Dinosaur National Monument

I had a run an errand Sunday evening, discovered that the van battery was dead, like gone. I am glad the bad battery was discovered the night before we left instead of when we needed to leave. Justin hooked up a battery conditioner and it charged all night. In the morning the car barely started, but it did. Sunday evening and Monday morning was a chaotic flurry of packing, unpacking, repacking, and kids trying to cope with excitement. We left around 9:30 am to head down to Denver for Mia's doctor appointment. The kids were so loud and obnoxious, Justin and I about turned back for home. As we headed south Justin noted a strong pull to the right, due to alignment or tire issues. It was so bad we stopped in Sterling at a tire store. The guys popped us ahead of the line and addressed our van issues. We headed out with tires rotated back the way they were a week ago, a strange wear pattern on the front tires caused the pulling. They installed a fresh new battery since they had them and the van needed it. Soon after we got back on the road Phillip had to pee. He used the pee bottle. Everett had to pee next, he was not adroit with the bottle, so peed on his shirt, spilled the bottle of pee on the van carpet, and stepped in the mess. We were notified of the damage when Phillip yelled: "Everett! Don't step in the pee puddle!!!" Words you never want to hear on a car trip. It smelled like a sewer in the back. We stopped for lunch at Chic-fil-a then jammed down to Children's Hospital. Mia and I got there with a bit of time to spare, thanks to Justin's forethought and planning. She enjoyed playing around in the recording studio, she got to play a Lindsey Stirling song on the radio. Dr G was quite impressed with Amelia's progress. The x-ray showed the ball of her femur is more rounded, still flatter than normal, but in much better shape then expected. The cut site is fully remodeled and healing well. Dr G gave Amelia the green light for full physical activity with obvious limitations. Any pain and she is to stop that activity. The next surgery will be in May. Amelia's range of motion is exceptional for a Perthes kid. Yay! Prayer works.

Justin picked us up and we headed towards Utah on I-70. Our afternoon and evening drive was ever so long. I hate getting a start on road trips so late in the afternoon. This was Josie's first real road trip as a baby, the trip at 3 months did not count since she was in the sleepy newborn stage. Gah! She was a pill, hated being in her carseat after the sun went down. Poor kid cried most of the way to Vail, CO. I nursed her several times which put a temporary halt on the crying. We had dinner at a pizza joint in Vail. I've always wanted to visit Vail, so that was quite fun. We enjoyed the Christmas lights most of the large hotels had on already. Gratefully, Josie fell asleep for a couple hours around 8:30 pm. Justin left I-70 at the small towns of Rifle, Antlers, and Silt. Part of Road 64 turned into a dirt road right around 9:45 pm. We both looked at each other with a bit of apprehension in our eyes as we read: Road ends here. Still, Google Maps directed us correctly and we made it to Vernal by 10:30. Justin was adamant, wanting everyone to know we were NOT lost, just concerned over the dirt road and falling snow/rain. I saw a glimpse of the Tree of Life way out there in the boondocks. Someone had dressed up a weeping willow with about a million white lights. It was quite breathtaking. Josie remained asleep in her carseat by some miracle through the transfer from the van to our room and the kids settling in. She slept until 2 am. I was quite concerned because she had never slept like that before. I had to check on her several time to ensure she was warm and breathing. She popped awake for 2 hours, from 2 until 4 am. She and I spent a lovely time in the lobby exploring pen cups, decorative centerpieces, the pool, the exercise center, and snacking on free apples. Evelyn was quite the beast to get back to sleep after the room transfer. She only wanted to sleep in a bed with both Justin and I. Then she wanted to sleep on the floor. She stole my pillow and gave me the upholstery one instead. Gah, I am reminded once again how much I despise sleeping with kids in strange situations. Terrible, terrible night of sleep. Course they were all awake by 7 am, maybe even 7:30.

We ate breakfast and changed out of our rumpled traveling clothes into fresh outfits. Next time (if that EVER happens) I want to take the southern route during the day. We missed all the beauty because it was dark outside. The girls got to bathe in the tiny hotel kitchenette sink. It was so small! As we traveled back to Dinosaur National Monument we got to see some of what we missed the night before. We stopped at the main visitor center to pay the fees and get maps. The kids were quite grumpy and loud. Several other visitors stared grumpily at us while Evelyn threw a loud tantrum.  We drove out to the Dinosaur Quarry Exhibition Hall to see the Carnegie Quarry. The preserved wall contains the remnants of over 1,500 fossils. The area was an ancient river bed, a sort of traffic jam of bones that were washed down river and deposited in one place. Entire skeletons, roughly still in proper form were discovered there in 1909. Scientists finally had a reference point to assemble other dinosaur bones into full skeletons. I think about 14 species were discovered at the quarry including: allosaurus, apotosaurus, barosaurus, stegosaurus and diplodocus. Viewing the wall was quite awe inspiring! The kids touched real ancient fossils still imbeded in the wall. Phillip is our dinosaur enthusiast, he was in heaven! Everett and Amelia loved the digitized fossil program that identified the fossils peeking out of the wall. Evelyn was not so happy, she tried to take a cat nap in a ray of sunshine on the floor. She actually hissed at me when I tried to move her out of the way. Next we drove on the Tour of the Tilted Rocks auto tour. Justin stopped several times at points of interest with ancient petroglyphs. The kids played a game of caveman, which fit right into everyone's current mood. They made me laugh with their ape-like behavior. We stopped at Josie Basset Morris' homestead. Gracious, that place was magical. We stepped from desert to wooded mountain in a matter of a mile. The kids raced around exploring her cabin. Evelyn would not leave the cabin, she was quite intent on playing house inside. The smell there was absolutely divine, a woodsy smell that made us all happy. I was quite impressed with the National Park.

We dined at Cafe Rio much to Amelia's dismay. She grumbled the entire time about her delicious meal. The rest of us enjoyed our delicious meals. We tried to ensure every other meal Amelia ate during the trip made her upset. Stinker. We drove another 5 hours to James and Miekka's home in Eagle Mountain. The kids were out of the van before it properly stopped and parked. I am not sure all the kids were together again at the same time for the next 2 days.