Texas Vacation - Day Ten - Last stops and plans for next time

Here we are on Day 10 the final day of our road trip to Texas. It was Sunday April 14th. (Although as we will see I was a little fuzzy on the date at this point.)

We were staying at the Canyonlands Motor Inn in Monticello, Utah. We'd arrived at 1:30 in the morning and even in my exhausted state I'd realized that this was a cute motel. In the morning I looked around the room and thought, "This is the best motel we've been in yet on this road trip." It was wider than any of the other rooms. And honestly, it had more furniture than the hotel we'd stayed at in Galveston. 

It was really a shame that we wouldn't get to spend more time there. We were down to the last of our food and we were going to have oreos for breakfast if we didn't get anything at a store. But when I Googled grocery stores I found out that everything in Monticello was closed for Sunday - not that there were many options anyway. So we needed to drive to Moab for our last little shopping trip. 

No one complained about oreos for breakfast. 

I took a shower and shaved my legs. I put on shorts and then immediately regretted that decision when I went outside to get something from the van. It was so cold!  We weren't in the south anymore. So I went back inside and changed into pants. 

We were all a little sad to be leaving such a nice motel. As we drove away I told everyone, "Hey we are within an 8 hour drive of home. And this area is really cool. We will come back here and we can stay in this motel again."  So that helped. 

We drove north to the City Market in Moab. 

After so much flat scenery the past few days it was nice to see actual mountains in the distance.

And there were fun rock features to pass. 

At the market I took a few kids in to buy donuts and bananas for breakfast and some rolls and things for lunch. 

Brandon and I had been dreaming about how fun it would be to live in Moab. But that trip to the store kind of cooled my enthusiasm. The prices were crazy. I felt like everything was $5. 

We ate the donuts in the car and then it was time to drive up to Arches. Arches has a timed entry system now. This is to cut down on traffic and congestion in the park. So a month earlier I'd paid $2 to guarantee our entry at 11:30.

There was a small line of cars at the entrance so we waited a little bit. The kids were getting excited. On our drive from Monticello that morning Derrick had been asking about seeing the Arch That Is By Itself. After a few follow up questions I realized he was talking about Delicate Arch. He was so excited when I told him, "We are going to see that arch today!"

Welllllllllllll not so much. 

We got to the entrance and presented our ticket. And the gate agent was like, "This is for Saturday, April 13th. Today is the 14th."

And I was like, "WHAT?"

I swear I'd checked the date when I ordered the ticket. I basically did it at the same time I'd ordered the Carlsbad Cavern tour tickets. Surely I would have noticed that I'd accidently planned to be in Carlsbad New Mexico and Arches National Park at the exact same time?

But I'd never noticed. 

Fortunately, if I was going to screw up a date this was the one to do. We hadn't planned our whole trip around this. And we were already toying around with the idea of coming back here sometime soonish. 

So I told the gate agent, "It's okay, we'll go to Canyonlands."  I think she was relieved that I wasn't freaking out. 

So we left Arches and drove over to Canyonlands. 

The kids were disappointed, but I told them this meant we HAD to come back to Arches soon. In fact, as Brandon drove to Canyonlands I downloaded the school calendar for the 2024-25 school year and looked at possible vacation dates for the fall. (And a few weeks later I'd book campsites for that trip so it IS happening.)

And the drive to Canyonlands had cool scenery too so that was nice.  

Here are most of us. 

We went to the visitor center first so the kids could use the bathroom. And then we looked around. Here's a map showing the different districts for Canyonlands. We were in the Island in the Sky District. 

We told the kids we'd go on one hike to Mesa Arch. So we drove to that trailhead. I also somehow got sun block on the lens so these next few pictures are blurry. 

Here I am. 

The hike was pretty short and soon we were at Mesa Arch. This was actually the first time I've seen this arch. When Brandon and I came here in 2010 we'd skipped this hike. 

The kids liked climbing on the rock ledge. 

Here are Charlotte and Lydia. 

Here's the view. 

Lydia was totally nonplussed about sitting on the edge. 

I called this an "International Style Caren" because it was blocky instead of being made from a pile of stones. 

The kids climbed up in the little alcove. 

And then on top of the big rock. 

Brandon went on a little exploring hike this direction and the kids and I followed. 

Everything was really cool.

Here's Brandon contemplating going out into the wilderness instead of returning to work. (He's still kicking himself that he came home.)

Veronica borrowed my hat and sun glasses and said she was me. 

We drove to the Grand Overlook, but got the sense that it was going to be very overcrowded. So a little before we came to that area we pulled over at a random little parking area. 

And had lunch just on some rocks. I'd bought little rolls, lunch meat, sliced cheese, and pickles. We made little sandwiches and they were yummy. 

We decided not to go to what Brandon called "The Grand Prismatic Spring."  He said, "I know that's not what it's called, but I feel like that's what it is."  I laughed and said that you'd think we'd never been to a National Park before. We were breaking all of our own guidelines. We were there on a weekend and in the afternoon. Of course there were cars everywhere. 

Anyway, we'd seen enough for this little side trip anyway. So we got back in the car and started driving north.  We were on the final stretch home -which was still like 7 hours of driving. But after ALL the driving we'd done on this trip it didn't feel that far. 

Almost as soon as we were out of Canyonlands and back in cell phone service I got a call from our friend Ivan. He'd been trying to call Brandon, but the calls hadn't been going through. So then he tried me and I just happened to be back in service. Ivan was offering Brandon and part in Treasure Island. Brandon would be the pirate O'Brian. He is an Irish Pirate. (Or as we've started saying, Pi-rish.)

We'd bought twinkies in Moab (for like $5) and so I handed those out while we drove. Derrick was hording his so he held his three twinkies for a long time before eating them. While he was holding them he was like, "Mom Twinkies has the word TWIN in it!"

When we passed Price and went into the mountains we were all a little surprised to see snow. We were all like, "What's that white stuff?"

We stopped at the rest stop near Helper. Derrick loved many things on this trip, but this train station themed rest stop is one of the first things he will talk about if you ask him about the trip. He reminded me that he'd seen an Amtrak train here. 

We wanted to stop at a Burger King somewhere along the Wasatch Front. But the kids were engrossed in a movie as we drove from Spanish Fork to Ogden. So we didn't stop along the way. Instead we stopped at the Burger King in Tremonton. It felt weird to be eating somewhere familiar. 

Derrick really liked the Kung Fu Panda themed crowns. 

No one else would wear one so I wore one with him. 

And then we got in the car and drove the last 2 hours home. That last part felt long and short at the same time. 

It felt surreal to be drive into Twin Falls and then up to our house. We got there around 10:00 and the headlights of the van shown on my tulips. I was so excited to see that they'd bloomed. 

The kids helped bring their things into the house and then we had them all take quick showers. 

They were all in bed around 11:00 which was early for the last few days, but terribly late considering everyone had to get up for school in the morning. 

I went outside and looked at my flowers with a flashlight. 

And that's it. Our long vacation had ended. 

Back before the trip I'd been debating if it was worth it. Was it worth having the kids miss 5 days of school?  Was it worth all the catching up I'd have to do at work? Was it worth the expense of the rental car and all the hotel rooms?

Then I saw a meme that said "Just because it's a bad idea, doesn't mean it won't be a good time." And that was oddly encouraging. 

 Maybe this trip wasn't the best use of our time and money, but we still had a great time. We made great memories and bonded as a family. 

We'll be talking about this trip (especially the night we survived camping in a storm on the beach) for a long time.