Winter Disneyland Escape
We went to Disneyland at the end of January and had the best time. It was so nice to leave freezing cold Utah and head to warmer climates and entertaining theme parks.
On our drive over we made a quick stop at my sister’s house. She has been living in Las Vegas for awhile now and we had never visited her, so we happily fixed that! She gave us a delicious lunch which we all enjoyed.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. We made it to our hotel after dark. The kids were dying to try out the pool. Unfortunately, it was fairly chilly outside. Fortunately it was still many, many degrees warmer than it was in Utah, so the kids braved the chill and enjoyed a brisk swim.
The next morning we got up bright and early to hit the parks! Disneyland was first on our agenda.
We decided to hit Indiana Jones for our first ride of the day.
We were able to walk right on to the ride.
While we were at that side of the park we walked through Star Wars Land and rode Millennium Falcon ride. Then we ran over to Space Mountain.
Poor Madison was a real trooper riding all of the really intense rides first thing. She was terrified during Indiana Jones and buried her head in my arm the entire time.
We spent the afternoon riding the more tame rides in Fantasyland and elsewhere.
Sometimes I made the kids recreate pictures that I remembered taking from previous Disneyland trips. Like this one.
The old picture:
And the new:
Ooh, here’s another one:
Little girl Caroline:
By lunchtime we were ready to rest our tired legs and have some snacks.
Dinner this day was turkey legs for everyone! Kids were getting a little bickery, so we tried to lighten the mood by doing funny poses with the turkey legs. It worked.
Brooke surprised us all by loving the turkey legs and cleaning up what others didn’t finish.
Our biggest victory of the day was riding Rise of the Resistance. I had been watching the line times on the app and this ride always had a really long wait. Near the end of the day I saw the wait time had gone down to 45 minutes. I suggested we head over that way and give the ride a try.
We saw some cast members at the start of the line and asked if this was a good time to ride. The cast member said, “Yes! We just opened it and there’s no line at all!” We walked right on the ride. It was a beautiful moment.
We loved that ride! Two thumbs up for sure!
Another highlight was Star Tours. We had our 3D glasses, and I remembered they had trashcan-like bins that we were supposed to throw our glasses into when we were done. However, as I got off the ride I saw Brooke throw her glasses off to the side of the walkway in a big black space, so I did the same thing. She saw me chuck my glasses over the edge and was like, “What did you just do?”
Turns out Brooke HADN’T thrown her glasses into the area; she had simply stopped there to look at something. I had thrown my glasses into nothingness and certainly not a glasses receptacle. Brooke did not let me forget my moment of idiocy and we laughed many times afterwards remembering my goof.
We had a very successful day. We were exhausted. Some of us wanted nothing more than to shower and go to bed. Some of us had other activities still on our agenda:
After their evening swim we all tucked into our beds and slept as soundly as Dallas’s snoring allowed.
Goblin Valley
For Spring Break we knew we wanted to work in our annual trip to Goblin Valley. Dallas was able to get the day off so our day of fun was on!
When we went to Zion, we were grateful for the cacti that captivated Brooke’s attention and helped her have fun. We hoped she would find something in Goblin Valley to similarly keep her engaged with the hiking during the day.
Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long. Brooke found a scurrying lizard and very easily caught it. I’m still impressed she was able to grab it because those things are fast!
Before long, Brooke had completely tamed the lizard and it didn’t even try to escape.
Meet Elizard, the lizard:
Brooke found the lizard probably in the first thirty minutes of our day. She kept the lizard for the next 4-5 hours as we hiked. Somehow she was able to scale all the rocks and climb up and down all the hills and mounds one-handed. An impressive feat, to be sure.
I had the great idea to climb straight up one of the rock walls. Halfway up we realized we would probably not be able to make it down the same way we came up. Thankfully, after a few treacherous moments, we all made it to the top.
We had a great view of everything down below. The kids were not able to enjoy the view because they were stressing about how we were going to get down.
After a few failed attempts at descending, we finally found a safe way down.
We also finally found some shade and had to rest for a bit.
Once again, I must thank Elizard for keeping Brooke happy and occupied.
Who am I kidding? The lizard kept everyone entranced:
All right. I’ll hold Elizard, too:
And Brooke built a play pen for Elizard.
