Improvisational Mother's Day Adventures

A disturbing number of our camping blog posts revolve around this theme: What are you going to remember in 10 years? The trips that went exactly to plan? Or the truly improvisational adventures? Regardless of your answer to this question, we're going to go with B because so few of our excursions go according to expectation (example: this selfsame trip last year).

Well, our Mother's Day camping trip started fine. 2 Westys, 2 dogs, 3 generations. But as completed the major climbs on Highway 6 it became obvious that Rainy (our van) wasn't going to make it. So we did some quick thinking, moved stuff betweens vans, and Mom and I, with the girls and Chorney, carried on to Goblin Valley while Steve and Dad and ChenXing stayed behind to diagnose and repair Rainy.

By the time we got to Green River, the guys had decided to return home to complete the repairs in comfort and we pressed on, hoping that the guys would join us the next day. There's no cell coverage past Green River, so all communication would be with notes left on bulletin boards and chance meetings in the millions of BLM acres. It was a foolproof plan.

We made camp in the beautiful desert sunset, did a little climbing, and wondered at this magnificent state we call home. #GirlPower

The next morning was super duper windy (as forecasted) and so we decided to do some slot canyon hiking to try and avoid the worst of the blowing sand. So we packed up and headed out to Crack Canyon, a hike we've started twice but never completed.

Hiking into the canyon

The girls love their rock climbing!

Going up and over one of the slots that was filled chest-deep with water

The tunnels and subways in Crack Canyon are so fun!

Almost to the end!

We did it! We made it to the very windy end of our hike!

The wind still hadn't really calmed down after our 6-mile hike, so we headed back to our campsite to see if the guys had arrived (they hadn't), take a quick snoozer (we didn't sleep particularly well the night before because of the wind, so a nap was a great way to pass the afternoon), and cook some dinner (we voted against cooking over the fire because of the aforementioned wind). So, we hung out in Scratchy (Mom and Dad's van) for the afternoon, caught up on our rest, and pan fried some very delicious steaks.

By the evening the wind had calmed down a bit and we decided to drive into Goblin Valley State Park to do some climbing and romping. Goblin Valley at sunset is one of the most beautiful places on earth (and one of the most fun to explore!).

Morningstar girls enjoy the sun and brave the wind

Goblin at sunset

The girls declare themselves (rightly) queens of the hill. Nobody was there to argue.

By now we figured the guys weren't coming (remember: no cell coverage). We gave the girls the option of going home, but everybody was having a lovely weekend and they wanted to stay until Sunday, so stay we did! Here we are cooking Mother's Day breakfast for ourselves... we had leftover watermelon and blueberry muffins and cooked s'mores and crescent rolls over the fire since the wind had finally calmed down enough to make a fire. It was a fantastic celebratory meal.

S'mores and crescent rolls!

And we capped off our weekend with a few miles in Little Wild Horse Canyon before hitting the road. Chorney was limping a bit and we were all feeling the previous day's miles of climbing and hiking, but Little Wild Horse is such a beautiful hike that we couldn't miss it!

So, there you have it, another Morningstar vacation gone awry. Or, as we like to think of it, another perfectly lovely improvisational adventure.

Oh, and the guys made it home safe and sound. They did a few hours of tweaking and diagnosing but ended up deciding that they had to order a part so they didn't make it down. But that's ok, there will be another chance for a "what are you going to remember in 10 years?" adventure soon. And maybe we'll actually end up wherever we intended to go in the first place.