I will be completely honest in saying that I was not the first to suggest nor the first to be excited about going to Vernal for our spring break. I had my doubts that there would be enough to entertain us for three days and I may have wanted to travel to another locale and was being a little grumpy. I will happily admit that I was completely wrong. We had a wonderful time and we discovered so much to do and see. Cody and I have adopted a 'let's check it out' motto when we travel and I think it has led us to a lot of new adventures and hidden gems.
As soon as we arrived we lugged the bags into our hotel room, which was surprisingly modern and spacious. (Again another perk I wasn't expecting) Then we piled back into the car and headed to the dinosaur museum downtown. The kids had been on a dino kick and so this was a hit. They were happy to have a place to run around and stretch their legs as well.
The girls thought the tiny bird fossil was pretty 'cute'.
Then we wandered around all the statues outside the museum. Hayze was roaring and soaring like a pterodactyl and having a grand time.
We made our way to the grounds of the Vernal temple. I found some neat stories about the construction of the temple. How there was a need to get some excavation equipment into a certain area and they weren't sure how they were going to get it there and then they discovered an arch that was exactly the right size to get it through. They also needed more bricks to match the original brick. They happened to find an old house that was going to be torn down that had the exact kind they needed.
Of course the kids had a melt down as soon as we arrived, but we were able to regroup and enjoy a few moments of peace.
We still had a little while before dinner, we had noticed that there was a local history museum that was free so we decided to check it out. They had lots of fun displays and antiques. They also had a couple fun scavenger hunts for the kids to do that earned them a treat. The cute gal at the museum recommended the pizza place next door and we are so glad she did, it was delish! And we had the entire place to ourselves.
-The girls-
-The Boys-
We ended our evening at the pool, because what hotel stay would be complete without it.
The next day we visited Dinosaur National Monument.
The quarry wall was like nothing I had ever seen before! It was absolutely incredible! I was amazed by the sheer size of it all as well. I can't imagine stumbling across the first bones or figuring out that there was so much more lying beneath the rock. It was a bit mind boggling.
We are standing on the second story viewing platform - It was so huge!
The kids earned their junior ranger badges while we were there. It took a little more doing than I had initially anticipated but I think it was good for them. They learned some new things and were pretty proud to be sworn in and given their shiny badges.
On our way out of the park we stopped to check out some petroglyphs.
And then on the way into town we stopped to check out the pink dinosaur!
You can't have three girls and not stop for a giant pink dinosaur!
That evening we drove out to Fort Duchesne to visit Cody's Aunt Patrice and Uncle Ed. They are some of the most kind and wonderful people I have had the opportunity to know. They genuinely care about us and our kiddos. We enjoyed our evening visiting with them and were so glad we were able to see them.
Our last morning after we checked out of our hotel we drove out to visit moonshine arch. Cody cut down on the hike time considerably thanks to our SUV and his off roading skills.
All in all we had a great time, we were far enough away everyday life couldn't reach us. It was the recharge that this mama was needing. Thanks Vernal, I think we will visit again.
