Thanks for checking out the Clausen RV trip blog! As you'll see, these posts appear in reverse chronological order. That is, the one directly below this one is the last post covering the trip, and below that is the post from the day before that, etc.
The side bar to the right ------------------- >
lists all posts and it should be an easy way to click through the posts in whatever order you like. To start, just click on the little sideways triangle (>) next to the word August. You'll then see the blog entries listed from the start of the trip. "Kicking Off," as you might imagine, covers the first day of our adventure.
If you're interested in checking out my regular blog, here's a quick link to that: www.erinclausenphotography.com. I post all sorts of random business and family info there, and it can be a fun way to waste a morning or a late night hour. :)
Monday, October 10, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Vegas, Pt 2
My mom told me that a good friend of hers lives in Vegas (or came from there... I guess I wasn't listening terribly well). Apparently, this friend said that nobody from Vegas actually calls it Vegas. It's always Las Vegas. Just like people from San Francisco would never call it Frisco, she says. Having lived in SF for several years, I totally get that (hearing "Frisco" always makes me shudder), so from now on I guess I need to type out LAS VEGAS.
Our full day in Las Vegas was our last full day of the trip, and as I mentioned in a previous post, it was FULL. The kids and Brian sought out breakfast first thing, and since the kids got to pick it ended up being Subway sandwiches. Then we hit the wave pool and lazy river to get nice and cool before venturing out onto the sweltering sidewalks.
The kids were chomping at the bit to hit M&M World, so we headed across the street to check it out. On the way, we ran into Luigi and Mario (DUDE, those guys must have been hot) and Foxy enthusiastically gave Mr. L a big high five.
A quick snap outside M&M World:
The princess hands crack me up. I think it is on this trip that that became her signature pose.
Anyway, we made our way up four flights of M&M craziness, and Noah suddenly stopped and said, "Wait. This is just a store???" Not sure what he thought he was going to get here... rides? a rotating restaurant? life-size dancing M&Ms? Despite the apparent disappointment, when he got to the rainbow columns of candy, he told me "This is a dream come true." And we did finally find a 3-D movie on the top floor, which the kids all thought was entertaining and fun. We also picked up a violin Christmas ornament (with M&M decals all over it, of course) to commemorate the trip at the holidays and also mark the year Foxy took up that particular instrument.
Then we headed back outside...
...and headed to New York New York, to have lunch at The Sporting House (formerly the ESPN Zone).
To say that Noah loved this place would be the understatement of the century. This kid was in HEAVEN. He sipped his Shirley Temple from a fat black recliner in front of a 20-foot screen surrounded by about a dozen other screens. We watched baseball, softball, monster trucks... you name it. We also ordered "The Tailgater," which turned out to be a huge assortment of ribs, wings, chicken strips, sliders, quesadillas, and spinach and artichoke dip. With some cheese pizza on the side, we had more food than we could possibly eat and we were all veeeeeery happy. But it got better for Noah when he made a quick trip to the restroom. Because you know what they had in there?? TVs at every urinal and above every stall!!!!
After we ate and reclined, we headed up to the arcade upstairs, which was deserted. We had the place to ourselves and engaged in some fierce air hocky and motorcyle racing. And I want to record here for posterity: Brian and I played one air hockey point against each other. Guess who won? ME, that's who! It may be the first time that I beat that man in anything.
At that point, E and I split off and headed over to the Luxor to take in the Bodies exhibit. That was incredible, and we both loved it. We made use of the little audio tour headsets and read almost all of the placards and learned so much.
When we were done, we headed to Excaliber to meet up with the others. They'd gotten tickets to the Spongebob 4-D ride/experience, and we did that and its sister rides for the next hour or so.
From that point on out, I mostly grabbed cheesy posed snapshots. I couldn't use my camera in the bodies exhibit, and my energy was starting to flag. I still managed to have fun, though I was really ready to put my feet up when we finally made it back to our hotel.
Here's a selection of touristy snaps...
E before heading to Bodies:
And E in the Luxor:
The boys with Spongebob:
And the boys outside on the strip:
Finally, the boys outside New York New York (Foxy had gotten a head start back to the room with Brian):
The kids and Brian wandered around a bit more before dinner, and I met up with them to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. Despite eating at the Anaheim RC several times, the novelty has apparently not worn off for my kids. They were happy as clams. I didn't take the camera along to dinner, in part because I'd left my flash in the RV and in part because I was just tired of snapping photos. I wanted to sit and relax and enjoy that last vacation meal and I did. Until Foxy suddenly said that she wasn't feeling good and wanted to head back to the room.
