Days 3, 4, 5- 2016 National Park Tour: Dinosaur National Monument

Thursday July 7, 2016

Breakfast of oatmeal and a meal shake were prepared while the kids were meandering the forest and gathering all sorts of amazing things; rocks, sticks, pine needles, etc... Chuck Roast refused oatmeal again and hated my shake, so no breakfast for him :(

We stopped in Rawlins for a breakfast treat (no judgement at my lack of behavior modifying intervention that would reinforce the behavior of eating breakfast, I'm on vacation) and free wi-fi at Huckleberry's Espresso, which had delicious Huckleberry Milk (steamed milk with Huckleberry syrup) for the kids. I caught up on texts that I have been missing while Roaming through Nebraska and Wyoming. I also transferred pictures but didn't get around sharing any before the kids got antsy and behaviorally indicated that it was time to go. We met a Park Ranger at the table next to us who had us swing by the BLM office for a Jr. Ranger badge to add to the kids' collections. Although when he noticed both badges on each of the kids' shirts, he asked me if he had given them the badges. When we convinced him that they weren't from him, by showing him that they had National Monument names on each, he became very serious about making sure the kids each got a badge from him. It was a bit strange.

Back on the road all morning. Chuck Roast slept and Pumpkin and I finished Through the Looking Glass. Nothing exciting other than driving over a train on a tiny bridge. Since our breakfast treat was later in the morning, we snacked for a late lunch and made it to a Dinosaur National Monument information center outside of Dinosaur, Colorado by 4pm. We gathered our information and found plenty of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sites just outside the actual park. Along 16 where the campsites can be found, Chuck Roast kept exclaiming “I can't believe myself”, which apparently means 'I can't believe it' whenever he found something to be beautiful. After a complete circle back into town for firewood and state maps, we found our site and set up camp. We have a beautiful view and can hear the cows mooing in the distance. We skipped the fire but enjoyed egg noodles with alfredo sauce and some Sangria for mom. We've settled into our tent, played a few rounds of Go Fish! and Uno. The kids helped recap our past couple of days and are bundling up so we could sleep without the rainfly in order to see the stars...

*Post-sleeping notes: Rainfly up. Apparently Chuck Roast can't handle the thought of potential rain even with no rain in the forecast. This was also the quietest sleep of my life, except for the rainfly ropes that kept blowing in the wind since I didn't stake them all down due to the zero percent chance of rain.

Friday July 8, 2016- Dinosaur National Monument

Woke up to a beautiful, bug-free morning. Ate a quick peanut butter and jelly sandwich breakfast before heading up to Harper's Corner Trail for a hike. The trail was a total of 2 miles, but even with our hydration packs and slow walking, Chuck Roast was miserable. There was almost no shade and the hike was uphill most of the way. Pumpkin grabbed an informational brochure and was in charge of finding all the markers and reminding me to read the trail guide, which was very interesting and helped break up the hike. Pumpkin was also most excited to tell Harper and Chloe that we hiked Harper's Corner Trail :)

Once back on the road, we stopped in Dinosaur, CO for lunch at the Highway Bar & Grill; a huge burger with fries and a side of mac & cheese bites. They had local beer; Coors, Fat Tire, and a new one, Shiner (this is new?!?). I went with the Shiner since it's 'new' and it was delicious. The kids were able to watch cartoons as there wasn't another soul inside until just as we were leaving, then the regulars started filing in.

Next stop, Dinosaur National Monument on the Utah side.

Lovely Visitor Center, a nice history of the area in a 12 minute video, and plenty of things to ask for in the gift shop. We discussed all the things we might do today and tomorrow and then decided to find a campsite early and just hang out and nap.

We went right back to the road we camped in last night since it was the nearest place to find camping. We found a site we had seen yesterday that Pumpkin had been interested in. It had a great view of the mountain and plenty of room to play. And flies. Tons of flies. Flies that LOVED our ears and eyes. After someone (not me) had their first experience with cat-hole use and I had my first running-water-free Diva Cup use which is definitely my recommendation for all the time but especially camping, both experiences involving cat-hole digging and a little privacy, we set up camp quickly and then spent a few hours playing cards and being silly in the tent.

Cheers to beautiful views and amazing memories.

Sibling love

Once the flies died down, we made sandwiches for dinner, sponge bathed, and then sat in front of the fire. Sponge bathing was a success as far as I can smell. Apparently my desire to conserve water left my hair a little less well rinsed than I hoped. Although, I have been using more traditional shampoo since about February when I barely had the energy to function on a basic level without 12 hours of sleep a night and a nap after work every day (an infection in my neck from a work injury). This cut into the time I would have used to make my own shampoo. Needless to say, this trip will be a good start to transitioning my hair back to when it needed fewer washes using only natural ingredients, but that's a whole other post. We stayed up late to see the stars since the area is known for some of the most amazing star gazing, but it was cloudy. Everyone fell asleep quickly and it was an incredibly quiet night.

