Brian Head and Cedar Breaks National Monument

Despite the looming thunderclouds and imminent rain, we made our way up the canyon to Brian Head for our weekend stay before continuing the journey home to California. At the last minute, Grammy and Grandpa accompanied us, which was a good thing, since all the girls were near the end of their ropes from being on vacation and out of their routines for so long, and we needed all the help we could get with them! We checked into our quaint Airbnb cabin and met up with Grammy and Grandpa at the Brian Head Resort Lodge for a quick indoor swim, just as the rain , thunder and lightning came barreling down. 

We were happy to be inside and not in the torrential mountain downpour. Hopefully, the lodge gets their roof fixed by winter… it was leaking!

After wolfing down dinner as quickly as possible and whisking the kids back to the cabin for bed, we all recharged and woke up the next morning ready to experience some nature!

Well, at least I was… everyone else was GRUMPY! Look at that pout face!!

We spent the morning at Cedar Breaks National Monument, which was totally gorgeous and we were happy to beat the rain and crowds, having arrived there early in the morning. We stopped by the ranger station, where the twins picked up their Junior Ranger Guidebooks to complete (i.e. we did the writing for them) so they could earn their Junior Ranger badges.

Cedar Breaks! Apparently, none of the trees were actually cedars as the pioneers who named the place mistook the junipers for cedars.

 

Amelia and Samantha teamed up to be in a particularly bad mood that morning, so the peaceful commune with nature I had envisioned was punctuated with tears and various complaints (I’m tired! I’m thirsty! I’m hungry!) every five minutes, but the mountain beauty and wildflowers did manage to distract them into enjoying themselves every once in a while.

    

We hiked the Sunset Trail, and identified bristlecone pines, alpine currants, marmots and wildflowers along our trek for the girls’ junior ranger booklets. Jake and I were mostly forcing them to do it, but I’m hoping they at least learned something?!

The girls were disappointed they couldn’t actually pick the wildflowers since they are used to making bouquets and bringing them home, but they still explored the wildflower fields with glee.

They asked me to take pictures of them pretending to be flowers and the POPPING out of the ground.

Meredith is a total pro at pictures. After I had snapped a few of all the girls, she continued to sit on the ground, singing, “CHEEEEEEEESE!”

We went through SO much trail mix.

Samantha the wildflower sprouts up.

Their junior ranger books asked them to write down the smells of various flowers and plants. Their standard response was that they smelled “like bees.”

Apparently, we forgot to remove the chocolate from Meredith’s portion of the trail mix.

The girls found the PERFECT teeter totter log and were begging to try it out.

What should have been a thirty minute walk was turning into an hour, with the girls stopping every two seconds to either smell flowers, point out a squirrel or sit on a log with their trail mix to “rest.” After all three girls mutinied and refused to budge, I carried on with them.

While Grammy and I waited at the end, we could hear the banshee wails of the kids become nearer and nearer, until finally, everyone made it to the overlook. We the realized we could have driven and parked at the overlook which marked the end of the Sunset Trail (but then we would have missed the wildflowers and teeter totter!)

 

   

The decision to send Jake and Grandpa back to where the cars were parked to come pick three tired and hangry girls was a no brainer. While they were gone, Grammy and I hung out at the overlook with the girls and Meredith greeted all of the incoming tourists.

Back at the ranger’s station after being picked up, the girls swore their Junior Ranger oath and received their badges. On the way back, the most exciting part of Meredith’s day was petting some random old couple’s little dog!

We made it back to the cabin just in time for more torrential rain and thunder to come pouring down!

Lots of love,

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Comments

  1. Jacob Whitehead says:

    Cedar Breaks is a gorgeous park!