From Salt Lake City we headed to the edge of Utah and Dinosaur National Monument. We do love to watch the scenery change as we drive. The US is filled with amazing scenery and all of it is so different we find surprised around every corner on our journey. Dinosaur NM is a place Stephen has wanted to return to since his family went when he was a child. While it has changed some in the last 30 years it did not disappoint.
We stopped at the Quarry visitor center then boarded the tram to the Quarry Exhibit Hall. While they are no longer excavating at the site fossils are everywhere. We had a good time identifying the bones and working through the Jr Ranger books. We spent over an hour in the center before deciding not to take the tram down and instead to hike back down the Fossil Discovery Trail.
Since it was mid afternoon in a dessert climate the hike was hot but beautiful. We were the only ones on the trail, which for most of the hike made for a very peaceful walk. The only exception was when C decided to get angry at a sibling for passing him, then he turned and went the opposite way ending up behind everyone and yelling at us to wait for him. Oh my! We all found some humor in this and he eventually calmed down and caught up.
On our hike the kids found fossilized clam shells, colorful rocks, amazing views, petroglyphs, and a little cave. By the end of the trail we were all running low on water and happy to see the visitors center again.
The kids finished their ranger books and received their badges (they now have 30 something). D was especially excited since this was the first book she completed all on her own!
After getting our badges we headed to camp at the Green River Campsite about 2 miles away. We drove around the camp areas and found a site available for that night. This was a dry camp but the views were beautiful and it was filled with kids. Our kids favorite parts of camping is running around with new friends until it is so dark we can only sit around the fire pit and watch stars. This is pretty much exactly how our evening went.
Our world is so big with more to see then we could ever get to, but at the same time it is small and we are all interconnected. This was clear as we talked to our kids newfound friends parents. One family lived outside of Houston, near where Stephen and I started our life together. The other family’s mom was a high school classmate of Stephen’s from North Carolina. Neither of us had any idea the other would be there yet on the edge of Utah we sat around a fire together. Just the worlds way of telling us how small it is.
The stars were amazing and we stayed up quite late laying on the benches watching the night get darker and picking out constellations. Another fabulous day in the books!
Our 6S Full Life 