Day: July 25, 2020

Cedar Breaks National Monument

On Saturday Abe and I slept in, got the kids ready, did yoga together, fed everyone brunch, cleaned up, and made sure the girls had their music practice done before hopping in the car for a day trip to Cedar Breaks National Monument. Below is a picture, and here is a video of the kids in the car before leaving. Clarissa and Ammon have been obsessed with saying BooBoo Bottom and Underpants lately. BooBoo Bottom comes from The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novack. I’m not sure where underpants came from….

The kids were excited that their masks finally arrived. I ordered these months ago!

I have basically been an emotional wreck all week. On the three hour drive there I felt despair about the environment, our nation’s political situation, anti-science mindsets, anti-historical-reality mindsets, and pervasive racism everywhere. And during moments when the kids were all making–albeit mostly cheerful–noise at the same time in the small space of one moving vehicle, I began to wonder why such chaotic, messy life embedded in an irredeemably unjust world is worth living.

I actively wondered that for about twenty minutes before Abe articulately explained why our particular life is amazing and how, even though the world might be toxic, we don’t need to focus on that. Lydia timed our one and a half hour conversation, and by the end I was feeling a little more optimistic about life.

And then we arrived in Cedar Breaks National Monument, and wow did it surprise us all! We were not expecting how beautiful it was. Honestly I hadn’t even so much as googled on photo of Cedar Breaks, and while we were driving in the rain almost vertically up the slippery mountain road, I was feeling certain that nothing could be worth the drive. But when we got there, we saw this:

Yes, it was worth it. If the view isn’t enough, the smell was over the top. I have not smelled air that fragrant with pine–perhaps in my whole life?? Right after the rain everything was just giving off the most incredible scents, and our hike was a series of marvelous olfactory delights.

In fact I am wondering if we should go back next weekend because on our hike I made us all turn around at the halfway mark because I was scared the hike would turn into something much longer than we had time for. When we finally reached a map (back at the parking lot) I realized that if we had just kept going, we would have descended into a gorgeous loop. We’ll just have to go back I guess.

I think Abe took this because he thought it was sweet, but actually I have a very firm grip on these two kids’ hands. They are my, er, liveliest children. I don’t trust them not to run off a
cliff.
Abe, wearing Clarissa’s sunglasses and manifesting all over the place that life is awesome.
Finally, Mary was the real hero of the day. On the drive up to the monument she got car sick and threw up by the visitor’s center. Poor thing. At one point during the hike her legs buckled, she turned pale and started shaking. Abe piggy-back carried her until she felt like walking again. On the way home she declined both dinner and ice cream, and instead spent three hours patiently entertaining Clarissa, who can be a downright tyrant when it comes to bossing Mary around. Mary, you are such a sweet girl, such a kind sister, and such a trooper. We are so proud of you!!!