At some point earlier in the day, I had realized that I'd left the violin ornament at the sports place at lunch. Brian went back for it but it was not to be found. So as Foxy and I walked back, she suggested that we duck in and get a replacement. According to her, that would make her feel much better. So we did, and suddenly she was 100% again.
We girls got back to the room and got into PJs. When the boys showed up with Brian, they were happy to announce that they'd stopped to get us a replacement ornament. Whoops! We thought we might get back to return one, but it didn't happen. So now we have two violins, and we paid for three. Good times.
The next day, we got up and made one last visit to the pools. Then we showered and headed out to begin the drive home. It was a long haul and we spent most of the day on the rather bumpy stretch of highway. Our consultation of the GPS led us to make the final push via Highway 58, which has got to be one of the windiest stretches of road in the country. If you ever drive 58 between Buttonwillow and Santa Margarita, picture us creeping along in our 31-foot RV and I guarantee that you'll laugh.
In all seriousness, it was bittersweet to wrap up this vacation. While we were looking forward to getting back to our own home, we'd had such an incredible time on this journey. The trip afforded so many opportunities to relax, to reflect, and to soak up the personalities of our kids at these very fun ages. There were moments of bickering and whining, but they were actually very brief. And there were moments of RV head-scratching, like the time I showered in the rig and accidentally turned off the water flow to the hand-held showerhead (Brian had to shuttle bowls of water to me to rinse off the head-to-toe suds).
But the happy moments -- the memorable moments -- were bountiful. And we surprised ourselves by declaring, to a man, that we loved this style of vacation.
Don't be surprised if you see us rolling out Huckleberry in another RV in the not too distant future...
Our full day in Las Vegas was our last full day of the trip, and as I mentioned in a previous post, it was FULL. The kids and Brian sought out breakfast first thing, and since the kids got to pick it ended up being Subway sandwiches. Then we hit the wave pool and lazy river to get nice and cool before venturing out onto the sweltering sidewalks.
The kids were chomping at the bit to hit M&M World, so we headed across the street to check it out. On the way, we ran into Luigi and Mario (DUDE, those guys must have been hot) and Foxy enthusiastically gave Mr. L a big high five.
A quick snap outside M&M World:
The princess hands crack me up. I think it is on this trip that that became her signature pose.
Anyway, we made our way up four flights of M&M craziness, and Noah suddenly stopped and said, "Wait. This is just a store???" Not sure what he thought he was going to get here... rides? a rotating restaurant? life-size dancing M&Ms? Despite the apparent disappointment, when he got to the rainbow columns of candy, he told me "This is a dream come true." And we did finally find a 3-D movie on the top floor, which the kids all thought was entertaining and fun. We also picked up a violin Christmas ornament (with M&M decals all over it, of course) to commemorate the trip at the holidays and also mark the year Foxy took up that particular instrument.
Then we headed back outside...
...and headed to New York New York, to have lunch at The Sporting House (formerly the ESPN Zone).
To say that Noah loved this place would be the understatement of the century. This kid was in HEAVEN. He sipped his Shirley Temple from a fat black recliner in front of a 20-foot screen surrounded by about a dozen other screens. We watched baseball, softball, monster trucks... you name it. We also ordered "The Tailgater," which turned out to be a huge assortment of ribs, wings, chicken strips, sliders, quesadillas, and spinach and artichoke dip. With some cheese pizza on the side, we had more food than we could possibly eat and we were all veeeeeery happy. But it got better for Noah when he made a quick trip to the restroom. Because you know what they had in there?? TVs at every urinal and above every stall!!!!
After we ate and reclined, we headed up to the arcade upstairs, which was deserted. We had the place to ourselves and engaged in some fierce air hocky and motorcyle racing. And I want to record here for posterity: Brian and I played one air hockey point against each other. Guess who won? ME, that's who! It may be the first time that I beat that man in anything.
At that point, E and I split off and headed over to the Luxor to take in the Bodies exhibit. That was incredible, and we both loved it. We made use of the little audio tour headsets and read almost all of the placards and learned so much.
When we were done, we headed to Excaliber to meet up with the others. They'd gotten tickets to the Spongebob 4-D ride/experience, and we did that and its sister rides for the next hour or so.
From that point on out, I mostly grabbed cheesy posed snapshots. I couldn't use my camera in the bodies exhibit, and my energy was starting to flag. I still managed to have fun, though I was really ready to put my feet up when we finally made it back to our hotel.
