Southern Utah camping

From Mesa Verde we drove to a campground in Southern Utah just outside of St. George. Nathanael and Mary-Anne picked out the campsite and it was perfect. It was so hot in that area while we were there, but the campground that they picked out was located in an area a little ways away from Zion National Park that had lots of trees and was at least 10 degrees cooler than St. George and Zion. It was also pretty quiet and had lots for our kids to explore.

On the way there we wanted to stop by the four corners. Unfortunately, this was as close as we could get due to COVID-19.

At the campground playing around with cousins.

On one of the hikes that we did we got to see some dinosaur tracks.

This was probably the hottest hike we went on. It was supposed to be to a waterfall and maybe along a river, but everything was dried up and it was so hot. I don't think we were prepared for the heat on this one. The rocks were neat, but it would have been nice if the water was fresh and we could have jumped in and swam around at the end.

The next day we did a slot canyon hike. We were more prepared with water for this one and it was a lot more fun. The red rock and steep walls were so beautiful. And there was a lot for our children to explore.

We were also able to spend some time playing in the water back at our camping area. Nathanael and Mary-Anne had some delicious food for the nights where they cooked. And it was fun to play some camping games (kick the can and capture the flag) together. We also stayed up at late at night talking around the campfire and looking at the stars.

Asher and Jonathan were big explorers at this campsite. They often wandered off on their own looking for things or talking to each other. We had a few times where we had to search around to find them.

This was the last stop for our summer road trip. From the campsite we had a little over 7 hour car drive home. Then a week to get ready for our visit to Grandma and Grandpa Swift and Grandma and Grandpa Little in Washington.

Mesa Verde

From the Porters' house, we drove down to Mesa Verda located in the southwest corner of Colorado. They had just opened the park back up, but there were still some COVID-19 restrictions that were in place. We did a combination of tent camping and hammocks for two nights.

We had a really beautiful drive on the way down through the Colorado mountains. 

We arrived in the early afternoon and tried to quickly get our site all set up. They did have showers there, which was nice; however, we were not allowed to have fires. So we had to improvise and cook our food in the microwave at the visitor's center. Rebecca did an amazing job at cooking the microwaved salmon that she and I ate.

We were able to do one hike that evening to see some of the ancient dwellings. These ones were not on the cliffs, but they were nice because we could walk into many of them and explore them a little more.

A lot of the rooms were dug into the ground and it was fun imagining what life might have been like for them.

The next day we woke up early and drove to some of the cliff dwellings. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we couldn't go into any of these. But they were still impressive looking at them from afar. I don't think the pictures do them justice. These buildings were carved right into the cliffs and I guess the inhabitants climbed over the edge and lowered themselves down with ladders and ropes and stuff.

I thought this one was the most impressive. The picture doesn't show how large this really is. It is a whole village built right into the cliff.

We decided to do one major hike while we were there that would take us to the bottom of the valley, let us see some of the smaller cliff dwellings close up, and then end with some petroglyphs. It was a 5 mile trail with some ups and downs. It was really pretty seeing the dessert scenery, but we underestimated how hot it was actually going to be. As you can see in the picture below, the kids were already hot and tired before we even started.

As the trail came up out of the valley, it had some pretty cool cliff wall parts and rocks to climb through.

This was one of the cliff dwellings that we got to go right up to.

The Porters in Colorado

A week after we went to Yellowstone, we had a two week summer road trip. It started off with a visit to our friends in Colorado - the Porters. We met the Porters when we were going to school in Oklahoma and have kept in touch with them ever since. By the time we left Oklahoma they just had one child (born a day before Ethan) and we just had two. Now we are a family of 8 and they are a family of 7. Our kids line up in age pretty well and so they always have a blast hanging out with them. It was a real treat for all of us to visit them on their ranch in Colorado. 

Last time the Porters visited us, our kids ambushed them with Nerf guns. This time, their kids were ready and waiting with squirt guns to get our kids when we pulled up.

One of the big highlights was riding their horses and donkey.

Having taken horse riding lessons in the past, Julia was a pro. Unfortunately, a saddle broke at one point when she was riding and she fell off and got a little bruised. 

We were able to go on a hike to an old closed off coal mine on their property. They had so much space and land to explore around on.

We also got to play and swim at a reservoir. It was muddy, but I think that made it even more fun for the kids.