Happy Anniversary

Yesterday David and I celebrated 12 years of wedded bliss. (barf)

And to celebrate we went to Vernal, Utah. Vernal?! Might as well celebrate our 13th in Barstow, CA.

The kids and I (in our usual fashion) tagged along with David on a business trip. The plan was to take care of things in Vernal, 3 hours away, and then backtrack and eventually make our way to Park City for dinner and shopping.

The drive to Vernal starts off great, winding through the mountains. But eventually in flattens out and so does the scenery. It appears that the income is low in the little towns and the living situations are poor, like the warehouse with a dilapidated mobile home attached and an old metal swing set nearby in the "yard".

After a little shopping with the kids while we waited for Dad to get his work done, and then checking out the Vernal temple, we discovered that the Dinosaur National Monument was close. Too close to not go. We hadn't done any research, so we didn't know what to expect, and with the Park City dinner plans at stake, it was sort of a risk. But totally worth it.

Dinosaur National Monument is east of Vernal, and the view is breathtaking. Ranches are tucked in and around the park, so for miles you can see bright green pastures surrounded by rolling hills.

After a little presentation from the park ranger and an explanation about the now-closed Visitor Center because it was built on clay that is now shifting, we took a short hike to see some dinosaur fossils.

Hundreds of lizards and many un-afraid bunnies greeted us on the trail.

The heights on this hike weren't nearly as bad as last week's hike to Mill Creek Canyon, but the trail was narrow-er which had me a little (ahem) edgy.

We found the promised fossils. Maddie's hand is resting on the bottom of a dinosaur leg bone.

And tucked in the shadow above her head here (horizontally) is a vertibrae.

In attempt to not crash the world's blogging system, part 2 of the trip is below.