Here's a selection of touristy snaps...
E before heading to Bodies:
And E in the Luxor:
The boys with Spongebob:
And the boys outside on the strip:
Finally, the boys outside New York New York (Foxy had gotten a head start back to the room with Brian):
The kids and Brian wandered around a bit more before dinner, and I met up with them to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. Despite eating at the Anaheim RC several times, the novelty has apparently not worn off for my kids. They were happy as clams. I didn't take the camera along to dinner, in part because I'd left my flash in the RV and in part because I was just tired of snapping photos. I wanted to sit and relax and enjoy that last vacation meal and I did. Until Foxy suddenly said that she wasn't feeling good and wanted to head back to the room.
At some point earlier in the day, I had realized that I'd left the violin ornament at the sports place at lunch. Brian went back for it but it was not to be found. So as Foxy and I walked back, she suggested that we duck in and get a replacement. According to her, that would make her feel much better. So we did, and suddenly she was 100% again.
We girls got back to the room and got into PJs. When the boys showed up with Brian, they were happy to announce that they'd stopped to get us a replacement ornament. Whoops! We thought we might get back to return one, but it didn't happen. So now we have two violins, and we paid for three. Good times.
The next day, we got up and made one last visit to the pools. Then we showered and headed out to begin the drive home. It was a long haul and we spent most of the day on the rather bumpy stretch of highway. Our consultation of the GPS led us to make the final push via Highway 58, which has got to be one of the windiest stretches of road in the country. If you ever drive 58 between Buttonwillow and Santa Margarita, picture us creeping along in our 31-foot RV and I guarantee that you'll laugh.
In all seriousness, it was bittersweet to wrap up this vacation. While we were looking forward to getting back to our own home, we'd had such an incredible time on this journey. The trip afforded so many opportunities to relax, to reflect, and to soak up the personalities of our kids at these very fun ages. There were moments of bickering and whining, but they were actually very brief. And there were moments of RV head-scratching, like the time I showered in the rig and accidentally turned off the water flow to the hand-held showerhead (Brian had to shuttle bowls of water to me to rinse off the head-to-toe suds).
But the happy moments -- the memorable moments -- were bountiful. And we surprised ourselves by declaring, to a man, that we loved this style of vacation.
Don't be surprised if you see us rolling out Huckleberry in another RV in the not too distant future...
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Vegas, Pt 1
As I mentioned before, I am back at home now. The whole family has been easing back into the real world, and for the most part it has gone well.
It would've been nice to have had a mellow, commitment-free weekend on the heels of our mellow, commitment-free vacation, but alas... it was Recital Weekend. It is truly crazy how one 90-second ballet routine can impact YOUR WHOLE DARN WEEKEND.
Let's begin with Saturday. First -- having missed the last month of class -- we had to pick up the costume from the doorstep of a classmate. Then, we weren't sure what time the rehearsal actually was, so I futzed around the house, putting things away and stressing about my lack of details, until my husband actually drove to the studio and reported back by cell. SHE WAS DUE THERE IN A HALF-HOUR. Ugh. I think we set a world speed record for shower, make-up and bun arrangement (yes, make-up is required).
Today was show day. She was due at the Performing Arts Center at 1:30. With my advance knowledge of this, we were able to enjoy a slightly less hectic shower/make-up/bun arrangement routine. And we actually got there 15 minutes early. Shocking!
We snapped few photos outside, but Foxy was eager to be dropped off backstage (they must have cookies back there or something). I dropped her and then got the hidden flower arrangement from the back of the car and made my way inside, where I got to sit and twiddle my thumbs for a good half-hour.
The girlie performed half-way through the first act, and I was allowed to retrieve her at intermission. She wanted to stay and watch the rest of the show -- and I figured I'd make full use of my $18 seat -- so we made our way to Row FF #23, where she planted herself squarely on my lap and refused to move to the now-abandoned seat next to me. Or any of the four empty seats extending from that one. Suffice it to say, I have some serious kinks in my neck and likely will for the rest of the week.
The show was, shall we say, comprehensive, and we didn't get out of there until about 4:40. At that point, we needed to stop by my parents' house and do a few pirouettes while still wearing the fluffy tu-tu ensemble.
So, what was the point of that info dump, you ask? Just proving to you how a 90-second ballet routine can eat up an entire weekend. Told ya so, right?
In an effort to wrap up this travel blog, I'm happily returning to a simpler and more relaxing time: Our first day in Vegas. In all honesty, the unhurried, freeflow nature of this entire vacation is fading fast, becoming supplanted by the crazy frenetic pace of our daily life, and I'm glad I have the excuse of a couple remaining blog posts to revisit it and eek out a few more "ahhh..." moments.
