Weekend adventures

Emma is still on her adventure (she's had a glorious time).  She will be home tonight (fingers crossed and prayers said) and we will be happy to have her back.

We had our own adventures this weekend though.  Adam and Mark and I headed to Vernal.

When Marianne and I had braces growing up, our orthodontist also had two other patients who were sisters that lived in Vernal.  Without fail, he'd ask us how Vernal was.  We'd say, "Um...we're not from Vernal."

Then he would explain that he had two patients from Vernal who were also sisters.

Every month.

I told Marianne we were going to Vernal and I could finally tell Dr. Hurst how Vernal was.  She said, "Is he still with us?  Maybe you should call him."

And I don't know if Dr. Hurst is still with us or not.  In addition to not being great at remembering which set of sisters were from where, he wasn't a great orthodontist.

I needed braces a second time.

But I've been to Vernal now!

We left Friday after Adam got home from work and had a pleasant drive over the Uintahs and across the state.  I'd never been beyond Heber in that direction and I always like seeing new country.  We stayed in a Springhill Suites, the kind that is decorated in the modern style Mark likes so well.  We hadn't been there for a minute when Mark hit the pool.  After awhile Adam and I joined him (I just got in the hot tub) so that was sort of unusual.   Usually I just let them swim while I read in the quiet hotel room.

A big sign on the wall where the pool was said not to let children 14 or younger swim unaccompanied by an adult.  We've been letting Mark swim unaccompanied by an adult for years in hotel pools.  He usually gets up before anyone else in the morning and goes for a swim.  But since he's a way better swimmer than I am, I think he's just as safe whether I'm there or not.  It will be nice when he's 15 and we can live within the rules.

Saturday morning we headed to Dinosaur National Monument.

There's a huge indoor quarry (air conditioned!) there where you can see the fossils.  There was apparently a flood and then a logjam (bonejam?) of dinosaur bones so they're all crammed into the same spot.

It was pretty incredible to see.

From there we took a little drive and then a few little hikes to see petroglyphs.

It was beautiful and the petroglyphs were neat to see.  We took one slightly bigger hike up to see some of them.

This is partway up when we stopped to catch our breath.

Mark clamored up rocks like a mountain goat and ran down the trail and I told Adam it must be nice to be a 14 year old boy.

The view was beautiful (there's our little Subaru!).

Adam and Mark--Mark likes to stand on outcroppings.  He said he "feels powerful."

It was HOT but Mark gave me lots of drinks out of his Camelbak once my water bottle was empty and just like the other men in my life, he takes good care of me.

We headed back to Vernal and to a really good Mexican restaurant.  The decorations were delightfully quirky.

For example, this bull's head was stuck into the wall.

Why?  There was red paint on its horns and ears from when the wall was painted.

After lunch we went to the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum.  Sheesh!  Did someone get paid by the letter to come up with that name?

It was a great museum though.

Outside there was a dinosaur garden.  I can't see a T-rex, triceratops or "long neck" (as Braeden called them) without thinking of my kids.

I used to give them dinosaur vitamins and there were three kinds.  Through reasons known only to them, Mark insisted on the T-rex, Emma wanted the triceratops and Braeden the long necks.  Woe be to me if I gave a kid the wrong vitamin.

Little kids are weird.  And then they grow up and become big kids that are weird.

I like my weird kids though.  It's fun to go on trips with Adam and Mark.  We travel well together.

Adam said, "We should come back and bring the kids."

I guess he meant Emma and Braeden.  And I agree.