2011 Summer Trip

We had a great family vacation this year. We started out by driving to Colorado, to see Mesa Verde, some ancient Anasazi cliff dwellings, near Durango. It was SO cool & we all had a great time. We would definitely go back again--it was our favorite part of the whole trip!
After that we headed toward the Grand Canyon, stopping at the Four Corners, and the Glen Canyon Dam, to take a few pictures.
We spent a day at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, walked along a trail, checked out the lodge & gift shop, had a picnic lunch, etc. And then we headed back to the campsite where we were staying, to change into swimsuits and go swimming at the GREAT city pool in that area. We were there for a couple of hours, and the kids all had a blast. Then we had to finish off the day with some ice cream at a local ice cream shop.
Next up on our trip was Zions Canyon. It was beautiful & we had a great time. The mile-long tunnel, heading down to the visitors center was VERY cool. Once we got to the visitors center, we got on a tour bus to go through the canyon & see some of the sights you don't get to see when you drive yourself. It was beautiful. We stopped for a little hike up to the "Weeping Rock", where water continuously runs from the rocks all year round. We all got a little wet. :) We would have loved to go on the hike to the Narrows, but we weren't really prepared for that length & type of a hike at the time. We'll have to go back again sometime & do that one. After the tour we stopped at the visitors center for lunch (they had a nice cafe there), and checked out the gift shop.
After Zions, we headed to Bryce Canyon. It was our favorite of the 3 Canyons--absolutely beautiful! The formations & bright colors are amazing! We spent a little while there, walking along the lookout points & getting some good pictures, and then we went out for dinner and went to another gift shop & let the kids pick out a souvenir.
Once we were done with our own little family vacation, we headed up to Northern Utah to spend some time with family. We spent a day with my family in Logan & had a lot of fun. We made cookies, played games, went on a picnic at First Dam, went miniature golfing, and then Grandma & Grandpa bought each of the kids a new book. It was a fun day.
The next morning, Neil & I were able to go to an early morning session at the Logan Temple, which was really nice. And then we also spent time with Neil's family in Brigham City. We went to see the movie "Kung Fu Panda 2", spent time on the farm riding the 4-wheeler, picking vegetables from the garden, checking out the cows, and then had a barbeque with Neil's siblings & their kids, and made Father's Day cards for Neil with Grandma Checketts' cricket machine. It was also a fun time.
After all of that, we headed back home. It was a great time & a fun vacation!

(The website that I usually use to make a slide show is having problems right now, so I just posted a few pictures (out of about 240) & I'll try to do a slide show later). :)