Adventures in Southern Utah

For as much as I still like blogging when I'm in the middle of it, I definitely haven't refound my groove yet.  And, for whatever reasons, trips are the things I most want to blog about and to make sure we have a record of, but they're also the hardest for me to write.  WE always take a gazillion pictures that are fun, but overwhelming to sort through.   And, unless I blog immediately after our trip, I tend to forget the details of it pretty quickly (hence why I want to blog about them in the first place).   So, there you have it and, now, here I am trying to piece together a trip we took 2 months ago.   

We've really missed being able to travel since COVID kicked in, so we decided that we needed to take advantage  while we were in Utah to see Emma and see some sites too.   After we went through the temple and spent some time with her, we took off for Southern Utah.  We'd already been to some of the National Parks, but, for as long as we've had connections in Utah, there was still a surprising amount we hadn't seen yet.   

Right after our trip, a friend told me that she was visiting Southern Utah soon and asked for some advice.  The rest of this blogpost will be our pictures, interspersed with the advice I sent her.  

Goblin Valley--
1. You only need an hour or two for this park, but it's totally worth the stop (especially with kids).
2. This is one of the best chances to get up close and personal with the hoodoos and we totally loved getting out and exploring amongst them. It's super kid friendly, it's also a great place to fly drones, watch the sunset, and stargaze (if the moon isn't full). 

  

Capitol Reef --
1. Stay in Torrey, Utah--it's very near the park, has great views, and is just a cute little town. The restaurants were a little pricey, but surprisingly good! We ate at Rim Rock and enjoyed it. We heard that Hunt and Gather was one that people drove from hours around to get to.
2. take a backcountry jeep tour to see Cathedral Valley--we LOVED getting off the beaten path to see parts of the park that would be hard to see otherwise. Kevin--our guide with Fremont Tours was so knowledgeable and a really good guy. We'd highly recommend this as a way to see the depths of Capitol Reef.
3. Stop and see the Petroglyph Panels. This was a super short hike and totally worth the stop.
4. Take the Scenic Drive through the park (only about 10 miles long) and then take the little side drive into Capitol Gorge. Capitol Gorge was soooooo pretty and one of our favorite parts of CR!

Highway 12 --
1. This is a gorgeous scenic byway that will lead you from Capitol Reef most of the way to Bryce Canyon.
2. There are lots of cool places you could stop between the two places (including Calf Creek Falls, Kodachrome Basin SP, Escalante, etc)



Calf Creek Falls Hike --
1. This was a moderately difficult hike (about 3 miles each way) mostly on sand. The ups and downs are about equal both ways. The falls and the views along the way are gorgeous and I'm sure your kids would have a hayday playing in the water at the falls (although it was quite cold)!
2. This hike was right on the way from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon. 

Escalante--
1. Okay, so we only passed through this little town, but the food truck we ate dinner at was sooooo good and I highly recommend it. It was called Georgie's Outdoor Mexican Cafe and everything we got was delicious (and it had good gluten free options if that's something important to you).


Bryce Canyon --
1. Stay in Panguitch, Utah--it's about 30 minutes outside of Bryce Canyon and has everything you need here. WE stayed at the Blue Pine Motel and were actually reasonably impressed with it. We don't normally stay at motels, but this was clean, had great reviews online, and was close to everything in town.
2. Bryce Canyon is a park you only need a day to explore. You can park at the Visitor's Center and take a shuttle to all the overlooks, but with kids it's probably easier to just drive and park at the different overlooks.
3. We really enjoyed taking about a 3 mile hike to get down into the canyon and see the scenery from a different viewpoint--we started at Sunset Point, then took the Wall Street trail to Navajo Loop to Queen's Garden and back to Sunrise Point. It's a lot of elevation change, but totally beautiful and worth the walk.

After that, we headed home and spent the last day or two visiting good friends....

Spending time with Nana...

Dropping by my Aunt Zina's house....

