homeschool

Bryce Canyon National Park

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July 9 – July 15; Trip days 100 – 106

 After Zion, we departed for Bryce Canyon National Park. We had some awesome views of arches along the way and wildlife.

 There was a herd of Bison along the road.

 After arriving at our camp site, I set up the RV and went to go fix the bathroom shower door. One of the screws had come out of the track wheels and it fell of the track. Fairly easy fix, but to do so involved lifting the heavy glass doors out and reseating them in the track.

 We stayed at Ruby’s Inn and Campground, just outside the park. The site we had was very large and we had our own grassy area and fire pit area. The kids loved it as they could play in the grass near the RV.

 Taking a break from the heat. The kids were coloring and journaling in the shade. The blue cube is a misting fan we picked up to help combat the heat in the dry air.

We went to the Visitor Center, which is just down the road from the campground. It was busy, but not as busy as Zion. The kids did their books and got their badges. We learned in the museum that the whole area of Utah and parts of Colorado and Arizona, referred to as the Grand Staircase, is connected through geology (NPS, Wiki).

A depiction of the layers and their ages. Best viewed enlarged.

I got Ducky his own Camelbak and his own Junior Ranger hat. He is very proud of them. This way he carries his own water, and if I need to put him in the pack, I can strap his water to it so it’s accessible.

Ready to head out on the Mossy Cave trail. Ducky wanted to walk.  I’m getting the GoPro ready to record the hike (yet to be processed…). You can view the Mossy Cave hike log here.

 After a short hike, we made it to Mossy Cave, which is more of a grotto. We also found our first Hoodoo medallion.

 The kids look on at the cave and watch the water flow.

 Victory shot – shenanigans may have been involved!

 From there, we hiked over to the Tropic Ditch. The kids enjoyed putting their hands in the water and feeling the speed of the current.

 From there, we could take a short walk and see the Tropic Ditch waterfall and see other visitors playing in the pool.

 After the hike, we did the scenic drive and got some awesome views of the Bryce Canyon formations.

 

 

 Back at the campground, Ducky asked me to take him for a walk. So, we went on a walk around the campground and he told me all about the ghosts in the campground. Ducky is apparently very into ghosts right now. But we did meet another little boy, who was camping with his family that was an only child and was very excited to share his toys and have someone to play with.

Randal enjoys dinner in the cool evening. The building behind him is the Inn across the lake.

Everyone has a good time catching up with friends back home via video chat!

Evan takes Randal out for bike rids on Garrett’s bike. Randal really enjoys the rides!

Meagan, Jarek, and Randal went out for the Bristlecone Loop trail one morning and found their Hoodoo medallion.

Views from Bristlecone.

Views from Bristlecone.

Afterward, they went to check out the nearby town of Tropic.

Do you ever feel that you are having trouble navigating life?

Queens Garden – Navajo Loop Hike 

We mounted up the family for a big hike to do the Queens Garden – Thor’s hammer – Navajo Loop Hike. You can view the GPS log of the hike.

So this was how it started…

The trail started off with a decent descent down the sandstone slope into the canyon.

We were rewarded with numerous spectacular formations along the trail.

Family shot at the bottom!

There were several places where the trail was carved through the rocks. Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as Carlsbad Caverns where I had to crawl on my hands and knees.

The “Queen Victoria” Hoodoo.

 Documenting the Hoodoo for the quest!

 The Navajo Loop Hoodoo!

 Taking a break on the way up.

 Wait, you mean we have to back up all that?

 How it ended… Family portrait at the (almost top) with Thor’s Hammer off to the left.

 As we were headed out, we passed the start of the Wall Street trail, which we elected to not do, as we were all pretty tired after this hike.

 Ducky and Randal enjoyed some playtime after the hike.

We made it back to the Visitor Center in time to get our Hoodoo stickers!

After the hike, we took a rest day.

 I’d like to speak to the manager about my milk rations….

 Meagan and the kids baked cookies for a treat.

 Jarek get some cuddle time with Firefly and Gambit snoozes in his favorite spot on my chair.

