Updating my bucket list....

Last week I had a few items of business I needed to take care of in St. George. I decided I would drag along Eric and Mason to keep me company. We had planned a few things to do while we were down there. Heading into Zions, hiking the narrows, the usual St George outdoor adventures. Since I was working all day we had several evening to go out and enjoy the scenery when it was cooler.

On Friday we ventured ourselves to the Grand Canyon. As I talked about previously, I was so excited. Seeing that canyon is something that I have always wanted to do. I can now cross it off my Bucket List. Although I have now decided to add the Hiking Rim to Rim to my Bucket List. I know Mason and Eric will not attend that venture with me so I will have to find someone else to do it with. Driving about 300 miles round trip is a bit tiring so we decided to stay in St. George another night. I am so glad we did that and there isn't anything more relaxing then chilling in a nice cool pool after a long hot day.

The next morning we packed up and started the day, our plans included driving through Cedar Breaks, going into Bryce Canyon, then on to Escalante Grand Staircase, and then to Nana's for the night before we headed home.

We got into Bryce Canyon mid afternoon, we stopped for a nice dinner and to relax a minute and then onto the sights. The Grand Canyon was beautiful but Bryce Canyon was breath taking. we drove into the canyon and worked our way back out. Another Bucket List down another one added. They have a 5K down the Canyon and next year I am there. Mason wasn't to thrilled with this sight seeing venture as he is afraid of heights, it was interesting that we got him out on the ledges at the Grand Canyon but he wouldn't even get out of the car at some spots in Bryce. I am sure it didn't help matters that at each lookout they had the elevation posted starting with the highest being 8904 feet.

After we left Bryce we headed onto Escalante and by the time we arrived there I was tired. It was 5:00 pm and we still had several hundred miles to get to Nana's house. When we stopped in Escalante for gas, I asked for directions and discovered Grand Staircase was about 100 miles further then we had planned on it being. So being tired I decided to save that side trip for another day.

I started to program Mt. Pleasant into the GPS only to discover that an entry for Mt. Pleasant had about 1 thousand entries so I opted for Manti. We got back onto the road again and started to head down this side road. It looked like a back road and I didn't think alot about considering Utah is covered with these little back roads. It has also cut off 100 miles from our other route, cutting right through the mountains instead of having to travel east then north then west to get to Loa, we had a straight shot from Escalante straight north to Loa. So again I thought "Yeah" I wasn't even concerned that the road we were heading up was called Devils Backbone. The views were incredible, I was excited for the shortcut, and couldn't wait to get back to good old Sanpete county were the roads were alot more familiar to me. Although my excitement was short lived, when about 6 miles into the Devils Backbone the road became gravel. Mason asked "Aren't GPS supposed to keep you on paved roads."Apparently not.

So being the stubborn person that I am we kept going. Somewhere this road would turn into a paved road again. That somewhere was actually 39 miles and 1 and a half hours later. So much for my shortcut. We had a great time on that road though. We came across a beautiful little hidden lake, that we stopped at for a break and to stretch our legs. We enjoyed the wildlife (I have never seen so many cows just hanging in the middle of nowhere) Daisy growled every time we passed one. Lastly, we laughed and enjoyed singing the song "The road that never ends" to the tune of the song that never ends. That road went on forever and my biggest worry was that we would get to the end of it and there would be a locked fence, gate, or barrier that we couldn't get through.

That wasn't to be though. After 1,052 miles we arrived a my Grandmother's home. Safe and sound.

We had such a wonderful time. It was so nice just to be together as a family and spend some quality time together. It was an amazing journey and I have much to be thankful for. I am thankful we had this time together, I am thankful to my grandmother who made the trip possible, and I am so thankful we live in such a beautiful place that has magnificence of Heavenly Father's creations just around every corner.

Now that all being said I am needing a Vacation from our little Vacation. Good thing that is just 10 days and counting.