Weekend in Goblin Valley

We've been planning this weekend trip for a while. We were so excited to go! We drove down to Goblin Valley, with some friends, Friday morning... with no camping reservations again. I was worried that we wouldn't find a spot again, but we were SO lucky this time. We found a perfect spot on some BLM land just outside the park.

Snuggled right up next to the Hoodoo's

 The kids climbed all over the rocks and hoodoo's. I was nervous someone would fall... but again, we were lucky.

 The kids had so much fun playing in the dirt. They were FILTHY!

 The adults had a nice visit by the fire after dinner. We LOVE camping with the Donaldson's.

 The next day we went off on a 8 mile hike... not really wanting to do the whole thing, but we thought we'd try. These little buddies were ready for an adventure...

 The girls stopped every few feet, when we first started, posing for photos.

 Carson had a hard time from the very beginning. I guess his legs are just a little too short to keep up and he'd rather cry until someone picked him up. So John and I took turns.

 We had to wade through some water that was up above my knees... the girls did GREAT (there was some screaming from the water being cold and not being able to see the bottom... it was very muddy).

 But we ALL made it... even little Korver (who's only 5 month's old... WHAT A TROOPER!)

 The canyon was amazing and we decided to hike the whole thing... just taking it slow and letting the kids play along the way.

 Then after lunch Carson zonked out...

 ...and we started getting low on water. So after going a few more miles, we decided to head back the way we came. We were so exhausted by the time we were done I thought we'd sleep like babies... but then we had a wind storm. We ended up eating in our tents and going to bed early, even though the wind died down about the time we went to bed. I don't think I slept at all that night. The wind picked back up and was bending our tent quite a bit. I was afraid one of the poles would snap! We were lucky again that nothing like that happened... one of the Donaldson's poles broke a few hours before sunrise, but they were ok.
We were going to stay until Monday afternoon, but the wind wouldn't quit. So, we packed up after breakfast and headed to Valley of the Goblins... that was AWESOME!! We wandered through there for hours (not as windy in the valley).

 Again the girls wanted to pose as much as possible...

 Carson and Hagen were just content to throw rocks and help look for Geocaches with Chip and John.

  We ended up in a little valley with some other people. We asked if they were Geocaching and they said they were looking for Geodes. We actually found some... notice the bulges in Gracen's pockets. She wanted to save them ALL.  :o)

 We finally left the park about 2:30... Carson didn't even make it past the parking lot!

We had such a GREAT time. As always we love going with the Donaldson's and always look forward to another adventure.  :o)