Now for the photos. Here are a few shot from the RV as we pulled out of Bryce and headed toward Nevada. The campground had teepees, by the way. And again we hit the "Welcome to..." sign on our way out.
A break in the action for more cute reading "bondage"...
And a shot of Mr. Lord of the Highway:
Then, after a few hours of driving, we finally rolled up the strip. Let me tell you, you haven't rolled up the strip until you've done it in a 31-foot Itasca, baby.
We sighed a bit and felt bad for the poor folks at the Circus Circus RV lot as we cruised by. Because really, why would you stay in a tin can in 106-degree heat when you could stay at the Monte Carlo for $79 a night?
Especially when it has a lazy river and a wave pool??
In case you missed that those were my crazies waving in the back, here's a close-up crop:
Guess who was grumpy about the "cold" water?
The boys finally took a break from swimming and chilled out on the chaises, displaying their full array of scrapes and bruises from various biking incidents...
And they pulled out the instamatic camera and took a few of their own shots:
After we swam and wolfed down some nachos, we headed into the air conditioning and found the cupcake shop. (Nothing serves as a nacho chaser like a gourmet cupcake, according to our kids.)
Foxy demonstrated that she curtsies almost anywhere, including cupcake shops:
Next door to the cupcake place was a sports and TV/movie memorabilia store. Brian and I wandered around for a few minutes and then realized that the kids had made themselves comfortable watching one of the Star War movies.
Apparently, it was the one movie they hadn't seen in its entirety, so they begged us to let them stay and see it through. The nice man who worked there said that they were open until 11:00, and therefore he couldn't care less. I opted to head upstairs and shower and left Brian to wander the aisles of memorabilia until the movie ended.
Before showering, I snapped a quick shot out the window of our room:
Once the family was reunited we headed to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show. Unfortunately, we had no idea when it was going to start, and the kids were wiped out and starving. So we found the Bellagio snack bar and scrounged up some dinner... And that was pretty much it. I swear, I have never seen my kids go to bed as quickly as they did that night. Brian did head down to play a few hands of poker, but I was quite happy crashing with the short people. Maybe it was the culture shock of our campsite-to-Vegas day, but the four of us were SPENT.
It would've been nice to have had a mellow, commitment-free weekend on the heels of our mellow, commitment-free vacation, but alas... it was Recital Weekend. It is truly crazy how one 90-second ballet routine can impact YOUR WHOLE DARN WEEKEND.
Let's begin with Saturday. First -- having missed the last month of class -- we had to pick up the costume from the doorstep of a classmate. Then, we weren't sure what time the rehearsal actually was, so I futzed around the house, putting things away and stressing about my lack of details, until my husband actually drove to the studio and reported back by cell. SHE WAS DUE THERE IN A HALF-HOUR. Ugh. I think we set a world speed record for shower, make-up and bun arrangement (yes, make-up is required).
Today was show day. She was due at the Performing Arts Center at 1:30. With my advance knowledge of this, we were able to enjoy a slightly less hectic shower/make-up/bun arrangement routine. And we actually got there 15 minutes early. Shocking!
We snapped few photos outside, but Foxy was eager to be dropped off backstage (they must have cookies back there or something). I dropped her and then got the hidden flower arrangement from the back of the car and made my way inside, where I got to sit and twiddle my thumbs for a good half-hour.
The girlie performed half-way through the first act, and I was allowed to retrieve her at intermission. She wanted to stay and watch the rest of the show -- and I figured I'd make full use of my $18 seat -- so we made our way to Row FF #23, where she planted herself squarely on my lap and refused to move to the now-abandoned seat next to me. Or any of the four empty seats extending from that one. Suffice it to say, I have some serious kinks in my neck and likely will for the rest of the week.
The show was, shall we say, comprehensive, and we didn't get out of there until about 4:40. At that point, we needed to stop by my parents' house and do a few pirouettes while still wearing the fluffy tu-tu ensemble.
So, what was the point of that info dump, you ask? Just proving to you how a 90-second ballet routine can eat up an entire weekend. Told ya so, right?
In an effort to wrap up this travel blog, I'm happily returning to a simpler and more relaxing time: Our first day in Vegas. In all honesty, the unhurried, freeflow nature of this entire vacation is fading fast, becoming supplanted by the crazy frenetic pace of our daily life, and I'm glad I have the excuse of a couple remaining blog posts to revisit it and eek out a few more "ahhh..." moments.