And cursing my new hiking shoes, which apparently are evil and don't work with my walking stride.  I had gotten them right before the trip and quickly discovered on our numerous hikes that one shoe somehow catches on the other and causes me to "almost trip" a lot.   Walking on a sidewalk near my parents' house, I went from "almost tripping" to falling flat on my face and I was not happy.  

I haven't worn the shoes again.

After all that excitement, we flew home and have been here ever since.   I imagine that someday we'll travel more regularly again, but for now, home is where it's at!  

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Reunited!

Temples for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints closed very early in the COVID pandemic. We very much missed being able to serve there ourselves, but were most sad that Emma's appointment to be endowed before her mission (scheduled for the end of the March) had to be postponed indefinitely.  We heard of temples starting to reopen around the time Emma started the MTC, so we held out hope that perhaps some temple within 3-4 hours of us might reopen before she finished her training.  Unfortunately that didn't happen and it wasn't until the day we dropped Emma off at the airport to take off for her mission, that the Philadelphia Temple announced that they were reopening soon for individuals to receive their own endowments.   We  were disappointed that the timing ended up so close for her, but sent her on her way knowing that she would likely go through the temple on her mission without us.   

She'd only been in the field for a week or two, when she announced to us that her mission was scheduling endowment dates for all of the missionaries who were unendowed and that we were invited!   Never mind that we live on the other side of the country and travelling isn't really encouraged right now....we didn't hesitate for a second and bought our tickets to Utah ASAP!   

Over the next couple of weeks, we realized that Spence's summer job was ending the week before we arrived, so he was going to be back in Utah too.    Then, by a stroke of luck, Cami and Garrett serendipitously bought tickets to Utah the same weekend for a completely different reason, not even realizing that that was when Emma's temple appointment was then.  

Some may call that luck....I call it a tender mercy!  It is a rare occasion these days when we can be all together!    And thus the impromptu reunion of 2020 was born.   Here are some highlights: 

One of the first things Glen did after the dates of our trip were finalized, was plan a fishing trip with his brother, Alex.   It's become somewhat of a tradition for them now.  Glen rents a boat and the Goold boys all go on a fishing adventure together on the Strawberry Reservoir.   The weather was beautiful and many fish were caught....so it was definitely a success!  

Meanwhile, Ellie and I got together with the Goold girls and went to a cute fall craft boutique together.   It was great to see them and fun to pick out some unique fall decorations for our home.   

Later on that day, Heather took us to the orchard right around the corner from our parents' house and introduced to their fresh peach ice cream.   Yum!  

The next day we realized that we were all wearing ripped jeans and had to pose for a picture...

This was also the day that we got to see Cami and Garrett!   We actually met them at the Bourne cabin and got to spend time with Garrett's family too.   It was great to see them again and I love that our families are connected by marriage now, so we get a good excuse to keep their friendship closer, though we live far away now.   Here's the group shot with Amy in it....

And the one with me in it...

Here's a glimpse of the drive up to the Bourne cabin...  😍

Ellie  loved having a sister around again and wouldn't leave Cami's side!  

The next day we got up bright and early and headed to the temple to meet Emma!  Unfortunately there was a gap in communication somewhere along the way from the temple, to the mission, to Emma, to us, because on our 20 minute drive there we got a desperate phone call from the temple wondering where we were.  All we had known was the time of the session and had NO idea we were supposed to be there an hour early.   😕

So we missed the initiatory and other early stuff, but we made it in plenty of time for the session!   Sadly, because of COVID, they wouldn't let Cami and Garrett join us, but Glen and I were certainly thrilled to be there.  We had my sister, Heather, meet us there afterward to take pictures for us.   Gotta take advantage of the whole family being all together!   

AS you can see (and probably expected), we took a gazillion pictures...

And then afterward, we got to take Emma and her companions out for brunch....

 Sisters McKinlay and Skinner were delightful to meet and we felt privileged to be able to get to spend some time with them all.    It was also fun to take them out for their weekly shopping and let them get a few fun splurges.  

