Parker and Syd invited us all to join them on their fall break staycation in Vernal Utah. We accepted and the whole family joined them on an adventure that took us back through time. We all made our reservations at the local hotel and met up there Friday evening. We met up with Rogan and Jen and went to dinner with them at the Plaza Mexicano, good food, large portions, and a good price.
We met up later at the pool and played in the water for a while. Bonus time, it was Rogan and Jen's 10th anniversary. Syd made arrangements for us all to meet in their room and we would surprise them with a cake. It was a great evening. We laughed and shared stories for most of the evening before returning to our rooms.
We woke the next morning had breakfast and went to The Utah Field House of Natural History - Dinosaur Museum. The grandkids loved this! We spent the morning wandering through the exhibits and listening to grandkids explain each dinosaur they saw on the tour. We watched the video explaining what archeologists do and the grandkids were fascinated by the stories and findings they showed. Immediately our granddaughter said she wanted a tractor to start excavating for bones.
The first stop was the dig for bones. They had a box of "dirt" covering bones and the grandkids starting digging and finding bones. They got to climb through caves of stone and see fossils in the walls.
They also have a really cool wall of fossils of all different types. There is a sidewalk tour outside and the grandkids enjoyed climbing on the rocks and exploring the area. As we walked through the exhibits more stories and understanding took place. The grandkids loved it. We finished up with a walk through the gift shop and souvenirs were bought.
I wanted to see the McConkie Ranch Petroglyphs. This is a private ranch in Dry Fork Canyon. It's a little way out to the ranch from Vernal. They ask for a $5.00 donation. There are signs as you get near the site but google maps will take you there. I invited those that wanted to join Sally and me out there to come along. They all came along. We arrived at the ranch and readied ourselves for a small hike around the ranch. The trail is marked as .8 of a mile but it doesn't explain that it is steep and rocky at the beginning and return to the parking lot. This was not the case it was a little more intense than I thought it was. Some after seeing the first short climb decided not to go any further. They stayed back at the parking lot while the rest of us ventured on. We saw some petroglyphs on the first leg but not the ones they had advertised. At this point, the littles and some of the other adults were headed back to the cars.
Jimmy and I pushed on looking for the big panels. We went another few hundred yards around the corner and found some of the bigger panels with many petroglyphs on them. This hike was fun but not to be taken lightly. Take water and snacks to see all the panels. Have good shoes and in the heat of the summer a good hat. This was late fall and we were not prepared well. We made it, but some like I said had to turn back sooner than expected. Worth the effort? Yes.
Remember the USS Maine
Sally and I made a stop on the way back into town and checked out the memorial for the USS Maine that is high the wall in Dry Fork. It was something I had photographed years before while I was in college and I wanted to see it again.
Dinosaur National Monument
We made our way back to town and got something to eat. We all met back up at the hotel and made our way to the Dinosaur Quarry outside of Jensen UT. We got there and all the tickets were sold out and had to be purchased in advance. This was not made clear on the website and we were not happy to find out this was the case. We made the best of it!
We hiked along the Fossil Discovery Trail that took you up the backside of the mountain and saw more Indian art, some petrified wood, and dinosaur tracks and fossils. There were a few lizards along the way.
This hike was a little over a mile in length and we had plenty of water this time. We made it all the way around the mountain and saw the Quarry just a little way up the road. The rest of the group was headed down the road back to the parking area. Max and I were like we are this close we are going to take a look through the windows at least. We made it to the Quarry and a nice ranger met us at the door asking if we had our tickets, we explained our dilemma about the tickets and she said wait here........She returned a couple minutes later and allowed Max and me to go into the Quarry!!
It was fantastic! Max was enthralled with the whole thing. We had been in there for a few minutes when all of the sudden we saw others of our group entering the exhibit. It turned out to be a great experience and the rangers made it possible. Everyone had the opportunity to visit the wall and touch the exhibits. We were so happy that we pushed on and made it an adventure. We headed back to Vernal and readied ourselves for the evening. No, the day was not over yet!
Stargazing
I wanted to go stargazing and told the boys that I would bring my scopes and set them up so we could look at the stars. After returning to the hotel some went swimming and others relaxed for a few minutes. Sally and I went on a scouting ride for an area that would be suitable for all vehicles to caravan too. We found one not too far out of town on a dirt road. We met up at dusk in the hotel lobby and went to the designated spot. We arrived in the dark and I set up the scopes. Being hunting scopes they didn't work that great, we saw a couple stars. We started looking at the star map and I pointed out constellations and stars to the grandkids. It was a little brisk and the evening moved on quickly. We called it a day after we found a few cool things in the sky. Harrison did find a satellite cruising across the night sky. We packed up and headed home. The ride home for everyone was pretty quiet as the kids were fast asleep. Arriving at the hotel Jim and Hil arrived at the same time. It brought back great memories for me seeing the grandkids fast asleep in the back seats. A successful day!!
Day 2 - Moonshine Arch
Sunday morning came quickly after the long day on Saturday. Each family made their own plans and ventured forward. Parker and Jim returned to the Quarry and did more exploring in the monument area. Rogan and his family made their way home via a couple side roads. Sally and I went for it and found Moonshine Arch north of Vernal.
This was a sand-filled hike into the hills outside Vernal. We followed a road all the way to the arch and wished we had our Outlander it would have made quick work of the trail. Not having it we ventured out on foot and had a good time exploring the area. From the parking area, the arch is nearly a mile hike on dirt, sand, and sandstone. Find as much sandstone as possible and stay on it. We made it to the Arch in a little over an hour. There were quite a few people on the trail which was surprising to us but it was fall break.
After we got a few pictures we turned back toward the truck. We arrived at the truck and took off our sand-filled shoes and put the sandals on....oh what a relief. We loaded up and headed for town. Gassed up and hit the road for home. We stopped in Duchesne for lunch at Cowan's Cafe and who did we run into...Parker and Syd. We had a good lunch and decided to go through Spanish Fork Canyon since Provo was closed due to a fire.
SFC on a Sunday afternoon is a joke! The traffic was backed up past Thistle so we decided to turn off at Diamond Fork and had a nice ride back into the valley.
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