Utah of Bust: Cousin Andrew Gets Married

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Utah Road Trip Diaries: Day 23, we spent the day with family in anticipation of my cousin getting married. The ladies got their nails done and we all enjoyed visiting both before and after the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.

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Utah Road Trip Diaries: Day 24 is our last full day on the road and we spent it with family. We camped in my brother’s driveway last night in East Nashville. This morning he had everyone from the extended family over for home-made Eggs Benedict, his specialty. It was superb. The rest of the day was wrangling little boys before the wedding, trying to keep their white shirts relatively clean and them out of trouble. My cousin Andrew had a beautiful wedding to Kayla. We are so happy to have her officially in the family. After the wedding, the party continued at my aunt and uncles house with visiting around a campfire. We are anxious to get home but this was a nice way to end our trip, surrounded by so many people that we love. 

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Utah Road Trip Diaries: Day 25 means HOME. We enjoyed visiting with family, and even squeezed in visiting with some of Daniel’s family on our last leg (didn’t get any photos though 😏). We drove over 5,000 miles through 14 states (TN, AL, MS, AR, OK, NM, CO, UT, ID, WY, KS, MO, KY & GA). I drove almost half of that time and discovered it was easier to drive out west where there are less people than it is closer to home. We had no TV for the entire 25 days and the kids had limited movie time and screen time in the car. We had some amazing experiences as a family that I hope we will look back on when life feels hard or is pulling us in different directions. The trip had its ups and downs, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. It got us in a different rhythm. It let me see Daniel in a new light and see his skills shine. I really appreciate him. Hopefully he saw some good things about me and appreciates me in a different light as well. The kids were fantastic travelers. I think Daniel and I were more grouchy at times than they were. It will be interesting to try to ease back into normal life. I hope we keep some of the good habits formed over the last 25 days and forgive the harder stuff. I hope we have more adventures in store, both close to home and on a greater magnitude. 6 National Parks, 2 state parks, 1 national preserve, 1 national monument, Walmart parking lots and BLM land... we had quite the adventure in September.

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Trip Stats 
Camping Locations:

Pickwick Landing State Park in Tenn. 

Gore Landing City Park in Okla.

Wallydocking in Guymon, OK (FREE)

Family Base Camp in Alamosa, Colo. 

Mesa Verde RV Resort in Mancos, Colo.

Sand Flats Recreation Area outside of Moab, Utah

Upper Big Bed Overflow on the Colorado River outside of Moab, Utah (FREE)

Boondocking on BLM land outside of Goblin Valley State Park, Utah (FREE)

Singletree Campground in Dixie National Forest in Utah

Hyrum Lake State Park outside of Logan, Utah

Big Creek Campground in Bear Lake State Park, Utah

Gros Ventre National Park Campground, Grand Tetons, Wyoming

Western Hills Campground and RV Park in Rawlins, WY

Wallydocking in Hays, KS (FREE) 

Hanson Hills Campground just past Columbia, MO

Moochdocking in my Aunt and Uncle's front yard (FREE), Ashland City, TN 

Moochdocking in my brother's driveway in East Nashville, TN 

 

States Covered: 
TN > GA > AL > MS > TN > MS > TN > AR > OK > NM > CO > UT > WY > CO > KS > MO > TN > GA > TN

Significant Stops: 

Black Mesa in OK (highest point)

Mesa Verde National Park in CO

Wilson Arch in UT

Sand Flats Recreation Area and the West Rim of the Porcupine Trail in UT

Arches National Park in UT

Goblin Valley State Park in UT

Capitol Reef National Park in UT

Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in UT

Bryce Canyon National Park in UT

Hyrum Lake State Park in UT

Ogden Dinosaur Park in UT

Logan Canyon in UT

Canyon Trail in Logan, UT

Bear Lake State Park, UT

Grand Tetons, WY

Yellowstone National Park, WY (The Grand Loop including Old Faithful, Hayden Valley, Grand Prismatic Springs and Artist Point in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone)

Rendezvous Mountain, Jackson Hole, WY

Jenny Lake, Grand Tetons National Park, WY

Cousin Andrew's wedding to Kayla, Ashland City, TN

Daily Miles Traveled: 
227 miles ⎮ 445 miles ⎮ 403 miles ⎮ 325 miles ⎮ 191 miles ⎮ 125 miles ⎮ 14 miles ⎮ 106 miles ⎮ 88 miles ⎮ 101 miles ⎮ 345 miles ⎮ 50 miles ⎮ 160 miles ⎮ 142 miles ⎮ 283 miles ⎮ 556 miles ⎮ 390 miles ⎮ 415 miles⎮ 162 miles

TOTAL Miles Traveled: 4,528 miles (I have missed mileage somewhere since it doesn't coincide with my notes above of 5,000+)

Days on the Road: 25

Previous Trip Posts:

Preparing to Head West

Utah or Bust, the First Leg

College Friends and Wallydocking 

Utah or Bust: Black Mesa to the San Luis Valley
Utah or Bust: Wolf Creek Pass 

Utah or Bust: Mesa Verde 
Utah or Bust: Moab Part 1 (Sand Flats Recreation Area and Mountain Biking the West Rim of the Porcupine Trail) 
Utah or Bust: Moab Part 2 (Arches National Park) 
Utah or Bust: Goblin Valley
Utah or Bust: Capitol Reef