After that, we headed back to my parents' house and spent some time with Nana....

and Heather....

We also got to spend some time with Alex's family.  It was fun to get these cute girl cousins together.  

Then Cami and Garrett took off back to Austin....

Stay tuned for a recap on the rest of our trip coming soon.....

Hey, I'm Back...

I've decided that I miss blogging and the record that it provides for our family, so I'm going to attempt a little comeback here.  I doubt I'll ever get as into it as I was a few years ago, but here's hoping I can stay consistent enough to get at least some of our highlights down.  

So, it's been a week!   On Saturday, it was this sweet missionary's 20th birthday!   I was so excited to hear that she'd actually received her packages on time and it was fun to watch her open them over the phone.   I LOVE LOVE LOVE that particular missionary rule change that allows us to communicate with Emma on a regular basis.   BEST. THING. EVER.

I also loved that she sent us this picture from later in the day.   All the sisters in her apartment dressed up for Halloween.    Emma was Arthur--the kids' storybook/tv show character. 😁

We spent quite a while talking with Emma, then went out on one of our favorite hikes to Ridley Creek State Park!   The loop we do is about 5-1/2 miles long and involves passing by a small dam, so of course it's our favorite. 😆  The weather was a little chilly that day, but the leaves were PERFECTION!  I love autumn.

Here's a random picture I found on my phone of Cami and Garrett--both students in Texas.  

Tuesday was Election Day and Adam, at 18 years and 18 days old, got the privilege of being one of the youngest people to vote!   It's been a crazy election and it took us forever to figure out who we wanted to vote for.   We honestly felt like it was choosing between the lesser of two evils and I didn't make my official decision until the morning of.  With all that indecision though, we definitely did not want to miss voting. 😑  We very much recognize it as a privilege to be able to vote and I am grateful to live in the USA. 

We waited 2 hours, 15 minutes in line in the freezing cold to vote, so it's a darn good thing we felt so strongly about it, or it would have been really easy to walk away and go home.  

Here's a closer look at the cool stickers we received after voting.    

After voting we took an almost 3-hour trek to Northern Virginia for Ellie to visit her pediatric neurologist.   We tried to find her one in Pennsylvania, but, alas, searching for a new specialist in a pandemic is not the easiest thing in the world and ultimately we decided that it would be easier to drive her to VA than to wait whoever knows how long before she could get an appointment here.   So we drove her there, took her to the doctor, then turned around and came home.   We literally saw no one and did nothing else than take her to the doctor.  But it's done and we got to see this sunset on the way home.   This particular picture was actually taken by Adam as he left work in PA, but we were very much admiring it as well on the way home.  

On Wednesday we headed downtown for Adam's boat building class.  Glen's job just ended last week, so it was fun to have him join us for that.   We went to the Nation Constitution Center, a place we really enjoy and we think the whole world should visit.   The "Freedom Rising" show is normally live and is worth the price of admission by itself, but even just watching the film version (due to COVID) was still cool.    We also love the Signers Hall with lifesize statues of all the signers of the Constitution and the exhibits about the amendments.    

We also maintained our Wednesday tradition of eating Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch.  WE've been on a quest to find the best cheesesteak restaurant in Philly and have been to over 15 as part of that quest. 

 We decided that instead of trying a new one this week, that we'd introduce Dad to one of our top 3....so we took him to Gooey Louie's.  And after try #2, it's definitely still staying in our top 3.  One day we're going to buy one from each of the top 3 at once and try them side by side and figure out which one is the best of the best.  

Here is a cool shot Adam took down by the river.  

And lastly, what would a blogpost be without a picture of food?  I try hard to make my first meal after fasting as wholesome as I can, and this one hit the spot bigtime for me!   A vegetable saute, with fresh avocado, and a big bowl of frozen blueberries with a small splash of almond milk.  

This is not normally the type of thing I eat for breakfast, but after fasting, it was delicious and ultra-satisfying!  

And that is all for now.