Zion National Park

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30 Jun – 8 Jul; Trip days 91 – 99

After visiting the North Rim of the Grand Canyon (video to come) and Pipe Spring National Monument, we drove to visit Zion Canyon National Park.

Getting into the site was a bit of an adventure. The sites were all back in and not aligned to be friendly for bigger rigs. They also had metal poles at the corners of each site so, no cheating. I ended up getting the rig backed in, although not straight in. The site was also only 1 foot longer than the RV, so that was additional fun.

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Glen Canyon National Rec Area and Rainbow Bridge National Monument

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23 June 2024 – Trip Day 84

 We did the long drive out to the Glen Canyon Visitor Center. It was a bit of a hike from the campground, but it was about as close as we were going to get to it on our trip.

We had a nice lunch picnic on the grass outside the visitor center.

 A view of the dam from the visitor center.

 The kids were very interested in the dam and the bridge construction.

 Garrett examines a relief terrain model of the area.

 

This was as close to the Rainbow Bridge. It was only accessible via boat, and while we looked into a tour, we were not keen on paying the redonculous sums required to get the family out there. The Rainbow Bridge NM Visitor Center is co-located with the Glen Canyon Dam Vvisitor Center.

 In the Junior Ranger area, they had a mock up of a speed boat. Garrett and the other kids had a great time playing with it.

One of the other displays was an area where the kids could build with foam blocks. Randal was very interested in the foam blocks.

 Evan joins some other kids at the area to see how tall of a tower they could build.

 After they finished their Junior Ranger books, we drove out to Horseshoe Bend. This was a short hike from the parking area, about a mile or so. It was very hot and we took our time. It was a nice view of the river and the Bend. We were able to see some kayakers or rafters setting up camp on the beach below us.

 Jarek and Evan came with me, and we swapped out with Meagan and Arya so the littles could stay in the car and the air conditioning.

 

A view of the trail. It was quite busy with a steady stream of people making the journey to check it out.  

 After Horseshoe Bend, we drove over to the Lake Powell Rec Area and found the swimming area. It was late by the time we got there, but the kids did enjoy putting their toes in the water and playing in the sand a little bit before a storm came in and we headed back for the 2 hour drive back to our campground.

Thanks for reading!

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Kiddo update

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We did one of Jarek’s Cub Scout adventures, cast iron cooking. The requirement for him was to cook a meal over a fire. We started the fire using a flint and steel. Jarek learned a lot about building a fire and having the fuel ready to go. It was a good introduction to fire basics.

We made an impromptu stove with a couple bricks.

While waiting for the wood to burn down, Garrett came over and, being super cute, asked “Can I join?”

Arya got in on the cooking as well.

Burger cooking underway.

Randal got the first part of his third tooth out! We will be very happy when it’s all the way out, as the teething process has been a bit frustrating for all involved. Randal has been sitting up and crawling about now. He’s working on pulling himself up to a standing position. He’s done that once or twice so far.

A happy Garrett at Fox Meadow park during a home school meet up play session.

Garrett went with Meagan and Arya to dance class. While waiting for Arya to finish her dance lesson, he picked up a book and said, “This is my book” and took it inside to read.

A Pressing Matter! – Making homemade cider

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Today we processed some apples into homemade apple cider.  We combined the event with a Cub Scout requirement for the Bear Den.  The kids had a lot of fun sorting the apples and removing the bad apples from the bunch.  This was a smaller batch than what we did last year, due to the upcoming move.  Last year I made 15 gallons of cider which I fermented into hard cider, on top of some additional regular cider.

Once the apples were washed and sorted, then it was time to grind them up.  I don’ have a picture of them using the grinder, but you can see it on the ground in the pictures below.

The grinder, known as the “maximizer” grinds the apples into chunks which increases the juice yield.

Our friend and fellow Cub Scout, B, pressing his apples.

Garrett enjoyed some frozen blueberries for a snack before his nap.

Evan took a turn cranking down the press, followed by big brother.

Out of the three bags of apples, we got about 4 gallons of juice.  The bags of seconds were $8 each, so not a bad yield.  The kids asked what we were going to do with the rest of the apples.  I said we were going to convert them to eggs!  The chickens were quite thrilled to get the pile to pick through.