Mt. Timp Adventure

Sometimes we talk about how fun it is to go new places and see new things, but we want to make sure that we don't miss out on the cool things that are right in our back yard. My sister Melissa organized a weekend for our Walker family to go camping up American Fork and then hike up to the Timpanogos Cave. My dad borrowed my Grandpa's motorhome and it was awesome. We were especially grateful for it when it started to rain. We found an awesome little spot to stay, ate some yummy dinner, built a campfire (after things dried out a little bit), and told stories about our childhood. The kids went to bed decently well, with only a few minor threats about going to sleep "or else". (Ha, kidding, kind of.) 

One of my favorite things that came up while we were talking about memories from camping when we were younger, was how my dad would let us go hiking and exploring around the campsite on our own. One specific campsite had this big circle hiking trail that started on one side and went up and curved all the way around, placing us back at the campsite. We thought we were SO awesome, because we got to go hike all by ourselves while our parents stayed at camp. Turns out my dad would follow us (far enough behind that we couldn't see him) up and around the curve, then when he knew that we'd be able to make it back safely he'd run back the other way and be so proud of us when we got back to the campsite. He wanted us to be independent and gain a love for the outdoors, but in his words "I wasn't going to just let my kids wander off into the forest!" I'm so grateful for this good man. (And also for my mom who did so much to take five kids camping year after year, because now that we are the adults we are realizing that camping is a lot of work.) 

The next morning we hung out around the campsite, ate some yummy food, then headed to the Mt. Timpanogos hike. We took all the kids, except Jason who stayed in the motorhome with my mom. They were such troopers! The hike was way longer and harder than I had expected, but it was also more beautiful and rewarding than I had expected, too. 

I can't believe I didn't take a single picture inside of the actual cave. It was amazing. Beautiful, otherworldly, and really really cool. It's one of those times that if we had gone to something like this a thousand miles away it would have been the highlight of our trip but it was only 20 minutes away! We live in such a beautiful place. I'm glad that we were able to go adventuring. 

Did I mention that the hike was pretty hard?  The website says that it's a "Strenuous 1 1/2 mile paved trail, which rises 1,092 ft to an elevation of 6,730 ft." But Lydia hiked the whole thing like a champ! David carried Austin the whole time, and I carried Caleb. We make a pretty good family-team, especially when we have aunts and uncles who are willing to hike with Lydia and make sure she's safe (and basically run down the side of the mountain when she decides that she has to go potty halfway down). So glad that we were able to do this awesome weekend with my family.

2017 Vacation: Craters of the Moon

The drive from Castle Rocks State Park is....well, let's just say not a common path. It made for a fun little drive though some little towns. It included some turns down some very unused country roads. As usual, our kids did great in the car. 

First stop was at the Craters of the Moon, Visitor Center. I'm not sure if everyone else really stops and stays at the visitor center, but I'm sure we always will. I remember growing up that we always made our first stop at the visitor center. My dad would go up and talk to the Rangers and get maps and talk for a while. Meanwhile I would wander around, watch the movies and look for some souvenir to buy. Well, apparently things don't change, except now I was the one talking to the rangers while the kids found a bunch of stuffed toys they wanted to buy. Then we went and looked at the exhibits and watched the video. Lydia has wanted to see a "real live" volcano for a long time. In fact, she specifically mentioned that she wanted to see flowing lava. We were hoping that this trip would be enough to satisfy her. She loved watching the video about the volcanoes and got really excited to see the lava and explosions. I think it ended up being everything Lydia dreamed to get the real volcano experience.

                          

                              

                           

The kids also loved making the souvenir pennies. 

We knew that on a hot summer day in black rock, it would be really hot, but we brought plenty of water. We really wanted to go into the caves that are formed as lava flows and so we went to the closest cave called Dew Drop cave. The formations and the endless lava rock were incredible to see.

One of my favorite things is watching Austin walking along trails. He has such a great little walk and he kind of sways back and forth. He always is ready to do things by himself and he walked the whole trail with no problem. It is fun to hear all the things he has to say about what he sees and he has such a fun little smile.

Lydia is such a great little explorer and wanted to check everything out. She would point out plants growing in the rocks and loved looking at anything she could find. 

The cave was perfect. It was the closest and smallest cave on the trail, but it was actually perfect for our little family. There were two sides with two separate caves and we took about 45 minutes exploring them. It was perfect getting out of the hot sun. Both Lydia and Austin climbed down into the cave all by themselves.

Also- props to Shantel for carrying Caleb the whole way, including down into the cave. 

I love this picture! It was so fun helping Austin climb up and I love seeing Lydia up ahead balancing on the rocks. 

How cute is this? Lydia just started doing this where she gives you a thumbs up.

After the cave hike, we had one more big thing on our Craters of the Moon list, to look inside a volcano. Lydia has wanted to look down into the volcano. Most of the hills in the area are actually what use to be volcanoes, but they are pretty big and don't really have centers that you can look down into lava. However, there are also "Spatter Cones" that form as the volcano is finishing it's eruption. These look like mini-volcanoes and were perfect. We went to two of the Spatter cones and looked down into what used to be a volcano. The kids especially loved "snow cone", which was a splatter cone that is filled year round with snow that never melts (which was especially crazy because it was easily in the high 90s if not over 100 degrees - yet only ten feet down there was a whole pile of snow.) 

The Craters of the Moon trip was perfect. It honestly looks like the volcano could have happened two weeks ago, even though the last one was about 2000 years ago.

We hopped back in the car and headed home. We stopped in a small town on the way home and made some little pizzas and let the kids play at the park. Being on vacation with Shantel and Lydia and Austin and Caleb is one of my favorite things in the world. It was such a great trip.