*No Pictures Note: When transferring ALL my pictures from my camera to my external hard drive, something went wrong and MOST my pictures are gone :( Pictures will be back in future posts!
Sunday, July 10, 2016- Fossil Butte National Monument
Sunday, July 10, 2016- Fossil Butte National Monument
Pumpkin and I awoke about 7:30 and
before I could rub the sleep from my eyes, a game of Skip-Bo was
already being set up. Well into the game, Chuck Roast woke up and
when asked how he slept, he replied, 'I was slow asleep and then I
woke up.' Something I have learned on this trip, apparently
4-year-olds can be fast asleep or slow asleep, but adults can't be
both except for Grandpa, who can be anything.
This campsite was beautiful and the
sound of the creek and the birds in the distance were a lovely
background noise as the kids decided to yell at me for asking them to
help take down camp and for Chuck Roast throwing a rock at Pumpkin,
leaving quite a red and bruised nose. Needless to say, the trail mix
breakfast and late start out of camp was less than enjoyable. But the
car got repacked, which gets better each time I do it, and we left
our beautiful site.
Fossil Butte National Monument is amazing for fossils and
the history of the earth. There's a HUGE timeline that starts on the
road leading up to the Visitor Center and travels all the way around
the center. We took the time to read through the timeline as we
followed it around the Visitor Center before going inside. Once
inside, we were immediately welcomed by a Ranger and then were
completely thrilled to see all the fossils everywhere! We started
looking around and then remembered to get our Jr. Ranger packets.
After Pumpkin asked for 2 packets, the Ranger looked at me and asked
if I was doing one. I pointed to Chuck Roast and said that he was the
one that needed the second packet. The Ranger laughed and then asked
if I wanted to be a Sr. Ranger. YES! I had to complete a fairly
in-depth packet and the kids filled in their few pages over the
course of 2 hours. We learned about the history of the area, fossils,
and watched another Ranger use a machine to blow away rock to reveal
a fossil of a fish. It was awesome! Then came the swearing in. The
kids got their badges, which are engraved with a number so the site
can track each person to get a badge with their own unique number
(neat!), and then I got sworn in and received a patch! Pumpkin took a
lovely, well-set up picture of me getting sworn in and I was stoked
to get sworn in, too!
We had sandwiches for lunch, again, and
then headed out of Wyoming, back into Wyoming, and back into Utah
again on our way to Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Since we
started late and spent so much time at Fossil Butte (note to self: DO
NOT underestimate the time spent at each National Park Service site-
we've doubled the hourly time allotted almost every time but cut
days-long trips in half), we chose to stop in Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest.
Dispersed camping seems a little limited in the SE corner of the forest where we are and we found 1 ½ sites. The first site we found is where we'll be staying, but in the car. It's a lovely site and there's this 'cove' made of bent trees that is perfect for pitching a tent and hanging out, except for all the wet-wipes and rubber gloves. I don't get an icky feeling about the site itself, but it seems a little SUV-like to me, so we'll be avoiding tampering with evidence and hung in the car. I have the front passenger seat down for Chuck Roast and the carseats in back moved for Pumpkin. I will be remaining in my driver's seat, where my butt imprint is becoming quite permanent.
Dispersed camping seems a little limited in the SE corner of the forest where we are and we found 1 ½ sites. The first site we found is where we'll be staying, but in the car. It's a lovely site and there's this 'cove' made of bent trees that is perfect for pitching a tent and hanging out, except for all the wet-wipes and rubber gloves. I don't get an icky feeling about the site itself, but it seems a little SUV-like to me, so we'll be avoiding tampering with evidence and hung in the car. I have the front passenger seat down for Chuck Roast and the carseats in back moved for Pumpkin. I will be remaining in my driver's seat, where my butt imprint is becoming quite permanent.
Before entering the forest through
Wasatch State Park from Heber City (which has helped me understand
why everyone pronounces our last name HeRbert instead of Hebert, I
keep referring to the city as HeRber City instead of Heber), we
stopped at Sportsmans Warehouse for an overpriced base layer shirt
since I forgot mine, Gorilla Glue for Chuck Roast's broken Keen, and
a hatchet since we happened to be there and I told my dad I had one
and didn't... Then we stopped across the parking lot at a Walmart for
some fresh (as fresh as can be found at a Walmart) veggies, lotion
for Pumpkin's legs, and bread.
That brings us to the present. Both
kids sleeping soundly in a stuffy car and me in my seat, typing away
without any sound but the keys of my computer and a creek running
beside me. And I'm a little bummed to be all done updating our trip
since it's still light enough to not go to sleep but I have nothing
else to do alone. Maybe I'll find a book that I threw in the trunk
last minute for such an occasion...
Post-sleeping notes: Last night was
fine. I readjusted constantly, or at least it seemed so. I woke up
exhausted and begging the kids to stop talking so I could keep
sleeping. Both kids were thrilled to have slept in the car and asked
if they could do it again tonight. Not if I can help it.
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