Day 1 of our Labor Day Trip...

We were planning on going camping for Labor Day... so on Thursday I headed out on a 4 hour round-trip to our favorite camp ground above Oakley so I could pay for our favorite "non-reserved" camp site. When I got there I was informed that they had changed things and that there were only 2 non-reserved sites now, and that they were already taken. I was so bummed! We haven't been camping for 2 YEARS with all of the craziness that defines our lives... and we were really looking forward to getting away. We could go anywhere... we have generators... but with the high probability of rain in the forecast we decided we didn't want to be sitting in mud all weekend.

That night during dinner we made a spontaneous decision that we would instead finish the "Temple Challenge" that Dan had given our ward and go to the Vernal Temple and then if we felt like it, we would also head down to the Monticello Temple. (Kenna and I were both starting to fight colds so we weren't sure we would be up for both, but we would see how we felt.) The kids both needed to go to school for at least the first hour in the morning, so while they were at school we packed a bag with a few things in it for everyone and grabbed the map and our sunglasses. Dan ran to both schools while I finished getting ready and then we headed out.

We stopped for lunch at Daniels Summit Lodge and continued on to Vernal. We met the funniest old man out front of the Temple (Al Funk) and visited with him for a while. He had some great stories and was waiting for his wife to finish. (They are both temple workers)  

 After leaving the temple we decided that we should take the girls to the Dinosaur museum. We had never taken them there before.... and we had both been there as kids. They both thought it was okay... but then again they are 16 and 11 year old girls... so we moved on! Doesn't Courtney looked thrilled?

 Before we left Vernal we decided that we definitely wanted to go to Monticello so we started looking at the map and the route we would take to get there. It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere in the lower corner of the state, and from inside Utah there is really only 1 way down and back... but wouldn't it be boring to have to go back through Duchesne and down through Price and take the same roads to Monticello that we would take coming home? We decided instead to make it more exciting and see some new scenery by going over through Dinosaur, Colorado and down to Grand Junction. It would be a much prettier ride...

We were right! It was much more fun. Friday night after arriving in Grand Junction we went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then headed to our hotel. We love "flying by the seat of our pants"... I know those in my family with a tendency for being a little OCD cringe whenever we tell them stories like this... but it's how we roll!

 Dan pushing his luck while balancing his nearly full Pepsi on paper coasters....

Day 1 was a blast... can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!!! With us, you never know!!!!!