Apple Valley Camping

 There was only one way to spend spring break, in my opinion, that way was camping down in Southern Utah. There were many bouts of bad luck that tried to keep us from it like our van in the shop for an extended time, my in laws trailer breaking in a few ways, and Buck having the flu and pneumonia. It's a complete miracle that we ended up getting to go! But I felt very determined and Buck was a kind and understanding husband who helped make it happen, even though I'm sure he wanted to stay home. (Thanks to his antibiotics he ended up feeling pretty good though once we got there.) 

A huge THANK YOU to my in laws for letting us borrow their trailer! And for watching our dog too while we were gone! 

We left and drove down to Apple Valley on Thursday. We got there at night so we just set up camp the best we could and all went to bed. And why Apple Valley? Because I found a random camping spot in someone's backyard with hook ups and it was right in the middle of Zion National Park and St. George and other places. So, it was kind of random but worked out well for our purposes.

The next day we had a bit of a slow morning.

Then we headed out to Zion National Park! I love that place so much. When I was 19 I worked at a lodge near the north rim of the Grand Canyon and my co-workers and I would go to Zion on many of our days off and we did all the major hikes including the Narrows and Angels Landing. But I've never been back with my kids so I was excited to show them this place. We did a couple little hike/walks and rode the bus around, stopped at the lodge and had lunch and got souvenirs, and then headed back to our car and drove through the tunnels and saw the overlooks and even spotted some mountain goats!

Then we went off the beaten path and took a little hike some friends recommended. But there's no signs or clear path but we followed their detailed instructions and I think we found it! And if not, then we found something else cool! haha We had the whole place to ourselves and the kids loved playing in the sand and water. We stayed and played for a long time. It was perfect.

We stopped in the little town outside Zion and got some ice cream and then headed back to camp, where we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and hung out around camp. We stayed up late and let the kids play games and after then were in bed Buck and I did some star gazing.

The next day we went and played at some random pioneer town that the kids saw off the side of the road. There was also a petting zoo and they got to feed the animals carrots. The kids went right into imaginative play and had a whole story and characters set up before we were even there ten minutes. So we stayed a while and let them play. The highlights were the animals, the wagon, and the working water pump.  Afterwards we stopped at a neat restaurant and got lunch.

After that we decided to go on another adventure and head to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Quiz time: Where's one of the worst places to be in a wind storm? Yes, you're correct- on sand dunes. haha These photos don't show the insanity that was really happening but there were huge gusts of wind coming and going. And June and Rose took off on a trek to the highest peak despite all this. Hazel refused to go so Buck stayed back with her and somehow Johnny ended up trudging along with me trying to catch up to them. It was a wild time and it all resulted in me giving Johnny my poncho thing like a tent to protect him while I went and rescued a crying Rose, who was being pummeled with bullet like sand at the top of the mountain. Fun times. But all's well that ends well and we made it back (no thanks to Buck who was taking a nice breezy nap) and the kids couldn't stop talking about the "adventure" they had gone on.

 

We were all worn out after that so we decided to head back to camp and take some showers and relax. I don't like having screens on a trip like this but the kids were so excited to watch a movie in "nana and pop's trailer" and we were tired so I caved and let them. ;)

It was a quick trip but so so good and I will be forever grateful that we got to take it, despite all the odds. Here's to more time together and trips away from it all. 💚

One last story, we prayed to drive home safely. It was a big dodgy there with high winds coming home and the trailer swaying. But we made it. And google maps had us take a slower back road, which was weird since it didn't have us do that on the way down. But right as we pulled by our house as we got home, Buck's front truck tire broke off! As he looked into it he realized that a piece had been missing for who knows how long and that could have happened at any point on the trip and had it happened on the freeway, while towing that large trailer, we could have been toast. It was a HUGE miracle, noted.