Fish Lake and Capitol Reef National Park

Our friends (the ones we bought our house from) invited us to their cabin for a few days. We were there Wednesday, August 11 and went back home Friday the 13th. I had been to the cabin twice before, in 2000 and 2003. My husband, with Josh and others, had been there more than twice. I have good memories of those fun times, and I wrote a lot in my journal about them. Now most of the group are married and/or couldn't get off work, but it was fun with just Josh's family and ours.

Actually, my husband and I planned on bringing our kids, but the day before, we decided it would be really nice not to. So this was the last time I saw the girls until more than 48 hours later. (The longest I had been away the little one during the day was eight hours. That was only two or three times in her life, and the person who babysat brought her to me halfway through so she could nurse.) I'm so grateful we were able to have this little vacation. Of course our girls were just fine, and enjoyed sleeping over at Grandma's with two of their aunts.

We bought food for the cooler (gotta love shopping without kids), and traffic was good. We love having Google Maps on our iPhone! We got to the cabin at 4:30, which gave us about four hours to ourselves before Josh's family arrived. Mobile phone service isn't available, so as D called his step-mom to check on the kids I got another phone booth shot.

We went in the lodge and played a Simpsons arcade game. (It needed cleaning -- ew! -- but we played it anyway.) It's funny that alcohol isn't allowed, but they do have old empty bourbon bottles. Then we ate dinner there; it was tasty except for my salad. We like to sit next to each other in a booth instead of across from each other. We read a little before our server brought our meals. (Yes, I take a lot of pictures.)

I'm glad we don't bathe in something like that!

I would have played this if it weren't for the sign.

Maybe next time we'll sit and rock.

We drank these Thursday night with our grilled chicken, spinach salad, and baked potatoes. Mmm.

Wednesday night, Kristi and Josh helped us work on the 1000-piece puzzle we had started before they arrived.

Thursday morning . . . with beautiful sunlight.

Josh had stayed up late to complete the house. By the time we left, we still hadn't finished the trees. They were so hard!

French toast, bacon, and fruit for breakfast on Thursday. He's a great cook. (Friday morning there isn't a picture, but Kristi made German aka "rollercoaster" pancakes.)

 

We caravaned to Capitol Reef National park after breakfast. It's about an hour away.

We decided to do one of the shorter hikes.

I love this wall.

All of us! (D put the camera on a rock and used the timer.)

My sweetheart and I sharing earbuds while the kids rested.

Hickman Bridge, the focus of this hike. (Josh took this picture)

Hickman bridge

The shade was perfect as we ate sandwiches. We'd gotten hot, thirsty, and hungry.

Petroglyphs by the Fruita area

Friday morning. It's fun to sit up here, between two bedrooms, and look down into the living room. We talked about how it would take a long time to read all the books and magazines that are in the cabin.

The boys enjoyed watching D play his cat physics game.

This tree between the lodge and the lake was really cool.

A man fishing in Fish Lake (my dad always thought fishing was very boring, so he never took us fishing). We all walked around a little and skipped rocks before going home. Unfortunately the two of us didn't have time to rent a boat.