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.

Comments

A Desert Forest

Saturday, May 28th – Joshua Tree National Park - North to Joshua Tree National Park - South, California– Day 107 Our campsite was a large open dirt area with some scrub around the outside. In the dark we had managed to park beside the pile of horse poo and shaving. Horses were allowed in this site. Gen stepped in the middle of a pile. The Joshua Tree National Park visitor centre was a five-minute drive away. The town of Joshua Tree was packed with college age millennials communing with nature. There was a market with kombucha, organic greens and a few small tortoises. It was all very pleasant but very busy. The laundromat was at the edge of the market, I charged the devices and did the laundry. Gen bought some produce from a guy loading a truck. I even snuck in to buy some watermelon kombucha. The drive into the park was ten minutes followed by a ten-minute line to show our pass. A quick stop to fill up our water bottles and we were into the park. Th...

Meow Wolf and O

Wednesday, May 25th –Lake Mead National Recreation Area to Las Vegas, Nevada – Day 104 We woke up in our roadside turn out and got ready for the day. Our plan was to go for a swim at Lake Mead, see the Hoover Dam and head back into Vegas. The morning was stifling hot, we were looking forward to the swim. We drove to the visitor centre at Lake Mead Recreation Centre. We could see Lake Mead on the way. The water was well below the high-water line on the rocks. At the visitor centre we got our passport stamped, filled our water bottles, and received junior ranger booklets. The air conditioning was so nice we set up the kids to work on their booklets and hung around. The kids finished up enough activities that they were sworn in by a very nice ranger before we left. We decided to go see the Hoover Dam first. We dropped the trailer in the parking lot. We heard it might need to be opened at the security checkpoint and we couldn’t be bothered. The H...

Canyonlands is Another Planet - Pt 1

Thursday, May 12th – Moab, Utah – Day 91 Utah is another planet. I cannot do justice to the sights that I have seen in Canyonlands National Park. They are beyond compare. I would encourage everyone to visit. The pictures we have taken do not convey the beauty of the scenery we witnessed. We woke up in the morning after a late night. The kids did some schoolwork. We ate our oatmeal. We tried to clean up the dust that was all over the trailer. The wind had subsided in the night and the morning was pleasant and warm. Aisling had made us promise that we would climb the rock that they had all been climbing on. We strapped on our hiking boots and started towards the rock. A quick climb later we were at the top; on the way down, we were looking for pretty rocks. The road to Canyonlands sits between two buttes with their cliffs rising on either side. The drive was thirty minutes to the entrance. The visitor centre had displays that detailed what each layer of the canyo...

Simnett Travels

Search This Blog