Our Trip to Vernal, Day One

So we decided to take a short trip to Vernal over Spring Break. Sounds exciting, I know. You know what, though? It was a lot of fun. It's not a terribly long drive so we were able to do a lot in a short amount of time.

Jaaromy didn't really have any time off so he took a half day and we left early in the afternoon. This was Friday, April 6th. If you live around here you remember that was when the weather started to turn cold. In fact, Parley's canyon was closed that morning. We were worried we wouldn't even be able to leave the valley. We were even contemplating going to St. George instead. Luckily the weather cleared up in time for us to go. We stopped in Heber for lunch and I wish I had taken a picture but as we were leaving Heber and heading into the mountains it looked pretty ominous. Through the mountain pass it was kind of snowy but not too bad and it cleared up when we left them behind.

We got to Vernal around 3:30 and went right to the Utah Field House of Natural History.



One of the first things we did was watch a short film about Dinosaur National Monument and how the land has changed to bring dinosaur bones and other fossils closer to the surface. It really made me appreciate their extensive fossil collection.


Very impressive.

There were a lot of fun activities for the kids.




When we came through this room the first time it was full of little kids, so we actually came back through just before we left to give the boys a chance to try it out.

One of my favorite parts was the life-size displays outside.





The boys and I thought they were super cool. Jaaromy thought they looked too cartoon-y. He was not impressed.

After the museum we checked in at the hotel and then went swimming. I don't know if it's a rule or something but this is the second hotel in a row where the pool water was freezing. I was with Brigham and I put up with it as long as I possibly could and then took him to the hot tub since he was shivering. The hot tub was, of course, super hot so I didn't dare keep him in for too long. Jonathan and Nathaniel decided that the cold was worth it and wanted to keep swimming. So, we compromised and sat on the edge with our feet in the cold water. This must be a favorite vacation spot because I saw a family at the pool that I had seen at the museum. There were a lot of families with boys at the hotel.

We went to dinner and then came back and watched Kung Fu Panda 2 on our tiny portable dvd player. There really should be dvd players in hotel rooms.


I was worried how Brigham would do sleeping in a strange place. I ended up sharing a bed with him and that made him happy. He cuddled right up next to me and went to sleep. It was nice. Of course I slept horribly. The beds were just a little too hard. Oh well, over all, it was a lot of fun.