Trip to Arches National Park--Part 2

The following morning we returned to the park for more sightseeing. The morning sun highlighted the rocks in a beautiful way. Below left are "The Gossips" and "Sheep Rock." The children named the formation on the right "Bantha Rock" after the Bantha creatures from the Star Wars films. We do not know if it has an official name.

We decided to start off the day with a hike to Landscape Arch, the longest arch in the world. In 1991, a large chunk of it broke off, so visitors are no longer allowed to walk all the way underneath it. This was a relatively short hike (compared to Delicate Arch), but we spent a lot of time observing 5 species of lizards (see Part 3) and stopping frequently for Erin to dig in the sand.

Pictured below are the children posing in Devil's Garden at the trailhead to the arch and Erin demonstrating how to carry sand from one place to another.

Here is a photo of cryptobiotic soil, which is found throughout the arid high deserts of the Colorado Plateau. It contains cyanobacteria, soil lichens, mosses, green algae, microfungi, and bacteria, which hold the sand together and help prevent erosion. People are asked to stay on trails and not walk on it because the damage can take 5 or more years to recover. We were good and remained on the trails in the national park, which was not always easy with all the lizards running around.

We ate lunch at the Balanced Rock Picnic Area, then we left the park and drove along the Potash Road (heading west) to view some petroglyphs. According to a rock art book, the bear on this particular panel was added years after the original sheep.

The children had a chance to chase lizards outside the park, which was a fun conclusion to our trip. The following morning we packed up camp and drove home, accompanied by frequent protests and screaming sessions, followed by bribes of gummy bears.

1 pack of gummy bears = approximately 300 miles of child appeasement

Trip to Arches National Park--Part 1

We have been suffering from a severe case of Spring Fever. When April suggested taking a camping trip to Arches National Park, Kevin said to "go for it" even though he would be unable to make it due to his teaching commitments. After asking a couple of different families if they would like to accompany us and being turned down due to their previous commitments (we lack the skill of planning our spontaneity in advance), we packed up our camping gear and a lot of food and took off Monday, 11 June.

Two hours into the drive, just past Provo, when Erin was screaming to get out of the car, April wondered if she had perhaps been a bit too ambitious in thinking she could attempt this solo. However, we found a lovely picnic spot near Utah Lake (known to us from our BYU birding days) and appeased her for a little bit.

A few hours later (after minimal fussing on Erin's part due to entertainment provided by Megan and Ian as well as her taking a nap), we arrived at our destination. Our first priority was to find a camping spot before dark, so we drove along Highway 128 and found room at the first BLM campground, Goose Island. Our tent was too big to fit underneath the tamarisk trees, so we set it up next to the picnic table.

After a quick dinner, we drove through the park for a brief overview. We stopped to see the famous Balanced Rock, drove around the Windows area, and looked at the trailhead to Delicate Arch, which we wanted to hike in the morning. During the night, it sprinkled a fair bit, but our tent was dry by sunrise.





The morning was pleasant and overcast. We stopped at the Visitor's Center on the way in, and then headed to our big hike for the day.
















The trail to Delicate Arch is 3 miles round trip. The children were full of energy, excitement, and enthusiasm--even Erin walked for a good portion at the beginning. Once in the pack, Erin attracted much attention from a group of Japanese tourists who acted as though they had never seen a cute curly-haired little girl riding in a backpack on her way to an arch. Unfortunately, our nice cloud cover dissipated before we arrived, and consequently the heat factor increased. Nonetheless, we made it and the children were impressed with the arch. As we sat across from it and ate our lunches, we watched people taking turns being photographed beneath this famous landmark.

After lunch, we walked around the bowl to get closer. Megan and Ian only wanted to sit at the side--they were not comfortable walking all the way under it due to the drop-off. April then carried Erin underneath where she promptly sat down, got into position, then pointed her finger across to the other side and said, "Mom, go take my picture." April explained that she couldn't leave Erin all alone sitting under the arch to go take a picture, whereupon Erin pointed again and started yelling insistently, "GO OVER THERE!" She ended up in a full-blown tantrum over the situation, much to the amusement of other hikers and the embarrassment of her mother, who carried her away kicking and screaming. This is the only picture of Erin under the arch, taken by her mean mother who wouldn't leave her alone next to the drop-off.













On the return hike, enthusiasm had waned somewhat and the heat became more of a discomfort. Overall, the children did a fantastic job hiking and finding critters (see Part 3).

We next drove to Sand Dune Arch to cool off and rest. It is only a 3-minute walk from the parking spot, and there was plenty of shade and cool sand, in which we all enjoyed digging.






We spent a good hour playing in the sand and recouping from the morning's exertion. April was lying back watching the sky and noticed clouds starting to gather again. She suggested to the children that it might be a good time to leave, but they begged to stay longer. Within a few more minutes, the wind began to blow hard and we were caught in a sudden sandstorm (due to the sandy location). Erin started screaming, and April grabbed her and carried her to the car. We got sandblasted pretty good--sand was everywhere, in our noses, ears, hair, etc. Mom emphasized that consequences occur when children do not obey immediately...




















The wind continued blowing and soon the rain followed. We drove over to the Windows section and the children wanted to see Double Arch, (the arch featured at the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). We walked over to it while all the other people were leaving due to the sprinkle of rain. We had the place all to ourselves while waiting out the storm.

