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We’d planned Saturday to be a big day, and it was!

We started with breakfast at the hotel, then we drove down to Provo to give the boys a quick tour of BYU. Of course, we don’t know enough about BYU to make it a real tour, so instead we went to the campus bookstore. Each of the boys got a T-shirt, Tom got a hat (which he hasn’t taken off for longer than an hour or so), and Arlene bought some craft stuff– mission accomplished. After BYU, we swung back up I-15 and stopped at the Ikea store long enough to get me a refill of Swedish salt licorice. I still prefer the little licorice mints I got when in Norway, but Ikea’s a lot closer. One more craft-store stop and then it was time for a break at the hotel.

After the hotel, we loaded up the car (and cameras) to head out to Antelope Island State Park. Despite the 95° heat, the boys were all in good spirits, and why not? The entrance to the park is a 7-mile-long causeway that connects the island proper to the mainland. As we expected after reading the park brochure, there were masses of birds flying around the causeway area; once we got onto the island proper, we hit the beach. We discovered that skipping stones in a lake that ranges from 4%-33% salinity (seawater is about 3%) is challenging because they tend to bounce right out when you skip them. We also discovered clouds of brine flies nesting on the rocks of the beach. It was really something to see the clouds move in unison when disturbed– sort of spooky, actually.

We hadn’t told Matt, but Antelope Island is home to a substantial herd of buffalo (err, bison). We drove over to Buffalo Point and took the trail up to Buffalo Point. It’s only about 650′ AGL, but it was quite a hike for Matt and Tom. They’re now bona fide mountain climbers, and we have pictures to prove it. Sadly, the restaurant was closed so we couldn’t have a buffalo burger. We did drive around the loop road in an attempt to see the herd, which was parked up on a ridgeline with no road access. One old bull was right near the fenceline, so we got a good look at him. That made everyone so happy that we had to stop at Dairy Queen on the way home 🙂

We got to Vernal and found the Holiday Inn Express with no trouble. There are 10 or so hotels in Vernal, and all of them were full except for this one. It turns out that the natural gas industry is booming in Vernal, so all of the hotels are normally full. This Holiday Inn just opened, so they had a few rooms left for about double the normal price of rooms at other hotels. Since the alternative was to sleep in the car, we checked in then met Brandon and Celeste. Brandon’s now working for an oilfield services company, and Celeste is a schoolteacher during the school year and a forest-fire crew dispatcher during the summer. We only saw her for a few short intervals during our visit because this is the height of fire season, with several active fires in her region.

Our first stop was the Utah Field House of Natural History, a beautiful museum with some fantastic dinosaur models. There’s a lot of detail on how fossils are formed, along with some excellent fossils and a number of partial and complete dinosaur fossils. After the Field House, we went on to the Monument proper, passing Brandon’s former ranch and a gift shop that has a dinosaur that you can sit on– this was quite popular with the three dinosaur wranglers in the back seat.

At the Monument, we saw a number of fossils, plus a neat cave that contains a number of ancient petroglyphs. Almost every 60 seconds, Matt would exclaim “Look! I see a dinosaur bone!” or something along those lines. We drove down to the bank of the Green River and skipped stones for a while, then made our way back to Vernal for a short break / rest period. Then we went to the Johnsons’ house for a barbeque featuring beef from their family herd. David and Tom rode four-wheelers. In fact, I took Matt on a short ride down the street, so everyone except Arlene had a turn. When the boys weren’t riding, they were hitting golf balls or playing Guitar Hero II with Brandon’s little brother. The steaks and company were great, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Friday morning we had breakfast at the Lamplighter, then picked up Brandon’s boat and went to Red Fleet Reservoir, which I’d never heard of. It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen: 650 acres of lake nestled between stunning multi-colored cliff walls. No one was there, so we had the lake all to ourselves. One of Red Fleet’s claims to fame is its set of fossilized dinosaur tracks, which we got to see up close. This sent Matt to new heights of dinosaur-spotting ecstasy (well, to be fair, the other two were just as excited). Then we fired up the boat and went tubing. Matt and Arlene wanted no part of it, but David and Tom loved it. Brandon and I took turns driving for about an hour. We had just broken out the kneeboard when we noticed a big squall line moving in from the west; Tom got in one kneeboard ride (in which he got up, no small accomplishment for a boy his age), then we had to take off. We made our way back to Salt Lake uneventfully, then ate dinner at the Melting Pot, a first for the male members of the family. If you haven’t been there, it’s essentially a fondue restaurant: you get a cheese course, an entree, and dessert, all of which you dip in various sauces, cheeses, and so on. It was quite good, and even Matt, who has recently decided that he’s a picky eater again, was able to find stuff he liked.

Wow, I needed a vacation! On Tuesday, I flew from Seattle to Salt Lake City; Arlene and the boys flew from Toledo and met me at the airport. We’d reserved a room at the Embassy Suites downtown, which is about a mile from Temple Square. By the time we got to the hotel, it was about 8p, so we just had dinner at the hotel restaurant, the Plum. The food was OK; nothing particularly special, and certainly expensive for what we got.

Wednesday morning we got up and made the trek to Temple Square. We tried to take the TRAX train, but it took me so long to get tickets that I missed the train– it left after Arlene and the boys were aboard. They met me at the next stop, and we walked the rest of the way. Temple Square itself, as always, was great. When we went into the Tabernacle, they were doing an acoustics demo– the presenter drops a couple of straight pins into a wooden box, and, sure enough, you can hear it throughout the building. We had originally planned to see a Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal, but there were none scheduled.

We met up with a friend of mine who runs the Church’s messaging operations and he gave us a behind-the-scenes tour of the area, including the tunnel system that runs underneath the square. We also got to go on the Conference Center stage, which was really neat. Although I’m comfortable with public speaking, it’s hard to imagine speaking in front of 21,000 people– some of those seats look very, very far away.

Wednesday night we had dinner at Rodizio Grill, a Brazilian churrascaria that’s one of our all-time favorite restaurants. Given that its menu centers on meat, it was a big hit with the boys. Tom and I tried a chilled strawberry soup that was quite good, and Matt (to my surprise) really liked the spicy chicken breast.

Thursday morning we got up and hit the road to see our friends Brandon and Celeste in Vernal, a small town in eastern Utah that’s chiefly famous for being near the Dinosaur National Monument. The drive to Vernal is absolutely stunning, with lots of mountains and beautiful stratified rocks; the route goes through Park City, then on to Heber City, then through the Uinta National Forest. The high point of the drive is at Daniels Summit, 8020 feet above sea level; my favorite was the mesas, some of which have absolutely flat tops. I kept looking for Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, but didn’t see them.

When we got to Vernal, the real fun started.