Spring Break

Don was up to his neck in work this week, but I was happy with the surprising amounts of times he was able to make room for us! In an attempt to go to the Copper Mines with the girls in South Jordan we got side-tracked by heavy winds which would have made for a miserable trip. So we headed to Don’s work which was nearby for a quick “Hi!” before seeing if the Mayan Restaurant was open for an alternate plan. While I waited for Don to come down from his office I sent the girls off with the camera to take pictures of the “infamous” pasture (Don can’t talk a lot about work, for legal reasons, so he tells us all about the local habitants of the pasture land outside his window. We’ve heard tells of a fox and the untimely death of a negligent goose, the birthing of a calf – which had Don determining at what point he would need to get some baling twine to help pull the calf out – that would have been a sight for his co-workers to see…). Well, they got pictures and videos of ALL the animals they could find…too many to show here, but here is my favorite video (it’s quick, to the point, and adds the charm of oblivious comments about cows giving “piggy-back” rides…):

Don surprised us when he came down by joining us for a “quick” lunch…which turned out to be not so quick. The Mayan was closed so we drove around Salt Lake looking for the Chuck-a-Rama we ate at when Sarah came to visit. I’m glad we found it because it led to another adventure – The Gilgal Gardens.

It is right behind the Chuck-A-Rama in SLC, tucked away among neighborhood houses and for a little adventure we decided to stroll through it. It is an LDS-themed rock sculpture garden, done many years ago in a very modern style, the girls had a lot of fun trying to figure out what they were looking at, and I was constantly looking at the explanatory pamphlet trying to understand what I was looking at too:)  Amazingly, Bizzie couldn’t stop talking about it days later, “Mom? When can we go back to the ‘dead-heads’ garden?”

 

Huge rocks were everywhere and Autumn kept looking for the perfect “sitting/relaxing” rock. this was her favorite:

Liberty was more content to explore and Bizzie loved pouncing on un-suspecting prey (usually me…need to work on being more alert for blue tigers…):

Many of the sculptures are meant to be looked at – with clearly marked “No climbing or touching” signs, which I was proud of my family for respecting. And you can see the beginnings of a beautiful rambling garden sprouting forth with weaving paths to admire the blooms from. It was a nice, quick, cultural exploration trip! Here is my favorite “Don Photo” (he is an excellent photographer and is constantly looking for interesting shots):

Our big outing for Spring Break occurred at the end of the week when Don was unexpectedly able to pull off getting all of Friday off! We have been wanting to revisit the Lehman Caves on the border of Nevada and Utah in the Great Basin National Park, so we packed the girls in with lots of treats and surprises and headed off! (I love our spur of the moment trips!) The drive took us out to Delta where we stopped at the cheese factory and a little park while Don filled the car with more gas and brought back lunch. The girls and I enjoyed the sunshine and chance to wiggle and play. Don captured this moment at the end of our little lunch-break:

One of the many things I love about Don is his desire to encourage the girls imaginations and sense of wonder, it’s no surprise that they cling to their childhood make-believe worlds, ‘cuz Dad makes it so real and fun! Liberty had no interest in her McDonald toy, and it’s hilarious watching Don trying to peak her interest in this video:

Another stop along the way was at Fort Deseret, which has a fascinating history. It was amazing to see some of the remains of the walls and talk about what that would have been like to be there in those walls at that time. Right after explaining how brave and resourceful these settlers would have to be I got this shot of the family…even Liberty was feeling the “pioneering spirit”!:

We had paid for advance tickets at the Lehman Caves and had to be there at a specified time, which gave Don only 30 minutes to find the last detour he wanted to take – the Great Stone Face, dun, dun, dun! Every now and then Don becomes fixated on seeing or doing something that I can’t match his enthusiasm for…and for whatever reason it tickles my funny bone watching his excitement pursuing it, this was one of those times. He was determined to find – in 30 minutes – petro glyphs, but more importantly a rock that supposingly looked like the silhouette of Joseph Smith…yeah, I know, you're asking “Rachel! Come-on, a rock that looks like Joseph Smith! How can you not get excited?!” I admit that I’m missing some crucial matter in my cultural make-up, but in my defense, I found great “joy” (humor is a form of joy, isn’t it?) in Don’s excitement! And with 6 minutes to spare he found it!! I was impressed – my pregnant bladder was getting a bit full so I let the kids get out and do the whirlwind hike to “the rock”:

Can you see it? I couldn’t, though I pretended to – not wanting to dampen Don’s hard-work and enthusiasm. If you are like me, this site helps you see it more clearly with these pictures:

Okay. At long last we were on our way to Lehman Caves! To get there you had to drive this…

The “Loneliest Highway in America” (seriously, that is it’s name) and Don got a big kick out of filming me saying that every 15 minutes for an hour and a half. Which is what makes this sign so funny, it is at the end of a long, turn-off from that highway, just over the Nevada Border. Placed there to stop hypnotized, dreary-eyed travelers I’m sure:)

But it was worth it! We made it:

Here is an interesting, little known, Olsen Factoid. Each of our children has had the prenatal experience of visiting a National Park!  We didn’t realize it ourselves until we remembered past trips to the Lehman Caves… (Autumn, Bizzie and Elias have visited the Great National Park and Liberty has visited Zion’s National Park – weird).

The tours can be done in 60 minutes or 90 minutes, since Liberty would be walking on her own we chose the 60 minute walk, which was perfect. The ranger was funny and made it interesting for the kids. Getting the camera to cooperate in the darkness was a little difficult but Don was able to get a few that worked:

Trying to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time has always been the bane of Olsen Family photos…but usually it’s the kids that are the tricky subjects…

The tour ended with the Ranger turning out all the lights and giving us a taste of what an earthquake would sound like in the caves – amazing!!! He also assured us that it is very unlikely that harm would come to us if an earthquake were to occur which I thought was interesting but made sense, considering the formations have been there for hundreds of years without breaking.

True to Don’s parenting-style he did a video of each child afterward to get their take on the experience. If you are interested in their responses, watch the following videos (Liberty didn’t go into any depth on her experience but seemed to enjoy the rock walls and was very brave in the caves.)

 

What a fun trip! On our way back out and home, we got a good glimpse of Don’s favorite spot. Doesn’t look like much but contains beautiful oasis's and rock formations within it, along with wonderful experiences for Don and our family:

2 0r 3 movies later we were grateful to be home but equally grateful for the memories we were able to create. Thanks for sharing them with us! And good job hanging in there to the end of an incredibly long post!