The Great Salt Lake

Leaving Goblin Valley was hard.  It was beautiful, and I hope we get to go back some time.  Alas, all good things must come to an end.  North we headed, to the Mormon City!  Up to the Temple Square we ventured.  I was NOT expecting Salt Lake City to be as beautiful as it was!  It was clean, the people were friendly, and very family oriented.  We were also lucky enough to have a tour guide!  Alicia was kind enough to show us: Talking Space Jesus

 The GIGANTIC organ in the building where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearses

 And the temple grounds.

What was really amazing though, was the conversation I got to have with my kids.  We looked at Goblin Valley State Park, where God spoke into existence some of the most imaginative and beautiful rock work I've ever seen, and then at the Tabernacle where man toiled for a hundred years to construct something that will decay with time.  I got to see their faces as they embrace the Glory of Gods Good work, and THAT was priceless.

We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the Red Iguana, (from DDD, for those who watch the show)

and ate the most delicious sopaipillas I have ever eaten. Fluffy, sweet, hot....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.   

 From there, we headed to our campsite on Antelope Island State Park.  I'm not going to lie, the sign concerned me.  Bison MAY be dangerous?  It's an island.  Why don't we just remove the possibly dangerous bison to another location where campers with small children don't have to wonder about their camping safety?  And how dangerous "may" they be?  I'm at this point envisioning our car being trampled by stampeding bison while we're sleeping.

As it turns out, the bison were't a problem.  I didn't see even one.  There were, however, another enemy.  You can't easily see in these pictures, but they were EVERYWHERE.  Covering the brush, on the picnic benches, on the car when we woke up.....Spider webs with Giant spiders in them.  Huge, disgusting spiders.  The black dots that seem out of place in the below picture

Are these

Not a fan.  

Probably won't go back here, being completely honest.  

I was so so so so so very happy we were sleeping in the car, and not in a tent.  We battened down the hatches, and slept.  The next day would be a long drive, to CA.  

We woke up to a most amazing view of the Great Salt Lake and headed East.  End July, Enter August!

The Jolly Camper Makes Contact

I have another blog.  It's supposed to be about the crazy things my kids say, but our family camping trip started to take over....so I am making contact as The Jolly Camper.  My four kids and myself (the JC's) are heading on a grand adventure.  24 days, 14 states, camping in our 2008 Nissan Quest.  No no no, you misunderstood.  Not camping in a  tent OUTSIDE our van, camping IN our VAN.  Down By The River!  (Sorry, but I had to).  Here's the rout.  Follow along as we have 36 hours till departure!

Our Rout.

 We start at our humble abode in Cibolo, TX....

First order of business in HOUSTON!!!!!  We'll spend a few hours at the beach, just letting the kids and I enjoy a picnic lunch and relishing in the fact that we are ON VACATION!  Next we're off to New Orleans, LA where we'll spend two days exploring the French Quarter, Bourbon Street, and some other cool FREE sites.  After car camping in NOLA (see a later post on car camping), we head north to Memphis, TN!  Mud Island boasts a to scale replica of the Muddy Mississippi where kids can play and learn.  Looks fun to us!  From there, ahhhhhhh, up to Galesburg, IL, my home town!  We'll spend several days with mom and dad, eating delicious spinach bisque from The Landmark, exploring Starved Rock, and playing at Lincoln Park.  

From there, we head WEST!  Good bye Galesburg, Hello Omaha, NE!  I don't really know why I put an exclamation point there....its Omaha....BUT there is the Lewis and Clark Landing.  Have you picked up on the fact that I'm a nerd and I'm raising nerdy kids?  One day in Omaha is about all the fun we can handle before we head to......DENVER!!!!!!!!!  We are super excited to stay with my sister-in-law (but more like sister) while we adventure around Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods.  Siri hasn't seen mountains since she was one, and Annika never has.  I'm excited to see their reactions!  Two days is all we can spend in the Mile High City, then its off to Salt Lake City, UT!  Goblin State Park was featured in the 1999 version of "Galaxy Quest" and looks like an amazing playground for kids.  We can putz around SLC for a day and a half before we make the long trek to Redding, CA!  Home of the Sundial Bridge and very close to Mount Shasta, Mount Lassen, Whiskytown Lake, and Bumpass Hell, and most importantly, FAMILY!  My in-laws, out-laws, and so so so many friends, we'll stay several days in Redding before we head south-east

Bakersfield, CA is the ONLY place we'll be staying in a hotel.  A nice one.  Yay, Bakersfield!  From there, it's only a short jaunt to Lake Havasu City, AZ.  Do you know what's in Lake Havasu City?  The London Bridge.  Yup, the real one.  The one that was falling down.  It has been fully reassembled right over Lake Havasu!  Quick stop to see a landmark, then its off to the big one...THE GRAND CANYON!!!!!!!!  We are spending two full days at the Grand Canyon, camping in the National Park.  Alia was there once when she was MUCH younger, and I KNOW the kids are going to love seeing the amazing sites.  From there, more caves as we spelunker on over (is spelunker a word?) to the Carlsbad Caverns!   We will spelunk, explore and bat-watch before making our final leg back home.

I am so unbelievably excited to show my kids SO much of God's GOOD work in the parks and lakes and rivers and mountains of the 14 states we are visiting!  

So yup, thats our rout.  Is there anything/anyONE else we need to see/visit?  Let me know in comments bellow :)  Thanks for reading!