Now for the photos. Here are a few shot from the RV as we pulled out of Bryce and headed toward Nevada. The campground had teepees, by the way. And again we hit the "Welcome to..." sign on our way out.
A break in the action for more cute reading "bondage"...
And a shot of Mr. Lord of the Highway:
Then, after a few hours of driving, we finally rolled up the strip. Let me tell you, you haven't rolled up the strip until you've done it in a 31-foot Itasca, baby.
We sighed a bit and felt bad for the poor folks at the Circus Circus RV lot as we cruised by. Because really, why would you stay in a tin can in 106-degree heat when you could stay at the Monte Carlo for $79 a night?
Especially when it has a lazy river and a wave pool??
In case you missed that those were my crazies waving in the back, here's a close-up crop:
Guess who was grumpy about the "cold" water?
The boys finally took a break from swimming and chilled out on the chaises, displaying their full array of scrapes and bruises from various biking incidents...
And they pulled out the instamatic camera and took a few of their own shots:
After we swam and wolfed down some nachos, we headed into the air conditioning and found the cupcake shop. (Nothing serves as a nacho chaser like a gourmet cupcake, according to our kids.)
Foxy demonstrated that she curtsies almost anywhere, including cupcake shops:
Next door to the cupcake place was a sports and TV/movie memorabilia store. Brian and I wandered around for a few minutes and then realized that the kids had made themselves comfortable watching one of the Star War movies.
Apparently, it was the one movie they hadn't seen in its entirety, so they begged us to let them stay and see it through. The nice man who worked there said that they were open until 11:00, and therefore he couldn't care less. I opted to head upstairs and shower and left Brian to wander the aisles of memorabilia until the movie ended.
Before showering, I snapped a quick shot out the window of our room:
Once the family was reunited we headed to the Bellagio to watch the fountain show. Unfortunately, we had no idea when it was going to start, and the kids were wiped out and starving. So we found the Bellagio snack bar and scrounged up some dinner... And that was pretty much it. I swear, I have never seen my kids go to bed as quickly as they did that night. Brian did head down to play a few hands of poker, but I was quite happy crashing with the short people. Maybe it was the culture shock of our campsite-to-Vegas day, but the four of us were SPENT.
The Last Morning of Camping
We're back home in San Luis now, and Foxy's dance recital is today. Between the rehearsal and the show and getting all of our gear washed and put away, I'm lagging a bit on these final blog installments. The Vegas portion and my final thoughts on the trip are forthcoming, but I probably won't get to those until this evening.
So. As a bit of a placeholder, I'll share a few snapshots of the kids horsing around on our bed in the RV the last morning in Bryce, before we packed up and headed to Vegas. Do you like the AFC sheets? Since I was skeeved out by sleeping on the RV mattress, we swapped it out for Noah's mattress -- complete with football sheets -- before we left home.
So. As a bit of a placeholder, I'll share a few snapshots of the kids horsing around on our bed in the RV the last morning in Bryce, before we packed up and headed to Vegas. Do you like the AFC sheets? Since I was skeeved out by sleeping on the RV mattress, we swapped it out for Noah's mattress -- complete with football sheets -- before we left home.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Bryce Canyon
If you've been checking in on our trip regularly, you may have noticed that I'd been posting pretty methodically... Basically, once each day wound down and the kids were asleep (or getting there), I'd spend a little time uploading some photos and creating a post. It usually went online around 11:00 p.m., depending on the time zone we were in and how much trouble I was having maintaining a solid Internet connection. (And believe me, there were nights when that was a struggle.)
But last night I didn't get a post online. That's because we were in Las Vegas -- our only full day in Vegas. And it was FULL. We were going-going-going from morning until late in the evening, and once I was able to sit and relax I just didn't have the energy to do anything but read for a few minutes and crash hard.
The Vegas leg of our trip (our last) was great fun, and I'll be back with photos and a little recap of that stretch. For now, though, I return to Bryce and present you with a summary of our time in Bryce Canyon and the rest of that day.
We shuttled in from our campground, which was just a short distance from the park and the outermost stop on the shuttle loop. I have to say, Brian and I didn't really know what we were doing when we plotted out this vacation, but we truly scored with our campground reservations. Ruby's Campground was our fifth camping stop (sixth if you count the Pomona Walmart lot!), and like the others, it was comfortable and convenient.
Anyway, here are some shots taken soon after disembarking the shuttle...
