Vernal Day 3

We had one family picture on this trip at Dinosaur National Monument.

This morning after breakfast we drove out to Dinosaur National Monument. The Visitor Center didn't open until nine o'clock, so we found ourselves at the old homestead at the end of the road. We did both hikes into different slot canyons. It was cool, so we were all bundled up, and these canyons weren't anything like the narrow slots we've done down south. Still, the fall leaves were beautiful and we had a nice little stroll. Both canyons echoed euphonically, and we had fun shouting into the hillsides.

Seth acted like a chicken for us, so we could get the feel of the old chicken coop.

Mom loves hiking with these handsome guys!

This trail was beautiful!

We made it to the end of the box canyon. 

Mark spotted this little hummingbird's nest. It was so tiny!

Here it is next to Randy for comparison (Randy is the big one). 

Seth needed a lot of treats and snacks this morning.

Mom and Seth recreated the picture at Josie's cabin from 7 years ago.

It's pretty close!

This was the second box canyon.

The hikes were beautiful in the Fall.

We drove back to the quarry and enjoyed the dinosaur wall. Of all the places in all of Utah's National Parks, this wall of dinosaur bones is as impressive of any of them. The boys walked around counting skulls of deceased dinosaurs. At the end, they even let you touch a few real dinosaur fossils.

We stamped our passports at the Visitor Center. Then the boys turned in their junior ranger booklets and picked out a patch. The Visitor Center is small, so we didn't spend too much time looking around.

We are always impressed with the Quarry.

Another reenactment photo. See below!

Dax was so tiny!

We loved all the fossils in Dinosaur National Monument.

Seth really loved when we were allowed to touch the fossils.

This guy makes Dad look thin!

We were ahead of schedule when we turned south to Fantasy Canyon. This site is difficult to reach, way out on Ute tribal lands, but they encourage visitors. There were a lot of animals along the road, mostly pronghorn, so the drive was nice. We were blown away when we reached Fantasy Canyon. There were the most delicately carved rock formations that we'd ever seen.

We had a picnic lunch in the shadow of a massive rock outcropping called The Witch and then hiked into the canyon. The entire area is smaller than a football field, but the rocks look like lace with different patterns, protuberances, and pinnacles pointing in all directions. We had a map that named some of the rocky faces, but mostly we named them ourselves as we walked along. Seth found a rock that looked like Jafar's staff in the Aladdin movie that he was really especially proud of. All Dad could think about was how irresponsible people will climb on this beautiful place and tear it down by the time he makes it back. Fantasy Canyon was the highlight of our trip to Vernal this year.

We were excited when we saw all of these Sandhill cranes. Then we noticed a bunch of pronghorn behind them.

Fantasy Canyon was a great spot for a picnic.

Seth is being hit by a large wave.

We loved this trail!

Camel or turtle?

The witch formation was super cool!

The rocks were all so unique.

This lizard was camoflauged to be the exact color of that bush.

Mark found a window to peek through.

Part of the trail walked right through the rocks.

Dax is making the same face as this rock.

We found a second canyon and it was even better.

Dax thought these thin slats looked like stegosaurus plates.

Look. It's a prairie dog!

Seth found this upside down T-rex skull.

The last thing on our schedule was our favorite site last time we came to this area, the Ouray National Wildlife Refuge. We'd seen thousands of birds, deer, pronghorn, bunnies, and even a few porcupines when we came six years ago. Since Mark need to do a science term project by observing and writing about a habitat, this seemed perfect.

Since we were coming from a different direction this time, we followed Siri, and she took us to the opposite side of the refuge. It was a little frustrating, and we didn't see much on the east side, but the trees were pretty, and there were a few sandhill cranes and pronghorn. We finally got around to the other side and started along a service road. We were hoping to spot those porcupines, but we only managed to see a snake slithering across the road. Finally, we switched drivers to see if Mom could drive us to a lucky spot.

We love how beautiful wildlife refuges are.

There were a lot of sandhill cranes.

We did see a few prairie dogs.

And a lot of pronghorn.

Our was beautiful in the fall.

At the observation tower we saw hundreds of ducks, geese, cranes, herons, coots, and bluebirds, but still no porcupines. Mark was taking notes on all the animals and habitats we saw, so we made sure to read each informational sign carefully. We were really taking it slow. Then, high in a tree, we saw a porcupine sitting and doing nothing, which is exactly what porcupines do. We took a few pictures and enjoyed him for a while before Dad started to wander. As he got off into the trees, he found a spot where a beaver had gnawed down trees. You could see individual tooth marks and places where the beaver or the porcupine had stripped the bark. We walked a little farther and found the chute he used to access the river. Then Dax spotted a bald eagle. Soon we saw two juvenile eagles circling. It was so pretty right there by the river with wildlife all around us. We were so glad to have seen those last few animals. Best of all, Mark got a good start on his science project.

This loggerhead shrike sang to us for a long time.

This was one of two snakes that Dad spotted.

Dad took some great action shots of this Northern Harrier.

I'm not sure how Dad spotted that porcupine because he was really hidden up there.

This is the best zoom in picture I could get, but you can definitely see his quills.

We had fun exploring around the refuge.

The chewed beaver trees were cool!

Dax spotted this bald eagle across the river. 

Then we saw two juveniles flying around.

Momma bald eagle was not going to share her tree though.

Mark and Dax are so happy out in the wild.

Seth is smaller than this fish!

Back in town we found a good restaurant, but the service was really sloppy. Three of our five orders were wrong (we said No Mustard!) and the food took forever. It was delicious, though, and the boys got ice cream for dessert. They ate it quickly because they wanted to spend time in the pool again. They were in for a surprise when we got back to the hotel and found 45 people in it, though! They squeezed in and splashed around for a half hour anyway. After showers and scriptures, they made it to bed about nine o'clock.

The food was good, but we were too hungry to wait as long as we did.

But ice cream makes everything better!