Vernal and Steamboat

On Friday afternoon we picked up Shawn from work at about 4:30 and headed out of town.  We ate dinner at Daniels Summit and arrived in Vernal that night (about 3 hours from SLC).  The next morning we drove out to the dinosaur quarry.  I thought it was super cool.  There were hundreds of bones in the side of the mountain and they had build this building around the bones.  We looked at the bones for a while and then we went on a small (1.5 mile) hike that we got to see some more fossils in the rocks.

After visiting the Quarry we kept driving to Steamboat.  We stopped in Craig to get a quick bit and then continued on to Steamboat.  We pulled into town at about 2:00.  The Wilkens had got there about an hour before us.  The Zimmermans Condo was AWESOME.  It was very nice with tons of room.  The kids had their own bunk bed room with their own playstation in the room.  Cruz thought that was pretty amazing!  We decided to go swimming at the pool at the place.  Cruz and Max really get along well and Alegra and Caden really play well together.

 Nick!

That night we went to the Steamboat Rodeo.  We ended up just eating there because we thought that would be easier.  They had some pretty good barbecue.  There was a little park the kids played at while we waited for the Rodeo to start.  In the middle of the rodeo they had a couple of activities for kids.  A frisbee throwing contest and then a contest to get a ribbon off of a calf (for the older kids) and a sheep (for the younger kids).  That was the highlight of the rodeo for the kids.  It was so funny to watch all the kids running around!

 Dinner!

 The calf chase- 6 to 12 year olds

 The sheep chase - 0-5 year olds (Lexi didn't participate, she was too busy washing our bench in the stands with me)

On Sunday we did a short hike to a really beautiful waterfall....more swimming and then we had dinner at home with a night session of swimming.  Oh we also made s'mores before night swimming. The place provided the s'more stuff and the fire pit.  Pretty cool idea.

 Hanging out!

 Playing on the playstation!

Eating time!

On Monday we took the Gondola up to the top of the ski hill and did a short hike.  Shawn rode his mountain bike both morning really early and saw a bull moose Sunday morning and then both mornings he saw a brown bear.  He was able to show us the area he saw the bear from the gondola.  The boys had a blast building a fort in this one area.  We ate lunch up at the top with a beautiful view.   After lunch we headed back down for a little swimming and then we packed up and headed home about 3:00.  It took us just over 6 hours to get home with a short dinner break in Vernal.  It was fun to hang out with the Wilkens and enjoy a new place.  I really liked Steamboat Springs!

 Big Browny after lunch!