Green River Watermelon

Green River is a tiny little town in one of the ugliest parts of Utah. Green River itself is fairly ugly, although the surroundings are pretty (the river vally it's in) and has definitely seen better days. However, despite it's flaws, it has the BEST WATERMELON IN THE WORLD!!!

So if you're driving by in the middle of nowhere Utah, be sure to stop and buy some. Leo didn't believe me at first, (we'd been through there back when we lived in NM) but now he's a believer, so much so that he'd consider making the 2 1/2 drive just to buy a few. They're that good. I've never had better watermelon. And if you're up to it, there's a bar there, (one of the few I've been in) called Ray's Tavern that serves GREAT hamburgers. My dad took me when I was 11 and Leo and I went several years ago when driving through from NM. But for sure buy a melon.

Little Wild Horse Canyon Part Two

To continue our trek, I thought I'd start out with this gruesome picture. The one bug was eating the other bug, and dragging it along at a surprisingly fast pace. We had a devil of time trying to convince Elena to step around it in the narrow space we were in.

Gorgeous, no?

Ana was my beautiful model. She's in almost all of these.

Yes, Leo is the man and is carrying two kids on his back.

This is one of my favorite photos of the trip.

Elena passed out on the way back. It might have had something to do with all of the kids playing around in their tent till midnight and then her waking up with nightmares twice ("My legs were on fire!" --Poor girl!). She was exhausted.

I really do love the desert.

And to end, another gruesome picture. Yes, hiking in sandels is probably not the best choice. Hiking in sandals that are falling apart and duck taped together, even worse. In my defence though, I've always hiked in my Tevas and I love them! And they had only fallen apart all of sudden while we were in Goblin Valley. At the visitor center we bought duck tape, and the ranger said we were crazy to camp with kids and no duck tape! Hee. Hee. My tevas of ten years had to go in the garbage once we arrived home. Wahhh!!!!

Little Wild Horse Canyon

We also hiked the Little Wild Horse Canyon, a slot canyon nearby to Goblin Valley. I have tons of pictures, so this is the first of two posts. What can I say? I LOVE deserts, and I love the scenery. So beautiful. And wild. I love cottonwoods.

I loved it!! The kids were whiney at first (Elena anyway) but soon they were so tired out in the heat, they didn't have energy for whiney. By the end we were all tired, but we had a good time.

Goblin Valley State Park

Last Thursday and Friday we went camping at Goblin Valley State Park. Yes, I know we are idiots to camp in the middle of summer there, but it had been planned for June--only the trip was delayed.

The kids loved it though. Leo and I, well, camping is a lot of work.

Isabel had a hard time of it. She fell twice, not from rocks, but from picnic tables. Massive goose eggs decorated her forehead by the end of the trip.

A view of our campground at sunset.

Hiking by moonlight.

Sebastian asleep in his sleeping bag.

Our camp site.

Ana helped with breakfast.

Elena was fearless. And whiney. And overtired.

Hee. Hee.

Goblin Valley.

Cute girls.

Hot hike back to the van.

Bridal Veil Falls

A couple of Saturday's ago, we went to Bridal Veil Falls up Provo Canyon. We took a picnic lunch and had a great time. Sebastian was pretty content as always.

Here he's quite serious though.

We hiked to the lower falls.

Isabel kept telling Leo, "Be careful, daddy."

Ana is an awesome climber!

I paid her a buck to dive in the water, she didn't go in completely, but she still got her dollar. The water was freezing!

A view of across the canyon.Ana begged for Dad to go up with her.Didn't I tell you she was an awesome climber?!?!?Here's where Leo, Elena and Ana climbed too.Happy kids. Happy Mom.