  Let Kevin show you his awesome “dad skills” here in this video:

We also checked out the local Redwood visitor center, got Rylan all set up to complete his Junior Ranger program, and got tons of maps and information.  From there we took the Howland Scenic Drive through the northern Jedidiah Smith Redwoods (which was our first glimpse of the redwoods) and stopped at the Stout Grove for a walk among the giants.  We took a lot of pictures.  Rylan, I think, was particularly impressed by the size of the trees towering above him!

That night, it started to rain.  And not the Boise-type rain that we were familiar with, but the loud, pounding, never-stopping, completely submersive RAIN.  It rained all night.

On Friday it was still raining, again not characteristic with Boise rain, which is usually fleeting.  But we were determined to keep a good attitude and not let the rain stop us.  It did however dampen any attempts to make breakfast, since we had no adequate shelter set up (didn’t really want to light up our stove inside the tent, you know?), so we went again up to Crescent City and had breakfast at a local restaurant.  We talked over what we should do, as we were in a legitimately challenging situation (camping in the rain, with kids, is one thing I could do without)!  So after lunch we just went over to the Battery Point Lighthouse.  We really lucked out since the lighthouse is on an island, only accessible when the tide is LOW.  We just so happened to hit it just right and walked right up, and what do you know – they were holding tours right when we got there!  The rain was very cold and constant, but fortunately, after waiting for a bit, we finally got to go inside!  Kevin and Quinn stayed down in the gift shop but Rylan and I went to the very top, which included climbing a very narrow spiral staircase and a tiny ladder to the lamp.  I think Rylan would have preferred to just jet right up to the top, take a quick look around, and head back down, but the tour spent a lot more time standing around and being educated on the lighthouse’s history.  Rylan looked pretty bored through most of the tour, but walked patiently from room to room without interrupting the tour guide.  He made his way up and down the tiny ladder with a little help and then was ready to go tidepooling when we left the lighthouse just as the tide was coming back in.  We didn’t see much in the pools, except for one little crab and some snails, but the tide was coming in fast so we didn’t linger for too long.

After our enjoyment at Battery Point, we drove another scenic route through the Prairie Creek Redwoods.  This ended up being our favorite section of all the parks, and we stopped many times to get a better look at something or other that had caught our eye.  We walked a short trail to see the Corkscrew Tree, with it’s trunk spiraling up into the sky.  We hiked to the Big Tree (that was it’s name.  I think they were running out of tree names at this point) that was 1500 years old, and almost cut down many years ago to become a dance floor, but fortunately, was protected.  And lastly we walked through the Cathedral Trees, which I thought were particularly splendid for some reason.

I am so good at posing for photos.

And our day wasn’t even done there!  Right after leaving the Cathedral Trees and driving back “home”, we passed 5 humongous elk right on the side of the road, which was awesome AND Kevin kept up his animal slaughter by hitting a wood duck mid-flight.  Don’t worry, I totally gave him a hard time about it, even though it was completely the duck’s fault!  And guess what…it was still raining!  Hard.  We arrived back at camp and sat in the car for a few minutes wondering what we should do.  Ultimately, Kevin and I left the kids in the car and went out with our canopy, tarps, rope and stakes, and got completely soaked setting up a shelter surrounding our tent and picnic table.  It took several times to get it right so you can imagine how wet and annoyed we both were.  Then we backed the car right up to the opening and would have had a pretty dry area if it hadn’t been getting soaked the entire day already.

Here’s what the kids did after we got it all set up, they are so good with whatever happens, thankfully:

That night we had a sad little dinner, played with the kids in the tent as much as possible, folded laundry, and at 8:00 pm turned on a movie inside the car for a little bit.  It could have been worse, but we still went to bed all soggy, despite our best efforts.

The next morning (Saturday, July 9) rose up sunny and clear – and we breathed a sigh of relief!  The rest of our week was forecasted to be moderately sunny, which I’ve never been so excited to see!  We drove to the Lady Bird Johnson Grove, which was very pretty as well.  We had originally planned on doing more that day, but for some reason it just didn’t work out.  Instead we headed back to the campsite and Kevin and I played frisbee while both kids napped  So that was a nice change of pace!

Sunday was an even prettier day, and we hiked 5.6 miles to the Boy Scout Tree, which turned out to be even bigger than the Big Tree!  We weren’t sure if hiking all that distance would be worth it just for a tree, but it was awesome.  Totally worth it.  Rylan spotted two banana slugs and a snail, AND spotted an octopus tree all by himself.  He was quite the nature observer!  The banana slugs were just as disgusting as I had anticipated them being, knowing they were in the area.  Rylan and I had just completed a page on them in his junior ranger booklet, so we were familiar with their “sections”; the breathing hole, legs, eyes, and antennas.  What I didn’t anticipate was that when Kevin blew on the slug, it’s eyeballs were sucked into it’s body.  Right?  Ew.  The kids did great on such a long hike, as long as we were prepared with water and snacks of course!  Quinn loves being in her back pack and Rylan was still keeping our pace as we finished up the trail.  He’s a great buddy to have on adventures, that’s for sure!

