Annual Fall Drive

It's kind of silly to be writing about our annual fall drive, because we actually went on about 5 annual fall drives this year! The leaves were more beautiful than we ever remember, though, making it nearly impossible to stay out of the mountains.

Of course, we started with a drive up the Nebo Loop. We love this drive, and it is a family tradition. This year, we stopped and hiked Grotto Falls, and by some miracle we had the place all to ourselves. We found some beautiful places to take pictures and so everyone got a picture with the Fall leaves this year. Afterwards we tried something new. We stopped and had pizza at Fat Jack's in Payson. It was really good, though we still like Roy's better!

We passed a family on the way up so we were able to get a rare family picture in front of a beautiful red tree!

Dad got up close and personal with the waterfall! 

The boys have LOVED the fall leaves!

Mom's Fall picture!

Dax's Fall picture! 

Mark's Fall picture!

Seth's Fall picture!

Dad even let us take one of him!

Mom and Seth also did a drive up Provo Canyon because everyone was posting amazing Fall pictures on Instagram, and she wanted to see if it was as good as they were making it out to be. They found that the leaves were pretty awesome. First, they stopped at Bridal Veil Falls, and then they drove South Fork Road past the old Girls' Camp site. They ended at Big Springs Park where they hiked for a few minutes through the leaves. Seth kept talking about bringing the family back because it was so pretty, but we haven't made it back yet.

Seth loved stopping at Bridal Veil Falls.

I have to let him choose his pose sometimes.

We saw some wild turkeys. 

There were so many beautiful spots for pictures.

Seth and Mom really loved this area. 

We watched this worm for quite awhile and Seth worried a lot about its safety.

Our third trip took us up the Alpine Loop. We love to take a picnic on this drive. We found a favorite table right by river and managed to eat just before the thunder and lightning blew in. Then we continued up the road to Tibble Fork Reservoir, which is drained right now as they do some work on it. It was pretty interesting to see the empty reservoir. The rest of the drive was rainy, and we laughed as we drove the loop through the storm. But the leaves were still beautiful even through the rain.

Dad really enjoyed our Fall drive!

We love driving the Alpine Loop. Look at those colors! 

We always enjoy a good picnic!

Despite the rain, we found the colors were still beautiful. 

We loved how there were lots of colors right here near the river.

Fourth, we stopped and took a lot of pictures in Logan Canyon on our glamping trip to Conestoga Ranch. The fall leaves in that canyon probably had the widest variety of colors. There where beautiful oranges, deep reds, brilliant yellows, and dark purples in the river bottom. These colors stood out even more against the new fallen snow. In fact, we stopped to take so many pictures, and the boys were so tired of the interruptions, that the only thing that kept them going was a handful of snow to eat at every stop.

We love how Logan Canyon has so many spots where the trees make a tunnel over the road.

The snow was beautiful, but COLD!

There were so many beautiful colors in Logan.

After Logan Canyon, we made one final leaf drive. This trip took us to unexplored territory all the way up through a tiny town called Avon. The trees grew right over the road, and they carpeted the ground in bright yellow. Of course, at the end of the rough road we saw the spawning salmon. It was so nice that we couldn't bring ourselves to drive back to the freeway. Instead, we took a muddy trail over the mountain into Eden. The leaves weren't popping quite so much, but this is where Mark spotted the great-horned owl you can read about in our glamping post. It has been one of the greatest Falls we've ever had!

We loved the rustic feel of driving the back roads to see the Fall colors.

This photo is next to Porcupine Reservoir and we love how bright the colors are here. 

Oh my! 

Mom and Dad loved this tree! It was so beautiful. A good picture of it is on the glamping post.

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Glamping at Bear Lake

The boys loved this trip, even though it was cold and rainy the entire time.

We got the opportunity to go glamping, or glamour camping at Conestoga Ranch in Garden City in exchange for a review on Utah's Adventure Family. We'd already been to Bear Lake this year, and we have another trip planned with friends in a few weeks, but we couldn't turn down the opportunity to stay at a $300 a night resort for free. Dad even took a half day off school to get to Bear Lake early.

Unfortunately, though it has been around 80 degrees every day, the weekend we went an epic storm hit. It rained much of the night, and dropped down to the 40s. It was only around 55 degrees during the day, but the boys still thought it was the greatest vacation ever.

