Vacation Post #3 aka the one where we 'take baths' and hike some more

I should be doing a weekend recap post this morning, but I was too lazy to wake up early and upload my pictures. You'd think on my third time reading through The Hunger Games I could put the book down when it's getting bedtime, but no... so another vacation post!

Ok, so a few grubby, sweaty days into our trip the lady at the icecream counter was talking to us, and telling us about this creek that we should go swim in. The next morning we went to check it out - and conveniently brought our shower stuff. I felt kinda bad getting soap and shampoo in the water, it can't be good for it right? But in the end, the desire for cleanliness won out.

After our morning bath we drove over to Dead Horse Scenic Byway. We went on a mini hike to the edge of the cliff, enjoyed the view

This day was actually a pretty hard day for me. My family is awesome, and they never excluded me at all, but just that day I felt pretty alone. I had been thinking about what a great fit Andrew was in our family. Everyone loved him, and loved him for me, and for what?? So I had a little cry by the edge of the cliff, prayed and called my mom, my sister gave me a hug, and it was ok.

We went back to camp and my sister's boyfriend Johnny made dinner. Each breakfast/dinner we alternated cooking so no one person had to do it the whole time. I thought that was a really good idea. Johnny made hamburgers, altho I was almost afraid to eat them. I watched him make a big batch of hand rolled patties and then just wipe his hands off on paper towel. Ahhh! E-coli! I am a bit of a germ-ophobe after my microbiology class. I made sure my burger was extra well done, it was super tasty, and I never got sick :).

The next day was going to be our last full-day together. We went to Canyonlands National Park and did a mix of driving around and mini hikes.

One of the things that made me really want to do a southern state trip was that I really wanted to see cliff dwellings. From my research it looked like there was some of that near Moab. But the lady at the visitor's center said there was only a 'grainery' and for the big city ones that was in AZ or even CO (but not close to where my brother lives, or on our way home or anything). Bummer!!!

Lame! So teeny!

Our last hike was to Upheaval dome. The sun was going down and we wanted to make sure we got another 'bath' in before sunset.

Maybe that night was the night of the germburgers because there it was in action right in that shot!

After dinner we went downtown for one last night of ice-cream, and then another night around the campfire before bed.