Ockey Family Adventures: Kanab Weekend

We loved Kanab. It was beautiful!

The city of Kanab and the local animal shelter reached out and asked us to visit them. We were excited to do so because they had some nice adventures planned for us, and we had some things we wanted to do, too. So, we took a half day off school on Friday, packed up the new van, and made the 4 hour drive.

We didn't go directly to the hotel. Instead, we stopped at a familiar restaurant and had dinner. The boys ate really well, and they especially enjoyed the banana and chocolate cream slices of pie.

We were hungry!!!

After we finished eating, we had one short, very steep hike. We'd heard that there was a nice set of dinosaur tracks just north of town. The trail wasn't long, but it climbed straight to the top of a rocky butte. We went pretty fast because it was getting close to sunset, but we weren't puffing too hard when we got to the top. We had a nice time walking around the flat, black rock on top of the butte looking for tracks. Some were easy to find in rings of pebbles. Others were less obvious. We found over a dozen, though, so it was a lot of fun. We made it back to the hotel about dark.

The hike was fun even though it climbed straight up.

Seth has a bunch of fun poses on this trip.

These smiles are a little better!

Here is one of the best dino footprints.

The views from the top were beautiful.

These tracks were pretty good.

Mark snapped this pic of Dax and Mom taking pics and videos.

We were staying at a pet hotel. Seriously, it was a hotel for pets. There were dog beds and bowls, and a walking area. There was even a free vegan breakfast. But the hotel was clean, and the beds were nice. The people were even nicer, and we enjoyed the firepit for a few minutes on that first night.

Our hotel was very nice!

On Saturday morning we were up early for our visit to the Best Friends Animal Shelter. We took a three hour tour that had us surrounded by animals. First we visited the pigs. They were pretty indifferent to us. Mostly they just stood and grunted while we stroked them gently, but one kept rubbing his teeth together making a grinding noise. Next we drove around the entire facility. We saw a place for horses, another for rabbits, and a large graveyard for pets that have passed. It was inspiring to think that the whole sanctuary had been built up over the last 40 years to show love and respect for animals. The final stop was to meet the dogs and cats. We liked petting and holding the cats, but the dogs were much better at trying to convince us to take them home. Unfortunately, Dad had made sure that we were all clear on the fact that we would remain a family of five.

We had such a fun time exploring this sanctuary.

These pics are like big puppies.

The sanctuary is in a beautiful place.

Mom loved the views in Kanab.

We loved our tour.

The boys are so good at taking pics for Mom now.

We loved holding all of the kitties!

Seth snuggled each of the cats.

This dog loved Mark!!

While at the shelter, we had a free lunch. The vegan buffet was part of the tour. Mark was not too happy about it, but we all did our best, and the food turned out to be pretty good. Mark even managed to eat three pieces of cake, so he didn't end up too hungry.

There was a hike that we wanted to do on the sanctuary called Hidden Lake. It was easy and flat because it was at the end of a nice sandy road. Luckily, it wasn't too hot in Kanab in September. We didn't see an eighty degree temperature all weekend. When we arrived at the lake, we were surprised. It was entirely hidden in an underground alcove. It was extremely small, but it seemed like a lot of water there in the desert.

The rock formations were so cool at Hidden Lake.

The Hidden Lake is behind the boys in the hole.

The water was crystal clear.

Next we drove out east of Kanab. We went all the way to the Visitor Center for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. We spent a few minutes in the small Visitor Center looking at the dinosaur bones and fossils on display, and then started on our way back with some specific hikes in mind. Just outside the Visitor Center, we stopped for a really large rock with a hole in it. We only spent a few minutes, and it wasn't a walk, but it was pretty cool.

Big Water had some great dinosaur exhibits.

Seth and Mom enjoyed this museum the most.

Our first hike was called the Toadstool. It was short and flat, too. There was one really big, impressive toadstool and several smaller ones. The photos were pretty great at this hike, but we were watching updates about BYU football, and they were getting hammered, so that took a little something away from the feeling of the hike.

The toadstool hike had lovely rock layers.

Seth loves his new muscle pose!!

This hike was flat and easy.

The clouds made all our pictures look awesome.

The red toadstool stands out with the white rocks behind it.

Mom loves adventuring with Dad.

Another fun Seth pic!

The next hike was pretty cool, though. We drove out a fairly rough road and parked near a wash. Then we walked up the wash for about half a mile to a rock formation called the Nautilus. Along the way, we spotted a really cool weather balloon thousands of feet up. We chuckled as we noticed that it looked like a man with outstretched arms, and hypothesized that it might be the end of the world. We also found some cool iron concretions that looked like chunks of iron ore laying in the middle of the red and white rocks. The Nautilus was awesome, too. It was a round, white slide that looked really cool.

This trail had a bunch of mud on it!

The nautilus was such a cool rock formation.

Mom had to slide down to the bottom!

We liked this quick hike.

The weather balloon we spotted.

Our last hike was to a small slot canyon with stacks of old cars holding up the highway. This one was really short, but interesting, too. It started down through a small slot canyon called Cat Stairs. About half way down, we came across the car stacks. They were cars from the 1970's and older, and we enjoyed looking at the models. The boys even spotted a big collared lizard living right in a Chevy Impala. We continued down the narrow slot canyon, but there were a few drops, and we turned around after Dad had to drop down, boost Dax up, and then shimmy up the walls. It was a really fun hike, though.

There were two different car stacks.

The collared lizard loved the shady home.

The slot canyon was fun to explore, too.

Seth might have dropped a rock into a pool of water and ended up covered in mud.

Mom loves when the boys work together to get places.

This hike was in a beautiful slot.

We hurried back to town for dinner at a fancy restaurant, and they told us the wait would be thirty minutes. Then they seated us two minutes later. We enjoyed a nice free meal, and afterward, we had a good dessert. The boys were excited because it was non-vegan.

When we got back to the hotel we took turns showering. Meanwhile, there was a live musician outside our room, so we took turns watching the guitarist sing and play some country tunes. Then we turned in early because we had an early adventure.

Some of us liked trying the new vegan food.

The boys were really excited for Saturday morning because we had a guided tour to a slot canyon. We piled into an old beat up Yukon and drove to a road that was basically a light red sand dune. Our guide, Keiran, lowered the tire pressure and then took us careening down the road through the deep sand. It was a pretty exciting ride. Since Kieran was a geologist, he talked to us a lot about fossils, layers, and other features along the way. Finally, he pulled up at a narrow slot canyon called Peek-a-Boo, but not the one we've visited before. It was a gorgeous slot canyon that we wouldn't have been able to access without the guide, so we were really grateful. He took some nice family pictures and helped us along the way. It was the highlight of the trip.

After our tour, we had an hour before we needed to leave, so we took a short drive through Johnson Canyon. It was not a very eventful ride, but it passed the time. Then we made the long drive home. It was just the getaway we needed!