Skip to main content

Southwest Vacation - Utah Part 1, enjoying our condo in Brian Head

To give you a general idea of where we were, here's a map.  Our condo was in Brian Head, which was a nice launch point for all the other red rectangles.  As you can see, it lies in the Dixie National Forest, which means roads do not cut through this space so you have to drive around to get to anything on the other side, which really wasn't too bad at all.

Something else to know.  We went from dry desert heat to cold mountaintop in one day of travel.
When we got closer to our destination we saw snowbanks and were all really excited about it!  Brian Head sits about 11,000ft above sea level.  The altitude seems easier to handle when it's cold and moist air though.  Since I knew we would have such a packed travel day, I left the day after completely empty for recovery.  Best idea ever!!

Cedar Breaks and Brian Head, UT Brian Head, UT

When we woke up it was snowing, which was cool.  It didn't last very long or stick, but it was still fun to see.  We stuck to the condo all day to recover from the trip and absorb everything we had already seen.  We watched Enchanted, played games, Josh made a chicken pot pie.  There was an XBox for the kids to play minecraft.  They had their own little loft with queen-size bunk beds, their own TV, and a full bathroom.  Josh, Noah, and I watched a lot of Star Trek Voyager episodes (because we just finished all of TNG).

Cedar Breaks and Brian Head, UT Cedar Breaks and Brian Head, UT Cedar Breaks and Brian Head, UT

We finally left the house, but just to check out all the condo complex amenities, which were right across the street: game room, sauna & hot tub.  Everywhere we went we had it all to ourselves because it's the off season.  The place was like a ghost town.  It was mildly eerie, but mostly AWESOME.  I'm not a fan of crowds.

Cedar Breaks and Brian Head, UT Cedar Breaks and Brian Head, UT Cedar Breaks and Brian Head, UT

We had a perfect little down day and we all needed it.  Our next adventure was about an hour away and would require more hiking.  Also, forgot to mention.  Back when we hit the very first park, one of the rangers happened to ask Josh if he was a service-disabled veteran, which he is.  Josh was given a lifetime free pass to all national and state parks!!  We saved a lot of money with this park pass.  I'm glad they do stuff like this :)

Our next chapter: Utah Part 2, hiking at Bryce Canyon

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hurricane Sandy

This will be a gleefully uneventful post, but I thought I should at least inform everyone of our whereabouts during Frankenstorm. On Friday the landfall predictions were further south, which had the eye passing near our tiny town after obliterating Dover, DE.  We happen to be surrounded by water.  The Patuxent River on one side, Chesapeake Bay on the other, plenty of swamps and creeks in between.  Not a good prospect. Josh and I had gone out that night to try and secure supplies and already, there were no batteries or flashlights.  We also don't have a grill and thought "we'll try Lowe's tomorrow"I mean, most people already own grills... right?  Everything in our house is run on electricity (including the water pump for the well) except for the fireplace.  I don't know what builders are thinking when they do that.  I at least want a gas stove and water heater!  So, anyways.  We got a few hours of sleep before trying to brave the crowds...

Germany

Noah and I are having a great time out in Germany with Josh. The house we're sharing is amazing and the people are also amazing. The only thing we don't have is our own kitchen, but like I said, the people who live here (Josh's friends) are amazing so it's not even an issue. I've been cooking for everyone to try to thank them in some way. We haven't been to many places yet. It's hard to go anywhere with a baby who has a naptime and a husband who has a job. However!! We managed to make it out to Heidelberg to see the castle. It was awesome. the walk up to the castle mmmm castle Heidelberg down below Christmas is huge here. They've even got Christmas markets out in the parking lot in front of WalMart. We've been to Luisenplatz a few times in downtown Darmstadt to visit all the Christmas shops they have set up. It's like a Christmas flea market. Thus far all I've blown money on is candy... mmmm German candy is so delicious. It's...

Hiking on the Guadarrama Trail

As promised yesterday, I actually left the house and went on a hike with Mama C and Goober!  YAY! I was a bad Mommy and ill prepared to shield us from the hot Spanish sun so we all have a touch of sunburn.  Whoops.  It was fun though.  OK so here's where we began our journey.  You can see the bridge between the roundabout and the little house with a red roof (which is a restaurant).  All the cylindrical buildings were a plant nursery.  We walked over the bridge and past the nursery where we crossed the street and then started up the dirt path.  The other little building is literally a Gypsy Keep. Here's what it looked like from the road... and it was so ridiculously creepy, yet fascinating.  I don't know why there is always tons of junk in trees around gypsy places.  There was a gutted van in the backyard, a stroller jammed into a wall, shorts in the trees.  We both wanted to trespass, but the kids would have inevitably fal...