After spending the day with us, we returned Elizard to a spot close to where we found him. Thank you, Elizard for allowing yourself to be the object of a family’s affection for an afternoon. We may not have been able to have a successful day without you.
Goblin Valley keeps its spot in my heart as one of my favorite places ever.
Adventures in Zion
For President’s Day, we decided to take advantage of the days off school to explore Zion National Park a little bit. We were hoping southern Utah would give us beautiful weather and gorgeous views.
Unfortunately, the further south we drove, the worse the weather got. We ended up driving through a blizzard, but finally made it to Zion in one piece.
The weather was too rainy for hiking, so we drove around a bit to take in the mountains.
The only other thing we could do was head to our hotel and enjoy the indoor pool. The kids loved having the pool almost to themselves.
After swimming we got all tucked into our beds and fell right to sleep. Unfortunately Madison didn’t STAY tucked into her bed. She fell out of the bed at least a half dozen times and I had to keep putting her back. Silly girl.
The next day was everything we hoped for! The weather was perfect. The skies were blue. Zion was ready to be explored.
We hiked Canyon Overlook Trail first. That was a nice, easy hike and Madison loved being able to scamper on rocks.
Vacationing with a teenager can be…challenging. We’re never quite sure what mood our resident teen will grace us with each day. Luckily finding a cactus was just the diversion Brooke needed to keep her mind busy and happy as she hiked.
We made it to the overlook!
I had been warning people to watch out for puddles and ended up stepping in one myself. Brooke thought that was hilarious, so she made me reenact the scene.
We planned to catch the shuttle to take it further up the canyon, but we didn’t get a spot. We decided to hike Watchman Trail instead. This was a three-mile hike. The kids’ legs were already tired from the first hike, so there was a bit more grumbling this time around, but we all hiked to the top, enjoyed the view, and made it back down in one piece.
After their long day hiking, the kids were itching to get back into the hotel pool for another evening of swimming.
The next day was our last day at Zion, so we had to be sure to get a picture by the sign:
We drove up the canyon a little bit, but most of the kid-friendly hikes were closed, so we stayed in the car and just took in the beauty and grandeur of the mountains.
We drove through Kolob Canyon and were amazed at the beauty of the snow-flecked mountains.
We had a great family getaway!
South Dakota Getaway
We had so much fun on our Yellowstone trip that we decided to do another spontaneous get-out-of-town excursion several weeks ago. We realized that since the kids only had in-person school on Mondays and Wednesdays, we could take advantage of their Thursday through Sunday days off…so we did!
We decided to head to South Dakota. Spencer is in fourth grade and gets us into national parks for free, so our first stop was Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.
Devils Tower was fun because there were all these huge boulders around it and we were able to jump from rock to rock exploring and climbing.
Brooke spent her time laying on a rock trying to get the birds to think she was dead so they would come near her. Whatever makes you happy, honey.
We saw a fox as we were driving up to Devils Tower. I’ve never seen a fox out in nature, and for some reason, I just loved watching it slink along the mountain. It is so magical to see wildlife in their natural habitat. We also saw prairie dogs, longhorns, and bison.
This is often my view of Dallas when we’re vacationing:
We made it to our hotel in the evening. I went to check in and the lobby was closing. Turns out they didn’t have record of our booking. It was Labor Day weekend, so I was worried they wouldn’t have a spot for us, but luckily they found us a room.
The next day we got up bright and early so we could explore the Badlands.
We got there and right away we saw bighorn sheep running up and down the mountain ledges. It was amazing to see how easily they went up and down the rocky faces of the cliffs.
We saw more prairie dogs and the kids had fun trying to get close to them.
We mostly drove around the Badlands and just got out here and there to see things. However, we did get out and hike around a little bit. We did Notch Trail. It had a ladder you had to climb up which was fun:
Those who go up must come down:
On our way out of the Badlands we saw the Delta-09 Minuteman Missile Silo.
When I told my brother, Jacob, that we were visiting South Dakota, he told us we had to stop at Wall Drug.
“A drugstore? Why is that a must-see?” I asked.
“Because they give out free ice water,” he said, as if that explained everything.
Turns out Wall Drug has signs advertising its existence all along the road leading to and from the Badlands. Those signs and my brother’s recommendation convinced us to stop and see what it was all about.
