We left Wednesday morning for spring break. Our first stop was Bryce Canyon. I've said this before but I don't mind long car rides now because everyone is good during the drive. I can relax and enjoy it instead of keeping kids happy, passing snacks, etc. We were planning on hiking the Navajo Loop. We've done it before and it's just the right distance. Sadly it was too snowy and so half of the trail was closed. It was an out and back. We tried to do the out and back but it was too muddy. We kept looking at everyone heading back and their shoes were covered and some of the mud was around their ankles too. We didn't want to start of the trip with muddy shoes, muddy car, etc. We went as far as we could go, took a picture and then turned around.
It was really pretty with the white show and red rock.
Every morning I went for a run around Escalante. Marshall joined me on his ebike. It was nice having him with me for the times we went past dogs and my over all safety. After three days, three different routes, we knew the lay of the land. This was the view near the south side of town.
Wednesday night we hung around camp, had dinner and then checked out a new gas station in town. They had Frazils so everyone got a treat. The kids had fun trying on sunglasses.
Thursday we woke up and drove to the trailhead for two slot canyons, spooky and peak a boo. The hike to the slot canyons was really pretty and easy. It was warm but not too hot. It was windy so that helped keep it cooler.
The first slot canyon was really fun. We felt like we had it to ourselves. It got tight at some parts but nothing too claustrophobic. We had fun all together as a family. Then we went to the second slot canyon. It was completely opposite. It was packed full of people. It got really tight at certain parts, and there were people going the wrong way. Thankfully the point we passed them was the only point wide enough to pass. It was just chaotic with so many people. The part we were passing them was tricky in that I could either go down in a cave like passage or up and over big boulders and then a steep drop down. I chose to go down the cave like tunnel and I was very close to a panic attack. I had to keep breathing and keep telling myself I could do it. I was grateful when I got through it. The whole group got split up. James, Kade and Tag got ahead of us in front of another group. I was by myself and then Marshall was with the girls. There was a line of people waiting to go through the next section that got really narrow and dropped down. Thankfully I was able to let a group pass me and then Marshall and the girls caught up to me. We went through the rest of it together but there were so many tight claustrophobic places. I did not enjoy it but knew I had to do.
On the way back to camp we stopped at Devil's Garden. There were all of these cool rock formations to climb around on.
This part looked like The Wave.
This picture is out of order, this is in one of the slot canyons.
That night we got ice cream from a local drive thru called Elmo's. The shakes were really good. Then we went back to the trailer and everyone played games while I did some work for Cotiviti.
We did a photo re-creation. The one on the left was Goblin Valley May of 2020. The kids didn't have in person school so we went camping for my birthday. It is fun to see how everyone has grown.
We all went to bed around 10:00. At 12:30 Tag woke us up and told us he was all wet. Marshall went to check on him and stepped in water as he walked towards the bathroom. Then he discovered the bathroom sink was on and the bathtub was overflowing. Tag sleeps on the floor and it had spilled over and was all over the floor up to where he was. So we figured out that someone left the sink on. The trailer tank was not hooked up to the sewer to drain. The tank filled up and filled up the bathtub which flooded the floor.
We went into action mode. We had Tag change into dry pajamas. Thankfully we had an extra sleeping bag. We had Sienna slide over and put Tag next to her on the kitchen table bed. James, Lynnlee and Kade slept through the whole thing. Thankfully the campground had a laundromat, and a coin machine, and a vending machine with laundry detergent. I wasn't planning on doing laundry so I didn't have laundry detergent. The bathtub was full of all the towels, Lynnlee's duffle bag with all of her stuff, and camel backs. We spent the next two hours bagging up everything wet, taking it the the laundromat, washing it, drying it, folding it and putting it back like nothing ever happened. Then we got to bed at 2:30. We were going to wake up and go to Capitol Reef earlier in the day but we decided to push everything back and hour or so.
