Utah High Adventure Day

Of all the potential adventure options I ran past the Crew, I'm really happy that this one worked out . . . a four-hour ATV tour with ziplining and repelling in the middle? Yes, please! We've never done anything like this on vacation before, and it was so.much.fun. to see everyone try new things!

After breakfast, we piled in the van and made the short drive to Sand Hollow State Park. There, a couple of guys with a quad of ATV/UTVs handed us a stack of waivers (you’re not really on vacation until you have to sign a waiver, lol :) With those complete, safety gear distributed, and a small speech given, the tour guide handed Gabby and Buck each a little gift bag. Inside they discovered a card from the tour company and a vial of Sand Hollow’s rusty red sand--a little surprise birthday gift! 

A few minutes later, we were off-roading through a massive park (18,000 acres, I think he said) with Mr. B at our lead and Mr. T (not THAT one) following behind. Buck, Brennen, Chase, Noah, and Caelan all took turns flying through the sand in the driver’s seat. Graysen wanted to drive, sooooo badly, but they have an 18 law in Utah. We’ll just have to go back in a couple of years :) Gabby lost a contact mid-adventure, but even before the tour began, she and I opted to let the others get as much drive time as they could--especially our senior spring breaker! And you should have heard Caelan giggle as she dropped in and out of the sand bowls—the sand wall looks like it is coming fast from the passenger seats, let me tell you! The guide also took us on some slickrock for a bit of climbing and around bank turns up to 40 mph—which is dust cloud and heartrate inducing!

In the middle of our adventure, we arrived at the edge of a canyon where a single rope spanned the 850-foot zipline flight we were about to take! Three (mostly) experienced guides met us, helped us gear up, and then demonstrated what would happen next. Graysen wanted to go first, so the fellow still on our side of the canyon started hooked him up to the line, and sent him zooming across the canyon! I went second to get photos and videos of everyone zipping after. Chase recorded his ride on his phone :) Buck was the last across, which meant our next adventure was about to begin!

Graysen

Caelan

The distant light dot is Gabby!

Noah! He and Chase volunteered to wear helmets for the day,
since Graysen had to--good brother-in-laws!

Soon, we were all carabiner-ed to a rope on the rock ledge preparing to repel into the canyon we’d just crossed. Mr. B and Mr. T drove our buggies around to the canyon floor, so we could access the afternoon trails without having to climb/hike back up the side. (Also, I have pictures of everyone doing everything, but you'll just have to look through the travel books I hope to make--even blogger doesn't have space for them all! :)

I was second to last for the second part of the tour, so listened in on the kids chatting with the adventure guide. He made a comment about how too much talking in school could get you in trouble, but the kids revealed they were homeschooled and talking in school was encouraged. The surprised guide said, “Whoa, no offense, but I never would have guessed you guys were all homeschooled.” Yes! Music to a homeschool mom’s ears. We’ve got the manners and morals of the homeschool crowd, but (as Chase fearlessly disappeared over the edge of the canyon) the social skills and adventure-seeking courage to throw a little surprise into the perception of a homeschooled kid : )

Chase wins for coolest canyoneering photo :)

But Gabby's looks most like a feature in a climbing magazine!

Graysen

After our Amazing Race training session (heehee) we took a picture in the back of the canyon, then raced up to some Moab-like scenery, before heading to an expansive view of the local reservoir—which is where BeReal went off.

Those four tall dots on the rocks in the center are with us ;)

Gabby, checking out the view

When the tour came to its conclusion, the guide repeated how much he’d enjoyed spending the day with our family and how much he loved his job, especially when he got to lead groups like ours—aww! But let me tell you, we were tired like the endurance-challenging hikes in the national parks for five days in a row could not touch. 

We went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant just a stone’s throw from our VRBO. Graysen wanted to eat there because it was called La Fonda—which was the name of Napoleon's brother’s internet girlfriend in the Napoleon Dynamite movie, lol! We sure tried to keep conversations going, but our rust-stained faces and ears full of sand dust—not to mention Graysen’s suddenly thick red eyebrows and moustache—were evidence of the end of the adrenaline rush of the morning. Chase graciously covered our meal, and then we made the short journey home for dessert, showers, and naps!

Caelan figured out how to plug her phone into the TV and by late afternoon, we were all watching Bluey in the living room. The girls and I shedding tears over the sweetness of the storyline, then lightening the mood with the Unicorse episodes (which Gabby and Brennen, especially, have been quoting for months). I love that big adventures in the morning led to cartoons and couches in the afternoon—so much fun to spend time with this Crew!!

Graysen did his best to convince the newlyweds that they didn’t need to go back to jobs and responsibilities that day—rather, they could just ride home with us (which is a comical thought as we rearranged the van to fit everyone’s luggage, plus dog pick-ups on the way home). But I know how he felt; we wanted to all stay together, making memories, riding bikes, making meals, going to the pool, discovering new things, sharing old stories, and being thankful that God gave us each other as family!

The trip to Vegas went smoothly; the newlyweds checked into their hotel—the Excalibur—spent an insane amount of money on a normal amount of food, and successfully returned the car and caught their flight home verrrrry early the next morning. Thankfully, they arrived far ahead of the horrible storms that hit later that day (although they felt the bumpy air from above as they flew over it).

Back at the VRBO, I started the giant task of packing up the place for our morning departure. I don’t know how many loads of laundry went through or how many bags of trash went to the dumpster, but we certainly got our money’s worth of those amenities. Buck and the boys tuned into the NFL Draft night one, and helped when the picks weren’t interesting. By the end of the evening, a giant stack of luggage awaited loading into the van, the kitchen was mostly cleared, a list of suggested updates, missing item counts (from all those labels), and photos of things we found broken was sent, and we were ready to crash into bed for the final night in our southern Utah getaway.

One last peek-a-boo through the terrace door :)