Family Trip to Blanding

 

Everyone at the top of Muley's Point

What an exciting trip!  This year we took the kids and my mom to Blanding for a grand auto tour of the beautiful national and state parks and monuments found throughout South Eastern Utah.  I had a ball going on beautiful hikes, looking at wild flower filled landscapes, soaking in the awe inspiring vast landscapes, learning family history (my Young ancestors helped to settled the area of Grayson, now called Blanding), taking the party bus on some exciting dirt roads, and spending time with my favorite people.  Here's just a few pictures of all the beautiful things we saw on our 5 day trip.  It wasn't enough time!

The Moki Dugway - I can't believe we drove this in the big van and we even passed 8 cars!!!!!  I'm not sure how we lived to tell the tale, but here we are.  

The Moki Dugway leads to Muley Point where you can get some awesome vistas of Canyon Lands, the Goose Necks, and Valley of the Gods.  It was a bit terrifying up there!

 

Valley of the Gods

The Goose Necks

 

Since we were so close, of course we had to stop at the Goose Necks State Overlook.  Nothing puts a mother's heart into her throat faster than watching all of her children walk up to this cliff!!  It was definitely terrifying to look out at this overlook, but so worth the experience to see this unique and stunning natural wonder.  

And if standing next to the edge of death wasn't enough to put a few grey hairs on my head, Dustin decided to drive around a bit on some dirt road that was far too close to the edge of the cliff at Goosenecks for all of the rest of our tastes.  He drove with a great big grin and said, "Well I paid $14.  I got'ta get my money's worth!"  The rest of us squealed in terror and glee all the while.

Not all of our activities could be such high adrenaline adventures.  Grandma couldn't take that for 5 days straight.  We had a fun time visiting Bluff Fort and learning about the Mormon Pioneer settlers who first came to the Four Corners area and settled it.  They had lots of fun activities for the kids like trying their hand at roping these wild beasts or driving a fancy wagon.  

We also stopped by the Blanding swimming pool.  It was a great pool and the kids had a blast.  This might have been Owen and Maeve's favorite part of the trip.  

We also visited the Edge of the Cedars State Park visitor's Center.  We saw lots of beautiful artifacts from the ancient native peoples, saw the 1,000 year old dwelling, and got to even climb into it's kiva!  So cool!

We also stopped by the Nations of the Four Corners hiking trail and education center.  We walked around and saw recreations of Ute tee-pees, Dine/Navaho round houses, a pioneer cabin, a Spanish homestead, and a cool observation tower.  Then we unintendedly split into two groups and went on some beautiful hiking trails through slick rock, overhangs, and forested lands.  It was so much fun and I think Loyd really enjoyed being the hiking leader for our group.  We saw some unforgettable country.  The other group found a shorter trail back to the car and enjoyed an hour of exploring the amphitheater at the education center...until Owen stepped into a cactus.  There's never a dull moment when you go on vacation with 7 kids in tow!  Owen was fine.  No major injury was done to him or the cactus.  

 

Stopped by Canyonlands, one of the oldest National Parks, and saw some beautiful vistas at the Needles Overlook.  I think this overlook scared me the most with all of the kids. You're right on the edge of a scarry cliff and boys like to run and make their mother scream!!!

Of course we made a trip to see Newspaper Rock!  This is one of my favorite spots to visit.  I remember coming here several times as a child when we would come to Monticello to bring Grandma Young home for the summer.  

 

While in Monticello we made time to play in the beautiful Blue Mountains and visit Loyd's Lake.  My Grandad was the water engineer who built this damn and Recapture Reservoir in Blanding.  He did a lot of good for his community and I feel closer to him when I come to this beautiful place and see the positive mark he left in the ward. 

Playing in the Blue Mountains above Loyd's Lake in Monticello, Utah.

Walking the Loyd's Lake trail

We also stopped to check out this cool Big 4 tractor that was restored at Young's Machine Shop in Monticello.  It is one of only 3 left in the whole world.  My Great Grandad Young (William Young) freighted it to San Juan county and then put it together over 100 years ago.  What a feat!

We picked a glorious time of year to visit.  The temperatures were perfect in the mid seventies and the wild flowers were blooming everywhere!  Here are just a few examples of the dozens and dozens of varieties we saw and the thousands and thousands of blooms blanketing the country.  

Sego Lily!  Our State Flower!

On the way home we stopped by Arches National Park and drove the road there.  We saw so much of unique and beautiful geology and even took time to get our picture with Delicate Arch; it's on the state car license plate!

   

John learned the joys of being a boy in the wilderness during this trip and now he's a real potty pro wherever the world might take him!  We made so many special roadside stops just for him to water the local wildflowers.  :D 

We saw so many things, went to so many beautiful places, and made lots of fun family memories, but I think at the end of the day the kids might have enjoyed computer time the best.  Oh well, I guess that's how a family trip goes. ;P

Our rough itinerary of our trip before we went.  Adjustments were made and locations were switched up a little, but as you can see it was a fun, ambitious trip!