Utah bound....

It was that time again to visit the great state of Utah!

We had an extra perk of going this time....seeing Ethan once again!

We decided to leave right after Roger was done with work and drive all night.

What crazy idea made us do that?

First seeing this beautiful scene as we drove west to our destination....

...but the real reason was to be at Mesa Verde at 7:30 am when they opened!

To take a tour at Mesa Verde, it was first come first serve.

We wanted to make this stop along the way, but Roger couldn't get Friday off, 

so we drove all night to get tickets for this tour.

It was amazing!

I loved the history about Mesa Verde and the Ute Indians.

It was amazing to see what they accomplished back in 600 AD and to see how well preserved it was today.

We decided to take the Balcony House Tour, only because it was the earliest we could get in for a tour.

It was to be an adventurous tour.

It was perfect for my kids......me not so much.

I didn't realize you had to climb a 30 foot ladder to get into the Balcony House.

The guides told me a three year old could climb the ladder, but they didn't mention a 40+ woman fear of heights could climb it.

I had no choice...their was no turning back.

I did it!

picture by Blake
I only had to stop half way up because I was shaking so much and was afraid I was going to slip.

My kids enjoyed laughing at my fears....I'm glad I can bring humor into their lives!

picture by Blake
After my big moment, I was in love of the beauty that I was able to see.

I was glad that I faced my fears so I was able to see what the Utes created.

Like I said, it was pretty amazing.

Afterwards, we had to climb more ladders, scale a wall and jump over some barbed wire to safely make it to the top.

Just kidding about the barbed wire, but we did have to scale a wall with only a chained link fence on both sides of us for protection.

It did not look safe, but once again I did it. 

We had a great time walking and driving around to see the sites, but we needed to keep driving.

We still were about 6 hours away from Utah.

As we drove on, Blake saw some Arches in Utah and we decided to take a break and have the kids explore the arches. I stayed back and took pictures...I met my quota for heights for the year.

We made another stop along the way and saw this place, the Hole n"the rock.

We always drove by it and never stop, but since someone had to use the bathroom, it was a perfect stop.

It was pretty creepy but cool to look at.

We finally made it to Utah.

We stopped by Ethan first to drop off all his stuff and check out his apartment and met some of his roommates.

It was great to see him again and see how he was doing.

Then we headed to Sue and Paul home and spent the week with family and friends.

We usually spend one week in Utah and one week in Idaho, but because Roger had only 5 days off, we had to cram everything and everyone into one week.

It was super crazy and super fun!!