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Happy Birthday Genevieve!

Sunday, May 15th – Hovenweep National Monument, Utah to Mexican Hat, Utah – Day 94 

Happy Birthday to Genevieve! Gen had the luxury of sleeping in (as much as you can do in a trailer with three kids present). I had the kids working on an art project to celebrate their mom. Aisling wanted to do a fold out book and found a youtube video on how to do it. She was organizing the rest of them with the art case she got from Gramma. I was making potato pancakes (one of Gen’s favourite breakfasts), eggs (lightly cooked) and a honey-fried vegetable medley. We delivered it all to her in bed with a song; she enjoyed John’s company and the view of a canyon while eating. The rest of the morning we relaxed. By the time we got the trailer packed up, on the road, it was 2 pm. 

Our midnight hang out

 Luckily, our next destination was Hovenweep National Monument and it turned out to be 8 minutes away. We arrived at the visitor centre for junior ranger booklets and a hike recommendation. We decided on the Rim Trail loop, a 3.2 km hike around a canyon and then down, across and up to complete the loop. All along the trail you could see towers and buildings from 1200 AD (about the same age as the cliff dwellings from Mesa Verde). 

The trail was great. There was always a new building to see, and we did well on the junior ranger scavenger hunt. Multiple stops were needed for water and candies as it was hot on the trail. There was some carrying of John, but he walked for quite a while because candies (and Gatorade) are for hikers. The route down rocky stairs across the canyon and up a windy trail was fantastic because everyone loves climbing on rocks. 


 When we returned to our vehicle, we found the battery dead. We asked someone for a boost and the car just wasn’t wanting to start. We tried for a few minutes and eventually we let them go to enjoy their day. We decided to ask someone else and as soon as he connected the car started right up. This took some time, we didn’t have a lot of time left in the day. 

We were driving towards Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon; our desired campsite was in Mexican Hat. As it turns out, we were camping right beside the rock formation that looks like a sombrero which gave the town its name. The campsite was free, rocky and had glass scattered on it. On the plus side, it was directly beside the cliffs and had great rock formations. As we ate dinner Gen asked if there was a lunar eclipse tonight, I looked at the Moon and said it was probably clouds. I don’t know what I’m talking about, so we enjoyed a lunar eclipse from outside our trailer.

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