I had to try out the free ice water. Worth the drive!
Wall Drug was started in the 1930s. The store wasn’t profitable, so the family who owned it nearly closed up shop until they had the idea to hand out free ice water to those who were traveling through South Dakota. The ice water was just what the prairie travelers needed, and the water brought customers to the store.
Now Wall Drug is a huge tourist trap and a truly crazy place.
For example, there were terrifying mannequins here and there:
There was a caged dinosaur that would roar every so often:
There were cheap rides to sit on:
And of course, there was the giant jackalope photo op:
We often get Christmas ornaments when we go on vacation. The kids saw this outhouse at Wall Drug and had to have it as our remembrance of this trip:
Thank you, Wall Drug, for giving us an outhouse to put on our Christmas tree. It reminds us of the horrible bathrooms we had to use at Devils Tower. We have never seen bathrooms so covered in urine. Now we will remember those bathrooms every year for the rest of our lives.
The kids were dying to make it back to our hotel so they could try out the pool. We got back with a little bit of daylight left and let the kids swim their hearts out.
It was pretty cold, so we had to call it a night and get ready for our next day of fun.
Our adventure the next day was seeing Mount Rushmore! I never thought I’d ever see it, so it was kind of fun to cross this off the bucket list.
Here we are walking up to the mountain. You can see it behind us:
Here’s a better shot of the faces on the mountain:
The kids mimicked the presidents giving us Mount Goldenmore:
Brooke is our budding ornithologist and loved seeing this bird display:
Look at that Golden face!
Madison had fun with the detonating simulator:
Fortunately, we got to Mount Rushmore early in the day and it was a beautiful day with clear, blue skies. Everything you could ever want in a sight-seeing day. Unfortunately, right after we got there, Brooke fell from a ledge and twisted her ankle. It immediately ballooned up, and she was unable to comfortably walk for the rest of the day. That put a damper on our exploring.
I sat with Brooke while Dallas and the kids walked around the trail and took in the sights.
Luckily our next stop was a drive through Bear Country, so Brooke was able to rest her foot while we drove around looking at bears, elk, wolves, reindeer, and mountain sheep.
We had to save time for another swim in the pool.
Every so often we’d hear this go by:
It’s the Black Hills Party Pedaler. Apparently guests can tour the city while pedaling their vehicle and drinking.
We ended the day at Crazy Horse Monument.
We toured the museum and stayed for the laser show.
The light show was pretty underwhelming. I grew up seeing the laser show at Stone Mountain every Fourth of July, and this was definitely…not that. I was curious to hear how the others in my group would like the show having nothing to compare it to. The general consensus was that it was the dumbest part of the trip.
However, right as the laser show was about to start, Madison leaned her head on my shoulder, sighed contentedly, and said, “This has been a good trip.”
It WAS a good trip. Now we need to plan another one!
Yellowstone
All of this quarantining business left us with a need to get away from our house and have a change of scenery! My friend told me she just returned from Yellowstone and it was a great time to visit because it was less crowded than usual. I had never been to Yellowstone. Dallas and I did a little research, realized we had three completely empty days on the calendar that next week, and behold! A family vacation was born.
We packed up and headed out. Our first pit stop demanded a photo:
The drive was so fast and easy, and before we knew it, we were in West Yellowstone. We enjoyed this sign:
We got to the park and realized that we had just enough time to book it to Old Faithful before its predicted eruption time. We made it there in time to sit and wait…
and wait…
and wait…
until finally…she erupted!
We decided to walk the boardwalk around Old Faithful. Caroline bit into a Starburst on the way and her loose tooth came right out mid-chew:
I loved this little hike. I’m not sure if it’s because it was the first thing we did, so everything was so new and amazing to see, but, well, everything was just so new and amazing to see! We loved looking at the geysers, trying to come up with our own names for them, and then running ahead to find the next wonder to behold.
Luckily for us, Old Faithful decided to erupt again about forty minutes before the predicted time, so we got to see another explosion from a less-crowded spot:
Dallas took the little kids to the bathroom while I waited with the big girls. We had nothing to do, so we had to get creative as we waited for them. We took awkward jumping pictures:
And we took turn-your-sister-into-a-rabbit pictures:
Then Brooke learned how to take creepy panoramic pictures and that kept her busy for the rest of the trip.
