Our "Grand" Vacation

When school got out the beginning of June we took a week vacation and drove to the Grand Canyon. We decided to try and get the most out of the trip and did a loop thru Arches and around to Zion. As a fourth grader, Preston was eligible for a free National Parks pass. We used it at every park we went to! We left on a Sunday, made a quick stop at my sister Emily's, and drove to Price, UT where we stopped for the night.

Preston using Emily's typewriter.

Spencer's little cousins love him!

 Monday morning we drove to Arches and went on a few hikes. We enjoyed Sand Dune Arch and the Windows. We attempted Delicate Arch but should have paid attention to the fact that it was a "Difficult" trail and it was over 100 degrees out. We only made it about half way before we turned back.  For lunch we had planned to cook hot dogs on the grill, but I forgot to pack the lighter. Luckily we had plenty of snacks.  We left Arches and made it to my sister Rebecca's just in time for a delicious dinner! We enjoyed a fun evening with her family, participating in family home evening and a game of bowling put together by my niece Brooklyn.

Cousins!

Showing us the way it's done.

Jalene & Rebecca

Tuesday we drove to the Grand Canyon. We rode the bus around which stopped at various view points, hiked along the rim, hiked a little ways down the Bright Angel trail, and enjoyed ice cream behind the Bright Angel lodge. I had wanted to hike the South Kaibab Trail but we didn't have enough time. One day just wasn't enough (I guess we'll have to go back:)
We spent the night in Kingman, AZ and Wednesday we stopped at the Hoover Dam. Spencer and Shannon went up on the bridge for a better view while Preston and I waited in the vehicle with the air conditioning at full blast. It was around 113 degrees that day. Luckily we were cool enough when we did the Power Plant tour under/inside the dam. It's amazing the amount of work that went into its construction.
From there we drove thru Las Vegas (no stopping for us) to St. George (our stop for the night). Thursday was spent in Zion National Park. I gotta say that I didn't love it. The hiking paths were paved and everywhere you went you did so in a herd of people. It felt WAY more crowded than the Grand Canyon and the buses were so full of people that sometimes you had to wait for the next one.
We left there pretty exhausted and drove to American Fork, UT for the night.
Friday we spent the day at Thanksgiving Point. We have a pass at our local Discovery Center in Boise that got us into the park and museums for free. We started with Ashton Gardens (my favorite by far) where we rented a golf cart (since we saved money on admissions : ) and toured the grounds. Sooo fun and beautiful!  Next up was the Museum of Natural Curiosity which the boys loved, and we splurged money on the Sky Walk (since we didn't have to pay for admission). Our last stop was the Museum of Ancient Life. It was cool but I thought the hands on exhibits were geared more toward younger kids.  We still had a good time and it was a nice, air conditioned way to end our vacation. After a quick stop at Ikea we drove to Layton for the night and headed home Saturday morning.
This was our first attempt at a long vacation and we weren't sure how we would survive. I'm happy to report that our boys got along really well, we only made a few wrong turns, and Shannon's back survived. We learned a few things that will hopefully make our next adventure even better, like...stay more than one day at your main destination and if you are going to use a grill, take a lighter!
If you want to see pictures, you'll have to watch the video!