Mom had a lot of fun, too. Look at that smile!

We moved the table inside to play some games, but there wasn't much room!

Dax found a way to totally relax outside the tent.

We didn't make any stops on the way up, and we got to Garden City at about 4 o'clock. We checked into our tent, which was really a three room canvas tent with interior wood walls, running water, electricity, and a hardwood floor. There were 4 single beds and a king bed for Mom and Dad. There was even a shower, though we didn't use it due to the cold. The tent wasn't too bad, but even the space heater couldn't get it above 58 degrees.

We started our adventure by checking out the property. The boys enjoyed roping fake cows, riding bikes, and the arcade room. They loved the old 80s arcade games, as well as the pingpong and air hockey tables. We spent a good amount of time (and quarters) there.

Mark is getting pretty good at pingpong.

Seth makes a pretty good cowboy, even though he got whipped in the face with the rope.

For dinner, we went to LaBeaus for burgers, fries, and shakes. Then we headed back to the property. A worker came and tried to light our campfire three times, and finally got the wet wood to burn. We played games and told stories around the campfire until way to late, and then it was time to bundle the boys up and put them to bed. We buried them in blankets and comforters, but Mom had her own space heater (named Dad).

Seth smiled big when we went to LaBeaus.

Mark suffered from a ice cream headache due to too much chocolate shake!

We played Sorry Card Revenge, which is one of our favorite games.

Seth was ready to go to bed when we arrived. The boys had to snuggle pretty tight, but they slept well.

The night was great, even though rain drummed on the tent much of the night. None of the boys woke up in the night, and everybody stayed pretty warm. The next day we woke up early and went to breakfast at the restaurant at Conestoga Ranch. It was a lot of food, and more than we would normally pay, but since the stay was free, we didn't feel too bad about it.

The only thing we paid for was breakfast at the restaurant and the arcade room.

That scramble is right up Dad's alley!

After a bike ride in which Seth and Dad rode a bicycle built for two and Dax rode a bike that was way too big for him (without crashing!) we packed up and they loaded us back in the car. We hadn't brought much, which was nice.

We had a great time on the bike ride, and luckily, there were no accidents.

Dax had fun on the bike that was way too big for him.

This was our final photo. Mark and Dax thought they were pretty creative.

Mom had some adventures planned for the way home, and we made the best of them. First, we went through Hyrum and a tiny town called Avon up to a lake called Porcupine Reservoir. The leaves were beautiful, and we took about 100 pictures between Logan Canyon and the reservoir. The real reason for visiting, though, was to see the kokanee salmon spawning. Sure enough we found them, and it was amazing! Brilliant red fish were thick in the river, and we ran up and down the muddy banks, excited to see each one. It was a highlight of the trip.

It sure was beautiful in the canyons near Bear Lake. This is in Logan Canyon.

It was the first snow of the season, and the boys ate plenty of it.

Mom is in the background taking pictures of the beautiful yellow leaves in Logan Canyon.

The white snow really helped the colors pop.

We were really amazed to see the salmon swimming up the river.

The boys loved hiking down along the river, and we mostly stayed out of the mud.

They were as brightly colored as goldfish!

Dax pulled out a rare smile for a photo.

We walked along the river for about a quarter mile and saw dozens of salmon.

We could see the fish, and they could see us. They'd swim away if we got too close.

This year has been the best we remember for fall colors. This is Porcupine Reservoir.

The leaves were super-bright. We made a lot of stops along the way.

After looking at the map, we decided to get a little crazy, and we saw a road that ran from Avon behind the mountain to Eden. It looked small, and it was sure to be muddy, but we wanted to dare it. After the first muddy hill, we almost turned around, but we were glad we didn't when we Mark shouted, "Owl!" and sure enough, there was a great-horned owl about 25 yards off the road in an old deadfall. We watched it for a good 20 minutes, and everyone was really happy. We won't be forgetting that experience for a while.

The rode over to Liberty & Eden was really pretty-- and not too muddy.

The blue sky, white clouds, evergreens, and reds, oranges, and yellows are so beautiful.

Mark made an amazing spot that will go down in Ockey history!

We stopped in Eden at a restaurant called Kirt's that Mom hadn't eaten at since she was a kid and had more restaurant food. Then we returned home. It was a really great trip, and another chapter in our family adventures.