Cedar City trip

Last year after we visited my friend Rachael in Canada, we wanted so much to get together again! She was planning to come to Utah this summer for a family reunion, and we thought maybe we could plan something around that—and then we thought it wouldn't work out—and then we thought it would again—and finally we booked a condo down near Cedar City and made plans to go to the Shakespeare Festival and let our families spend time together again! We were so excited!

Then the pandemic hit, and everything was uncertain—though we had hope things would be better in July. But of course, when July came…nothing was better. The Shakespeare Festival was cancelled, the border was closed, and we were SAD.

But. We still had the condo rental we couldn't cancel without a fee, so (without Rachael! *sniff!*) we went to Cedar City anyway. It's a beautiful place to visit. A relatively short drive away, but different enough to feel interesting. Sam's sister lives there, too! We pass through fairly frequently on our way to other places, but we haven't actually stayed there for almost ten years! Our last trip there was when Junie was a baby!

We actually stayed in Brian Head, which is a ski resort town in the mountains above Cedar City. It's up at 10,000 ft. altitude, and when I went running, I could tell! I thought I was used to high altitude, but 4400 ft. doesn't really compare, I guess. I was dying on the hills! It was really beautiful, though. Seb ran there too (much faster and farther than me) and it was fun to pass each other and wave.

Mornings really are the prettiest time in the mountains!

I love watching the sun start to light the tops of the trees.

Some parks were closed for the pandemic, but Cedar Brakes, just up the road from Brian Head, was still open. I've always loved Cedar Brakes—it's like Bryce Canyon, but smaller. I think it's more impressive in some ways because of how much color variation there is in the formations. It worked out well, anyway, because there are lots of viewpoints and not as much hiking. Since we hadn't brought the hiking backpack for Gus, that suited us nicely!

The meadows up at the top of the mountains are just as pretty as the cliff views, I think!

Same view. Different children. Well…some of them.

The condo we stayed in was cute. It had several little tucked-away beds to fit lots of people in a small space! We would have fit with Rachael's family…but it would have been pretty tight. Even without them, it was cozy! My favorite room was this sunroom with the fold-up bunk beds. It was hot during the day, but so pretty with the sun streaming in! And you could see the stars at night!

Abe took two beds…one for him, one for his board game.

It's always nice to see the kids playing together.

We also appreciated that the condo had a pool! It felt so nice to swim after being outside in the hot weather. Even Gussie liked it. He was cold and shivery in the pool, but then I got in the hot tub and let his feet dangle in, and he warmed right up and started to splash everyone enthusiastically!

The next morning I drove up the mountain a little ways so I wouldn't have quite so far to run uphill. The uphill still felt plenty long! Sebastian ran all the way up and beyond, to the first Cedar Brakes overlook. But I was happy to stop as soon as the wildflowers and the views got really pretty.

I sat on a rock in the middle of a meadow and watched the sun rise. It was so beautiful, watching the light warm up the highest peaks, then the treetops, then the grasses. The air was a little chilly, but became gloriously warm the moment the sun reached my back.

I lost track of time up there and returned to a starving baby. Luckily he'd been somewhat pacified by Sam feeding him gallons of applesauce. But he still seemed a bit put out at having to wait for his morning milk instead of having it instantly given to him the moment he began squeaking for it.

Another place we visited was Navajo Lake—well, we just overlooked it. It's a beautiful area up Cedar Canyon. We drove past the lake and onto Mammoth Caves, which are lava tubes you can climb into and explore. We remembered really liking them the last time we'd visited. Unfortunately, the biggest cave was closed for the pandemic, but some of the smaller ones were still open and the kids had fun scrambling through a couple. I was glad there was one you could walk through mostly upright—with a little crouching—since crawling through caves on my hands and knees (or belly!) is not really my favorite thing these days, or ever for that matter. :)

I always love seeing the cave formations, like this "cave popcorn."

Sam and I and Abe did a short hike past some bristlecone pines, leaving grumbling kids in the car. Sam loves trees and bristlecone pines are some of the most interesting!

We also went agate hunting at a spot near Brian Head. When we drove by the first day, Sam said, "This looks like a place we could find agates!" so we determined to come back and look. Sam's rock instincts were spot-on, as usual, and we had such a great time climbing around finding these beautiful treasures. It's hard to believe such beautiful crystals and colors are just made by natural processes! (You can see what some of these look like after being polished, here.)

Junie picked a big handful of these tiny daisies for Daisy.

Ziggy kept up a nonstop commentary on everything we saw in the car. We couldn't stop laughing at him. He talked plenty himself, but he also talked for his bunny Boutros, and for his two imaginary friends, Bunny and Monster. Monster, I am sorry to say, is not very well-behaved, but we're working on him!

Honestly, it was all so cute that it was TOO MUCH, and kind of a relief when he fell asleep (his cuteness wore Abe out too, apparently).

We found a park we liked in Cedar City, and had picnics there a few different times. We met Sam's sister and her kids one evening, which was fun. That yellow slide in the background there is The Fateful Slide, though. Our last night in Cedar City, after we had dinner, Teddy was sliding down that slide and bent his leg backwards at a weird angle. Daisy says she heard a "crack"…though she didn't say so at the time. All we knew was that Teddy was crying and crying and couldn't walk to the car. He was actually really brave, and patiently waited to be carried everywhere after that…into the condo, out to see the stars late that night, back to bed, and into the car to drive home the next day. We gave him a priesthood blessing the night it happened and he slept pretty well with a pillow under his leg. When we got home we went to the doctor and found out he'd broken his tibia! Poor little guy.

Evening sun at the park, as I sat nursing Gus. This was probably right when Teddy's leg was breaking. :(

There was some smoke in the air, which made the sunset red and hazy. It was so pretty over the pine trees and the red rock!

We went out to see the stars, which were totally amazing away from city lights. I didn't have the nice camera or a tripod, and photos never do them justice anyway, of course, but while we were looking, an owl flew right over us and perched on a tree nearby! It was really cool. We looked at the Milky Way with binoculars and saw bright clusters of stars where our eyes could only see one spot. That was really cool too.

So, even without Rachael and even without getting to see a Shakespeare Play, we had a great time, and we felt really lucky to be able to go anywhere this year! Such a fun trip!