We returned to camp, cooked some dinner, then went for a walk to see the Colorado River. We watched some bats come out at dusk, which Erin thought was really neat. All three children fell asleep without any fuss that night.

(to be continued...)

Saturday Bike Ride

On 9 June 2007, we joined our friends the Bucherts for an impromptu bike ride to Willow Park and the Logan River Trail (we were also trying to help Becca induce labor). Erin and Daffodil loved riding in the new bike trailer that Becca had recently found at a garage sale. We ate a picnic lunch at the park, and then continued to the trail.

The River Trail was cool and shaded. In one spot off to the side, there was a great spot for the children to explore around a large tree. They took a break and amused themselves while Kevin and April rode further up the trail and back. Martin and Becca stayed with the children.

Here we are riding back to the Buchert's home. (Kevin rode quickly ahead to get this photo.) The children cooled off by playing in the irrigation water and eating popsicles.

Post Script: We don't know for certain if the bike ride helped, but little Anna was born 2 days later.

More Random Events

Our "New" Car

After much deliberation and discussion, we decided to retire our well-loved '89 Mitsubishi Montero that we had driven for 10 years. It was still running fine, but had been leaking various fluids for quite some time and the exhaust was getting uglier. Environmental hazards aside, Kevin was driving on his own more frequently to Brigham City (he carpools when possible), and we figured we could find something with better gas mileage--and we did. We recently bought a well-used, but well-maintained (hopefully) '98 Subaru Legacy that fit our budget.

We forgot to take a farewell photo of the Montero, but we had this lovely side view photo from one time it got stuck in the sand during lizard field work near Yuma, Az. And here is Erin helping Dad clean the "red, big car" (Erin's description).

Nap Time with Comet

Lately Erin has been taking her naps in the living room and Comet snuggles up with her.

Completion of Middle Ages Unit

We finished up our Medieval studies with final papier mache art projects. Megan made a plague mask, which doctors wore during the bubonic plague epidemic when they visited patients. They would fill the "beak" with herbs, hoping that would filter the air and protect them from the disease.

Ian chose to make a Eucharist Dove, which was used to hold sacramental wafers for the religious services in the cathedrals.

Erin in Ponytails!!!

Erin does not usually permit anyone to do anything with her lovely curly hair other than run a brush through it quickly. However, one morning she allowed her mom to put her hair in little ponytails, which lasted for about 2 entire hours. Megan helped her make a princess crown, which she proudly wore along with the ponytails--she was too cute to pass up taking photos.

Field Trip to the Trappist Monastery

~ a report by Megan & Ian


On Tuesday, May 29, 2007 we visited the Abbey of the Holy Trinity in Huntsville, Utah. We decided to take the scenic route (it was a couple hours away). A lot of the drive was on a dirt road. Mom spotted a huge gopher snake crossing the road! Megan jumped out and tried to catch it, but the snake hissed and tried to rattle its tail at her. A bit further along the road, Mom saw another huge snake! Again Megan jumped out to try and catch it. This snake also hissed, but she was able to catch it without getting bitten. She grabbed at it five times before actually catching it (see the video here). Soon we were back on the road.







We got to the monastery three minutes before None, their afternoon prayer. They didn't sing it in Latin like we thought they were going to. We could kind of understand what they were saying. The prayer session was about ten minutes long.

After that we went to a little shop where the monks sell creamed honey. They make the honey in a variety of different flavors. We got five containers of it. The monk behind the counter was named Father Patrick. He told us that he had been in the monastery since 1950. He is 79 years old. He let us watch a movie about their life in the monastery. We learned about the different things they have and how they live.

The monastery was founded in 1947 by Trappist monks from Kentucky. The monks are vegetarian most of the year, but every year in July, they celebrate the day that they were founded. One of the monks will go and pick up 100 pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken and they will have a feast. The word monk comes form the Latin word monachus, which comes from the Greek word monos, meaning "alone."

We had a good time at the monastery. It was a fun field trip.

THE END

Old Ephraim Mountain Man Rendezvous

Each Memorial Day weekend, the Old Ephraim Mountain Man Rendezvous is held in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. After missing it for several years, we finally were able to attend it and went with our friends, the Buchert family.

There were many participants, dressed in "authentic" clothing of the time period and living out of their tents and tepees for the weekend.

This man demonstrated how to start a fire using flint, steel and charcloth.

The dads and boys watched the black powder rifle shooting. This was much too noisy and scary for the 2-year-old girls, so we had to take them away.

Here is a blacksmith making iron products to trade.

Some of the trading posts had nice animal skulls for sale.

Daffodil and Ian tried on skunkskin caps.

Erin liked the turtle shells.

All in all we had an enjoyable time, but we were a bit disappointed that there were not activities in which all visitors could participate. The advertisement had led us to believe that anyone could try out archery, rifle shooting, tomahawk throwing, etc., but one could only do these activities if he had brought his own equipment. (And we don't happen to have extra tomahawks lying around...)

And now, yet another Natural History Moment:

While returning the remains of our picnic lunch to the car, Kevin and Erin found a yellow-bellied racer. Kevin managed to catch it without dumping Erin out of the child backpack. He bagged it (yes, we keep herp bags in the back of the car for moments like these) and brought it back to the rendezvous to show everyone else. Megan, Ian, and Soren all wanted to hold the snake. After admiring it and photographing it, we released it away from the crowds.