Destination: Escalante!

This year for our family vacation we decided to head south again to Kodachrome Basin and Escalante.  We were excited to go there for the first time.  Unfortunately we had to go after school got out due to the kids' school schedules so we knew it was going to be hot and it didn't disappoint.  It was VERY hot!  So we loaded up the Expedition and off we went.

We started in Kodachrome Basin.  

We got here and proceeded to set up camp.  Normally we like camping but there's one thing that they didn't put on the website and that is that at this time of year there are biting gnats.  What's a biting gnat you say?  Well they're these teeny, tiny flying insects that bite you and there are a million of them all over.  Well we brought bug spray.  That should take care of them.  Nope!  Think again.  The normal bug spray (even that with DEET in it) doesn't touch them.  At the campground there's a little general store and they said the only thing that helps is this certain bug spray that has a certain ingredient (I can't remember what it was).  So in our desperation we bought a small bottle of it for like $10.00.  Yes!  It helped...unfortunately for only like 15 minutes then the little &*#@# were back!  We called this part of our vacation, "The vacation from HE**!"  But here are some nice pictures to lure you into thinking that we had a great time while here (which we would have if it wasn't so hot - our fault - and there weren't the stupid bugs - not our fault!)

This was probably our favorite hike while in Kodachrome.  It had water and we like water on a hot day!

This one we ended up not doing because it was high up and the drop into the gorge was way long and the trail was right by the edge.  I don't recommend with little kids!

If you can't tell...this is Chimney Rock!

This was Sentinel Trail and Shakespeare Arch!  Some pretty views!

We liked this because we thought it was a person's face!  We're all about finding things in the rocks.  There will be one further down that we loved that was in our campground!

 This is the Cottonwood Wash trail.  This one was the WORST hike that we did.  It wasn't hard or ugly but this has become our worst hike ever because it was SO hot this day and you're walking in sand (no water at all on this one) and even though it's a canyon you're in the sun almost the entire time.  So no shade.  And it just kept going and going and going and - well you get the picture.  This has become our baseline for hikes, "Is it as bad as Cottonwood Wash?"

A little bit of shade!

Look at her face!!!

This was after Cottonwood Wash.  There was a small boardwalk trail to this and I can't remember the name of it.  But we had to drag the kids out of the car for this one and make them pretend they were having a good time!!!

Here it is!  The rock that looks like a llama.  We kept saying, "A llama?  He's supposed to be dead!"  If you don't know what that's from...we need to talk about your exposure to Disney movies!!!

So finally, it was our last night at Kodachrome and Curt couldn't take the bugs any longer.  He decided that we needed to enjoy at least one night there.  So we rented a cabin that was at the campground, too.  It was heaven on earth!!!  We finally got a good night's sleep while there!

Our next stop was Escalante.  This is where the Hole-in-the-Rock is.  If you don't know what that is it's a trail the Mormon pioneers made to get to the southeastern tip of the state.  It was supposed to be a shortcut but it took them longer than they anticipated.  It's pretty cool though to see what they could do to get these big wagons down a rock face.

These were our favorite hikes of the entire vacation.  They were slot canyons called Spooky and Peak-A-Boo!

More sand!  We hate hiking in sand...especially Kaylee!  She voices that quite regularly!

This was on the way to the slot canyons.  So we stopped and played on our way back.  They're rocks that you can climb and play on.  They're sandstone so your shoes are really "grippy" on them and it's fun to run on them.

Our last stop started with the Petrified Forest.  I've never seen wood that old before...at least some that's bigger than what you can hold in your hand!

I liked the colors on this one!

This was our last hike for the entire trip.  It was amazing...except for the sand...again!

I love the different colors in this one.  Lush greens on the bottom with red and white rocks in the middle then the beautiful clear blue sky on top!

Of course it's not Southern Utah without getting some pictures of petroglyphs!

This one makes me think we're hiking in the mountains...nope!

Here it is!  Isn't it beautiful!!!  The water was SUPER cold but the kids had a blast playing in it and swimming in it.  Look at how tiny they look next to the falls!

This was a different vacation.  We had highs and lows.  I'm not sure I would want to go back to Kodachrome Basin.  It's funny how a small thing like an almost microscopic bug can taint your view of a place but when I think of that place I think, "Been there; done that; don't want to do it again."  Maybe I should go back so I have better memories of it.  What's funny is that although there are a lot of pictures on this post it is only a small fraction of the pictures that we took!  We do laugh though when we think of that vacation.  I guess that's what makes them fun!