That night at camp was eventful with not only meeting a new friend from Scotland, but seeing a fully grown black bear (right across the river), a sea otter, and bats all along the bank of the Klamath River!  How exciting!

Monday, the 11, was probably one of our favorite days because we got to walk through our first slot canyon.  What a cool experience!  Fern Canyon, as it’s called, was recommended to us on our first day in the park and it did not disappoint!  I really can’t describe what it feels to walk through the little creek with fern covered canyon walls towering on either side of you!  Some areas of the walk were tighter than others (as far as canyon wall proximity), but that was the cool part.  I only wish it would have been longer (it was probably only 0.5 miles in or so).  After that we walked along the coastal trail for a bit, but were disappointed there was no coast within sight –and after seeing bear droppings we decided to turn right around!

After that we drove south to the Kuchel Visitor Center and got Rylan his junior ranger badge for finishing all the worksheets in his ranger booklet.  After having a little chat with the ranger he had to raise his right hand and repeat the vow to keep his parks clean (she cut it short, since he was being so quiet and shy), and he was awarded a huge, gold embossed ranger badge – the best one yet!  He couldn’t contain his little smile!

And that concludes my commentary on the Redwoods!  This was such a cool park, and definitely worth a revisit when the kids are older and can appreciate it more.

You know where to click for more PICTURES!

September

I personally, cannot wait until September ends, for ONE reason.

Eggnog.

It’s true, I’ve been dying for that delicious drink for months now.  Yes, I have tried making my own, but it missed that little something extra that you get from the store-bought eggnogs.  It’s probably all those preservatives and fat that I’m missing.  So, I have been checking the grocery stores on a regular basis to see when they will be carrying it, and if ANY of you see it in the stores, it is your duty to update me asap!

I am now 4 months pregnant!  Woo!  No, you can’t really tell.  Although maybe you think you can tell, but I know it’s truly all the cookies I’ve been eating.  Let’s just pretend it’s baby, okay?

PS.  We find out the gender in 3 weeks!

Onto more news.  Idaho was supposed to get a great view of the Aurora Borealis on Friday night!  Seeing the A.B. is definitely on my bucket list, so every time a chance to see it comes this far south, Kevin and I go way out of our way to try to catch a glimpse.  So far, nothing.  And since the last time we attempted to see these lights, we were pulled over for drug dealing (we were parked in an abandoned parking lot at midnight…I guess that’s suspicious!), we decided to get WAY out of the city lights, and drove an hour to Idaho City.  It was pretty fun, if not super cold!  And yet again, we came up empty handed, but I am going to blame the “super moon” that was shining as brightly as a city over the tree tops – kind of lit up the whole sky and ruined any chance of seeing the faint northern lights.  Rylan fell asleep on the way there, and then when we pulled off the road, we tucked him into bed in the trunk of our hatchback car, and then transferred him again to his car seat for the ride home.  It went very smooth!  He did wake up a few times and insisted on singing “Tinkle Tinkle Stars” while looking at the sky, which was pretty phenomenal.  This picture doesn’t really do it justice, since our camera’s long exposure isn’t that long.

In other news, the annual Boise Art in the Park was the first weekend in September.  This has always been a fun event for my family to go to, maybe a little too fun, since my sister and her family drove 4 hours into town just for that!  Regardless, it was fun to have them, and see them for the last time until either they have their 3rd baby (woo-hoo!), or Thanksgiving comes around.  Rylan loves seeing his cousins, and thinks they are both “really cute”, and knows that they live in “wa-wa-wa-wa” (Walla Walla) – Ha!

Here is Rylan on our way to Art in the Park.  Take note of his “pockets”.

And with the cousins:

And in my last piece of super exciting news, Kevin has been super busy not only studying like crazy for his Professional Engineers Exam coming up in October, but also working overtime at his job.  Over the past few weeks, I have felt rather “single” again, and try to get out of the house and out of his hair whenever he is home studying.  So I have been taking advantage of community activities and events to take Rylan to, however random.  This past weekend, my mom and I went to check out a Dog Frisbee Festival.  It was actually pretty cool.  The winners were based on the length of the frisbee throw, the height of the dog’s jump, and style.  We didn’t stay until the end, but we watched some of the dogs and checked out the park’s fountain, etc.  Here’s my mom and Rylan pretending to touch the fountain water, which was incredibly cold.

Right after we took this picture, Rylan fell down and scraped his knees, which was rather traumatizing.  But he’s deathly afraid of band aids, so there’s not much to do for him!  After we were done with the dog show, we wandered to the farmer’s market.  Because I felt inspired by the frisbee dogs, I bought our dog, Lizzy, and Idaho Vandals bandanna.  It looks great on her!  Unfortunately, putting it on her neck made Rylan very concerned because he thought “bandanna” meant, “bandaid”.  So now he thinks Lizzy has an owie and a band aid on her neck all the time.  It’s kind of cute, so now I call it a band aid as well, you know, just to mess with him.

Hopefully the rest of September will go by quickly!