After Old Faithful we went to Black Sand Basin to see the geysers there. It was getting really stormy and we were afraid we were about to get dumped on. There was a nice rainbow geyser there that I liked.
We walked around quickly to see everything:
Then we ran to the car right before the heavens opened and rain, sleet, snow, and hail slammed down on us. It was a pretty impressive storm.
We were worried it would rain out the rest of our day, but before too long the rain cleared up and Madison spotted some elk. We stopped for a closer look.
We ate dinner at Lake Village and walked through a gift shop looking for treasures. None found.
Then we stopped at Mud Volcano and saw Dragon’s Mouth Spring which was a favorite. We loved the steam coming from the cave and the groaning noises that felt like a dragon did indeed live there.
On our way back to our hotel in West Yellowstone we stopped by the Artists Paintpots which was another favorite. We liked the white stew/soup spot that gurgled and bubbled and made us feel like an ogre lived beneath it.
At the hotel the kids loved playing with the old fashioned phone:
The next morning we decided to get up bright and early and drive out to Lamar Valley to look for wildlife. We saw lots of bison, elk, pronghorn, and birds.
We were mostly searching for a bear…and we found one!
It was just frolicking in a meadow full of wildflowers. It felt like the most perfect spot to watch a bear play.
After driving around Lamar Valley we went back to Mammoth Hot Springs for lunch.
We liked watching the elk that roamed through the little town. We explored the Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces. This was the hottest part of the hottest day that we were there and there were so. many. steps. so this wasn’t the most pleasant of all of our stops, but we made it through and this picture will give you the illusion that we all had smiles on our faces the whole time. I’m sure none of us complained one bit during this hike.
We found some rocks to climb:
We drove down to Norris and tried to stop, but that was the only place where we couldn’t immediately find parking, so we just continued on.
We went on to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. That was also beautiful. I loved how each part of Yellowstone was so different but so beautiful.
We loved the waterfall and did a couple different hikes to view it from different spots.
Brooke made a friend with a dragonfly:
On our way back to the hotel, Dallas spied some cranes, so we stopped to look. (They’re behind Brooke right in front of the tree line.)
The next day was the day our kids were looking forward to the most – horseback riding day! We had to wait for our turn which gave the kids plenty of time to bond with the company’s pet dog:
And to walk on wood planks:
And to show off how Brooke can twist her leg in unnatural ways:
Finally we were able to hop on our horses and ride through the woods.
Brooke’s horse was a little stubborn, so her horse got roped up to the guide’s horse in front of her. This arrangement is important because it led to the highlight of Brooke’s vacation. The horse in front stopped to poop and somehow the rope got caught in the horse’s butt…? And the guide couldn’t get it out. So she had to call to the guide at the front of the line and ask if she had gloves. Which made that guide ask why she needed gloves. So the guide in the back had to say, “Because there’s a rope stuck in my horse’s butt and I can’t get it out. I’m going to need some help back here.” Which led to silence from the guide at the front until she said, “I was not expecting to hear that!”
Meanwhile Brooke giggled uncontrollably through the poor horse’s ordeal…and anytime afterward when she thinks about that story.
Luckily the guide was able to free the horse without compromising too much of his dignity and we were able to continue our ride.
Dallas’s horse also brought comic relief as he kept stopping to eat every chance he got and when he wasn’t eating, he was finding small trees to walk over to scratch his underside.
After horseback riding we were ready to head home. We decided to drive through Yellowstone and go home through the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole. This gave us the perfect chance to take these pictures:
We stopped at the Grand Prismatic Spring on our way out. The pictures of this spring look so pretty, but unfortunately, from the boardwalk, you can’t really see it. I was sad about that. Next time we go to Yellowstone we’ll have to hike from above so we can look down on it and appreciate the colors.
Dallas was amused by this poster every time we saw it, so we had to do our own version.
(To be clear – Caroline wasn’t really off the boardwalk. Dallas just Photoshopped her there. We were good tourists and stayed on the path.)
Our trip to Yellowstone was just the diversion we needed to break up the monotony of having nothing to do because of COVID. Dallas and I are already dreaming of when we can go back.