We hopped the shuttle to the next point, where I handed over the camera to Foxy and to Evan for a stretch. A few of these were taken by them:
Then I took a few more shots of the canyon scenery, which was stunning.
The heat and the altitude started to get to the kids as we walked to the next point of interest, so after Brian gave them personalized "shuttle rides," we gave them each an apple and water and they took a little break from the action:
Once we got going again, we hit the next lookout point and even ventured down a little ways on a mild hike. The kids' footwear and their moods weren't pointing to an extensive hike in this park, which was fine. Foxy and I even found some shade and stopped for a break while the boys and Brian headed a bit further down the trail.
When we'd had our fill of the canyon, we walked back to the nearest shuttle stop, where the kids decided to cuddle up together and make more noise than was probably socially acceptable.
When the shuttle dumped us back at the campground, we strolled through the nearby Old Bryce Town, which provided fun sights and interactive photo ops, plus some yummy ice cream (though I didn't snap any photos of that... too busy enjoying my pralines and cream).
There weren't too many wild flowers out at this time of year, but we saw some Indian Paintbrush on the walk back to the RV:
Here's a quick shot of our rig sitting in its spot:
We played some Uno and then Brian took the kids swimming while I read and rested a bit. Then it was time to bike over to the nearby restaurant for dinner. After cooking meals for a solid week, I was fine with trying out the local fare.
Brian looked super tough with his week's worth of beard, his collar flipped up (NOT his usual look), and Foxy's headband sticking out of his pocket:
The boys goofed around in front of the restaurant while Brian locked up the bikes:
And finally, when we returned to our camping spot after dinner, Brian turned the fire-building over to the boys. And they did a darn good job! Between rock skipping and fire-building, the trip was almost like a mini-Cub Scout camp. :)
As I said, we headed out to Vegas the next morning. Stay tuned for a few snaps from that!
But last night I didn't get a post online. That's because we were in Las Vegas -- our only full day in Vegas. And it was FULL. We were going-going-going from morning until late in the evening, and once I was able to sit and relax I just didn't have the energy to do anything but read for a few minutes and crash hard.
The Vegas leg of our trip (our last) was great fun, and I'll be back with photos and a little recap of that stretch. For now, though, I return to Bryce and present you with a summary of our time in Bryce Canyon and the rest of that day.
We shuttled in from our campground, which was just a short distance from the park and the outermost stop on the shuttle loop. I have to say, Brian and I didn't really know what we were doing when we plotted out this vacation, but we truly scored with our campground reservations. Ruby's Campground was our fifth camping stop (sixth if you count the Pomona Walmart lot!), and like the others, it was comfortable and convenient.
Anyway, here are some shots taken soon after disembarking the shuttle...
We hopped the shuttle to the next point, where I handed over the camera to Foxy and to Evan for a stretch. A few of these were taken by them:
Then I took a few more shots of the canyon scenery, which was stunning.
The heat and the altitude started to get to the kids as we walked to the next point of interest, so after Brian gave them personalized "shuttle rides," we gave them each an apple and water and they took a little break from the action:
Once we got going again, we hit the next lookout point and even ventured down a little ways on a mild hike. The kids' footwear and their moods weren't pointing to an extensive hike in this park, which was fine. Foxy and I even found some shade and stopped for a break while the boys and Brian headed a bit further down the trail.
When we'd had our fill of the canyon, we walked back to the nearest shuttle stop, where the kids decided to cuddle up together and make more noise than was probably socially acceptable.
When the shuttle dumped us back at the campground, we strolled through the nearby Old Bryce Town, which provided fun sights and interactive photo ops, plus some yummy ice cream (though I didn't snap any photos of that... too busy enjoying my pralines and cream).
There weren't too many wild flowers out at this time of year, but we saw some Indian Paintbrush on the walk back to the RV:
Here's a quick shot of our rig sitting in its spot:
We played some Uno and then Brian took the kids swimming while I read and rested a bit. Then it was time to bike over to the nearby restaurant for dinner. After cooking meals for a solid week, I was fine with trying out the local fare.
Brian looked super tough with his week's worth of beard, his collar flipped up (NOT his usual look), and Foxy's headband sticking out of his pocket:
The boys goofed around in front of the restaurant while Brian locked up the bikes:
And finally, when we returned to our camping spot after dinner, Brian turned the fire-building over to the boys. And they did a darn good job! Between rock skipping and fire-building, the trip was almost like a mini-Cub Scout camp. :)
As I said, we headed out to Vegas the next morning. Stay tuned for a few snaps from that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)