I was up first and decided to catch up on my posts in bed. Pumpkin came and snuggled in with me again and asked about what I was writing and just snuggled and watched me type for a while. When Peanut got up I let them play the ipad with no sound on his bed but their whispering was probably worse then the sound on low. Heath got up and played her phone in bed and we all waited for Bean to wake up so we could go potty and start the day.
Eventually she got up and we all put down the devices and got busy. Heath and the girls got showers and Peanut and I got dressed and started packing things up. We set aside food from the fridge we needed to finish and once we had most things done we got busy eating breakfast. It was really nice out and we ate on the deck.
The kids washed the dishes and we packed up the last few things, checked out and left our little cabin.
We had driven by the Colorado River and a cool pedestrian bridge several times and we wanted to check it out before leaving so we did that. Bean was glad she got to walk and we let her run around wherever.
We had also seen a giant sand hill and people playing on it and wanted to check it out so that was our next stop.
The pictures don’t do it justice but it felt nearly strait up and the sand was super fine. Peanut started cruising right up with Pumpkin on his tails.
Heath and I followed with Bean.
It was a great workout but easier to manage not falling off then we expected. There were a few other families doing flips and stuff but we content just climbing the hill and rolling around.
Pumpkin liked finding chunks of sand that were stuck together and smashing them. Bean loved to scoot down the hill. Peanut and I loved running down.
Everyone had a blast and we could have had some snacks and spent a few hours but we wanted to do a lot of stuff so headed back down the hill to the van.
We shook out our clothes and ditched our shoes and socks and hit the road. Everyone was really thirsty and ready for a little snack. We left Moab, hit highway 70 and started heading home. We had a 2hr drive to Colorado National Monument and 2 emergency side of the road potty breaks on the way. We started looking for a place to stay for the night on our phones but didn’t commit to anything.
We left the highway and entered the National Park and started climbing back up into the mountains/mesas. In no time we were back around amazing views in every direction.
We pulled off at a overlook, took some pictures and got our socks and shoes and stuff back on.
I had printed off the jr ranger books beforehand and the kids had gotten much of it ready. This one kind of focused on going on at least 1 hike. They had used the books to plan what to take and what to see and what to do and not do.
So we started with a .25 mile hike out to a window and a couple of great views. Peanut and Pumpkin carried their own packs loaded with good supplies. Bean ran around crazy trying to jump off every rock she could find.
After that hike the girls were beat and drove over to the Visitor Center to finish the book and cool off. It was 65F and felt really hot in the sun.
Peanut and I hiked really fast along the rim trail about ½ a mile to the visitor center. He finished up his booklet and the kids took them to a ranger to get them checked off. Bean and I looked over some information about the park and she pushed the buttons that make various bird calls, over and over and over.
Most of the park followed alongside a road that was mostly going in the direction we needed to go. So we hit the road and wound our way through the canyons stopping for pictures and to check out views along the way.
When we exited the park we were in Grand Junction and minutes from our next stop, Rockslide Brewery.
This was our oasis. They had a great happy hour special for food and homemade beer, they had outdoor seating on a really fun street and our table was right next to a little gorilla playground.
The kids got root beers and we got regular beers and everyone had a blast. We had planned just to snack and then grab a pizza but everyone was too full. We walked the cool street a bit and played on some of the artwork.
The local public radio station was right across the street from the brewery and made me jealous.
We hit the road again and started making our way back to 70 but came across a cool park on the way and stopped for more fun. Peanut joined a large Mexican family playing tag and it was pretty fun to watch. Even the mom was running full speed.
The girls played on the slides and swings and even Heath and I tried to climb the fire pole.
We got back on the road and drove on. Our original plan was to stay in Grand Junction and checkout a museum but we were kind of in a hurry to get to Denver instead. The museum in Denver sounded much better and it may take all day to see.
We drove along with no plan an just wanting to get farther along. It would be after 10pm before we got to Denver and the kids seemed kind of tired. We thought about letting them sleep until we got to a hotel and then try to move them. As I drove along Heath looked at options on the phone and then found a place about 2 hours from Denver. The hotel was cheep, had an indoor pool and free breakfast. As she tried to book the price went up. We were really close so we just stopped and she went in with the phone.
The lady behind the desk gave her a great rate so we stopped. Everyone was super excited to get out of the car and into the pool. We changed quickly and went to hop in. We had the pool to ourselves and had a lot of fun swimming.
Then we came back to the room and killed 2 bags of popcorn and calmed down. We got on our pajamas and got the kids to bed. Heath and I watched a bit of Netflix and then went to sleep too.