Still Not Done Yet

One more fun filled day of Spring Break Trip and then we're headed for home. After we checked out of the hotel room, we went into Capitol Reef National Park. We had the unorthodox breakfast of homemade pie at the Gifford Farmhouse in Fruita. If you are ever headed down that way be sure to get some. Strawberry-rhubarb pie+hot chocolate=manna from heaven.

We had a leisurely morning sitting outside the farmhouse of various picnic tables and truck beds. Emma met the some of the locals, who I think, we're grubbing for pie.
Caleb's a poser too, I've decided. The girls pose to look good and he poses to be weird.

After we ate, we hiked up Cohab Canyon, which is right next to the farmhouse.

Part way into the canyon, we found a small slot canyon and explored it for awhile. I love hiking slot canyons, there's nothing like it. This one got fairly narrow in some places. Even skinny Rachel had to walk sideways part of the time.


I gave birth to monkies. Actually, I think I married one, too.

Okay, okay, I like to climb, too. The girls and I are actually 20 feet from the ground.

...and Caleb isn't the only one who likes to do silly poses.

Brad tried to help Caleb climb up high too. "Don't worry, Caleb, I have you, I won't let you fall," Brad said. Judging by the whimpering, Cabes wasn't too sure. But eventually, the both made it up there .

We hiked to the overlook and saw Fruita below us. The bottom of my feet were hot again.
Can you see the deer drinking at the stream below? I was pretty freaked out when I took this picture, but I wanted to show how high up we were.
On the way back, I came to the realization that part of a pie and hot chocolate was not enough a breakfast for a little boy. Caleb, was running out of steam and at one point, he sat down and said, "Go on without me." So sad. Good thing I had a granola bar in my bag and after one and a half granola bars, Caleb was skipping and jumping off rocks. We made it to the car and drove back to Provo and had a belated Easter dinner at Brad's parents.

So there it is folks, that's what we Millers did on Spring Break. We had fun.

Bridges and Burgers

The 18th turned out to be the most beautiful day yet of the trip. After we cleaned up our campsite, we drove into Natural Bridges again. Our first stop was the visitor center. It's amazing how much less spooky a place is in the sunlight surrounded by people. We drove around and did some short walks to some of the bridges. Although it was sunny, it was a little chilly and windy at the top of the canyon.
Here's Rachel and Emma huddling together for warmth. I love it when they get along, which is actually quite often.

They found a warm spot away from the wind behind some bushes.

I love these next few pictures, especially the one where Caleb looks like he's concentrating so hard that smoke is coming off of his head.

We decided to hike down to Owachomo Bridge. For those of you who are ever headed that way, I highly recommend that hike. (Walking on the railing is completely optional.)

It's quite a pretty spot. We even found an old indian granary in the cliffs.

It was a lot warmer down in the canyon, I somehow ended up holding jackets for awhile.
Now for the next stop of the trip-Torrey. We drove through Hanksville where we stopped for lunch at a place called Henry's Burger Shak, which was pretty good. While we were eating lunch, we noticed that sitting at a table not far from us was the German group that took the tour of Cliff Palace with us at Mesa Verde. We thought it was a little coincidence but it wasn't until we noticed that they were staying in Torrey at the same hotel three doors away is when we were weirded out. They probably felt the same way.

Indian Ruins and Bird Necks

I am so glad we stayed in a hotel. We didn't sleep very well (we meaning Caleb and me) because of the howling wind. When we woke up and looked out the window, we were greeted with a windswept, snowy landscape. Did I mention that I am so glad we stayed in a hotel?


After breakfast, we drove to Colorado to go to Mesa Verde. It was cold and windy but at least it wasn't snowing (too much.) On the bright side, I think the weather conditions kept the crowds down. There were only about 20 people in our tour group of Cliff Palace, some of them Germans. More on that later. I think that it's fascinating that 800 years ago, these people built these settlements on the side of the desert cliffs. Then I thought of Europe 800 years ago and wondered what the Pueblo Indians would have thought of those civilizations.

I wonder if the Ancient Pueblos chilled out in their kivas the way Rachel, Emma and Caleb did.

After Mesa Verde, we drove to Goosenecks State Park just in time for a gorgeous sunset.

And pictures of us in the gorgeous sunset.

We were running late and we still didn't have firewood for our camp out so we went into Mexican Hat to look for some firewood. There wasn't any for sale. Just as a matter of interest, Mexican Hat is named such because there is a rock formation that is supposed to look like a sombrero. It doesn't.

We drove into Natural Bridges at about 9:30 and it was very, very dark. We went into the visitors center to use the bathroom and drove to the campground. Because it was so late, naturally it was full. We had to drive outside the park to the overflow campsite and we found a spot to set up the tent in the dark with the aid of the cars headlights. Some person who didn't think things through very carefully, (Winnie) had turned off the engine of the car and left the lights on. Since it was cold, Emma was in the car part of the time with the heat and the seat heaters going full blast as well. Well, you can guess what happened. About an hour into setting up the tent and cooking dinner, Emma says, "Mom, the lights on the car just went dim."

I ran to the car and tried to start it. It didn't. I felt sick to my stomach and although Brad was really annoyed at first, he really didn't say much. I think he knew I felt really bad and he was kind enough to not say a word. In the morning, Brad got out of the tent as soon as he heard voices and asked for a jump. What a guy!

We ate breakfast, broke camp and continued to our next adventure.