*Post-sleeping notes: In the morning when I asked Pumpkin if my hair looked dirty or clean, I was told that it did in fact look greasy, but 'maybe a little less than yesterday.'

Saturday July 9, 2016- Dinosaur National Monument

We all slept in until 7:30 (crazy!) this morning. After a slugglish waking up, the kids played while I took down camp and cooked up some strawberry oatmeal, which Chuck Roast clearly hates as well as the other flavors. I'm still working on teaching the kids how to help set up and take down camp, but they are definitely still struggling with it.

Back to Dinosaur National Monument lead us to the shuttle and up to the Quarry. It's a big building built into the side of the rock with dinosaur bones exposed but still in the rock. It was amazing! We were able to touch some of the bones and we made it in time to participate in the Junior Ranger activity, How Dinosaurs Move. The kids learned about skeletons, joints, and how the dinosaurs might have moved. All the kids, and it was a large group, were walking on all fours around the floor like different dinosaurs. My kids had a blast! They finished their Junior Ranger packets next and were sworn in, the fourth one so far this trip, fifth if you count the one the Ranger gave us on a whim in Rawlins. Petroglyphs were next.

Chuck Roast is ready for anything!

These are amazing to me, but apparently not so exciting to my children. We talked about how long ago the Fremont people lived in the area and how they lived.

 

Once this stop was done, Chuck Roast made it clear that he was exhausted and starving. We're now at JB's in Vernal eating a Salad Bar with salad, fruit, nachos, and tacos... Our laundry is washing down the road. Next stop, Fossil Butte National Monument!

Post-sleeping notes: Fossil Butte was not our next stop. The drive from Vernal. UT took forever! We listened to the rest of the Wizard of Oz audiobook and started on Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area was an unexpected sight as we drove through it and over the Dam. It was a beautiful area and I almost pulled over to camp multiple times. The trees kept calling, but I ignored their cries for attention and continued on to Wyoming. We arrived in Kemmerer, about 15 minutes from Fossil Butte, around 5pm and chose to find camping instead of hoping the Visitor Center would be open that late in the day. *This was a good choice- don't show up within an hour of closing because there's so much to look at*

We drove north on 233 into Bridger-Teton National Forest. The road from highway 189 to the actual forest was about 45 minutes and we found a couple campsites along the river next to RVs, but Pumpkin doesn't like the idea of camping with the sound of generators. Once in the forest, we found plenty of dispersed sites already full. Then we found this set of ruts that led up a hill. Pumpkin and I LOVE the idea of off-roading, even though we are fully aware that my Impala was NOT meant for it. We drove up the hill very carefully and once at the top, followed the hill further until we went up another hill, and by the time we reached the third hill, and avoided an amazing number of ruts deep enough to cause damage to the car, we could see the road as it traveled across many more hills and valleys. While it was beautiful, we realized that it was not a simple off-the-main-road dispersed campsite and Very Carefully turned around.

We went back the way we had come and took a road that Pumpkin thought would be good. After one other failed campsite finding attempt, we traveled through a barely there path to a marvelous site right next to a stream, with a view of a good chunk of the hill we traveled up before.









Pumpkin and I talked about how this would be a mosquito haven, but also remembered that it was Saturday night, and apparently dispersed camping is popular in this forest. We sprayed for mosquitos and quickly set up camp. Chuck Roast woke from his early evening nap, which is now the norm, and we jumped (literally) into the tent.

Uno, Skip-Bo, Checkers, and a Chuck Roast game of card matching where he makes the rules were played.

 

My Hydaway provided me with a spill-proof mode to transfer Arbor Mist (no judging! Frontier is a TINY town and the choices were a $4.47 bottle of Arbor Mist, a heavily overpriced bottle of Jack, or cases of Coors at the gas station!) without drinking from the bottle and risking spilling Cherry Moscoto (again, no judging!) in the tent. Needless to say, the Hydaway did it's job and wine was consumed without losing a drop!

A lesson was learned, as natural occurring lessons seem to happen constantly when traveling with children, especially outdoors. We were all in our chones due to the heat of the day and playing Skip-Bo when all of a sudden I realized that I was cold and started to tell Pumpkin to stop fanning me with her cards. When I turned in Pumpkin's direction, I realized that the sun had JUST gone behind the hill. We talked about how the sun provides heat and things can quickly cool down when direct sun-light is no longer available. We then bundled up and kept playing games. I left the rainfly off for the night so the kids could see some stars, which made it even cooler in the tent due to the breeze. We learned how to bundle up well and Chuck Roast reveled in the fact that he got to use the hood of his sleeping bag for a legit purpose and not just because it was amazing! I didn't sleep so well since I was constantly checking on the kids to make sure they were covered and warm. Pumpkin got up once to adjust the sleeping bag and snuggle in, but not before making sure I was awake to check out all the stars we could see through the top of the tent without the rainfly. I'm quite sure I fell back asleep while Pumpkin was still showing me the stars, but at least someone enjoyed them!