Utah or Bust: Grand Staircase and Bryce Canyon 

Utah or Bust: Hyrum Lake near Logan, Utah 

Utah or Bust: Chilling at Hyrum Lake 

Utah or Bust: Ogden Dinosaur Park

Utah or Bust: Last Days in Logan 

Utah or Bust: Bear Lake to Grand Tetons 

Utah or Bust: Rendezvous Mountain and Jenny Lake

Utah or Bust: Headed Home 

 

Cummins Falls │ Hiking with Kids

When Daniel and I were first married we lived in Cookeville, TN. In those early years of our marriage, we spent a lot of time hiking. Partly (mostly) because we both loved it and partly because it was the only thing we could afford to do.

We hiked everywhere we could on the Cumberland Plateau, up to the Big South Fork region and over toward the Great Smoky Mountains. Our weekends were filled with endless hikes.

Cookeville has several great hikes that were pretty close to where we lived at that time. We enjoyed hikes at Burgess Falls, Cummins Falls, Window Cliffs, and rapelling at B Rock. Back in 2002-2004, Burgess Falls was the only State Park of the bunch, the other places were private property. Now these areas are all State Parks.

On Monday we had plans to meet up with my brother, my sister and her kids, and one of our cousins to do a waterfall hike. My sister had come up to Tennessee to visit family and really wanted to take her kids on a waterfall hike (Florida is not known for their waterfalls).

Our initial plan had been to visit Burgess Falls because Cummins Falls had recently been closed. I checked the website for Burgess and it said that the stairs to the bottom of the falls were closed (it currently says the stairs are closed indefinitely).

I checked with my sister and we agreed that we wanted to get wet, so we altered our plans to visit Cummins Falls instead since it was open again.

I'm so glad we did!

Among other things, the website warns that:

The hike to the gorge is not an improved trail. This is an adventurous hike and is not suitable for small children.

I initially debated if we should really take the kids there (ages 2, 5, 5, and 7), but as my sister pointed out: Our kids are not your average kids.

Point taken...

So, risks or not, we decided to go. We had a discussion about what to expect and made sure each kid had a grown up to stay with, and then we headed down into the gorge. (There were actually quite a few kids hiking with their families while we were there).

We opted for the 1.5 mile trail to the falls, and honestly, it was lovely. While the switch backs to the bottom are somewhat steep, they weren't that big of a deal, and there is a guard rail for the switchback sections as you go down. We live in East Tennessee and regularly hike on more difficult trails than what we encountered at Cummins Falls.

Once we were at the bottom, we enjoyed wading and swimming in the Blackburn Fork River as we made our way upstream to the falls. The kids loved that pretty much the entire hike was in water. And it was just as beautiful as I remember (though in my mind, back when it was private property almost 15 years ago, it was a more difficult climb to the bottom).

We kept away from rapids that had strong currents, but the kids were able to swim in several deep, calm sections along the way. We didn't think the hike was particularly strenuous (it would be different if the water levels had been higher), but you should take into account that you have to hike up a series of switchbacks to get back to the parking lot.

Once we reached the falls, we had to climb over a bunch of boulders to reach the swimming hole beneath the falls. There were a ton of people there and two rangers who were monitoring to make sure no one did anything stupid or got swept down the rapids below the swimming area.

The park provides a limited number of coastguard approve life jackets and I snagged one for Jack. The water was freezing, but we all waded out to the base of the waterfall. The kids enjoyed getting behind the bottom of the falls on a ledge with my brother.

And while I hung out with Isaac on the boulders to warm up, the rest climbed up to the first level of the waterfall... unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of that.

It was such a perfect day spent with family. I hate that Daniel and Robert had to miss out. I had forgotten how beautiful it is. We will definitely have to go back.

On our way home, we drove through Cookeville and I showed Jack where Daniel got his degree from and a few other places. It really made me nostalgic. We haven't been back in over 10 years!

Trail Stats:
Cummins Falls north of Cookeville, TN.
3 miles hiked, mostly in water.
1 large waterfall viewed.

Cousin's Trip to Florida

Ever since school let out, Jack has been asking when we were going to visit Izzy and Levi (his cousins), so last week, my kids and I made a quick trip to see my sister and her family in Florida.

My brother and two of my cousins from Nashville decided to tag along, and we had a fantastic time! 

I decided we should drive at night to shorten the trip, and leaving after dinner really made a difference in travel time. Jack kept us entertained, with his chattering and constantly asking, "When will we get there?" 

My standard answer is, "We will get there when we get there." To which Jack replies, "That is not a real answer, how many miles is it?" This conversation was repeated about every 20 minutes, until he fell asleep.

We arrived about 2am and thankfully the kids transferred to their beds without any issues (I already had them in their jammies). And we all slept in until 8am. I was a tired mommy, but the kids were excited to see their cousins.

Thursday we spent the day playing and being lazy and then swimming at a neighbors house. Izzy and Levi were brave and learned how to chicken fight (sorry Angela, you may regret them learning this game later!) and Jack was brave and tried a water slide. He was proud of himself for doing it but it kind of scared him.

That night we got half-priced ice cream from Sonic (yay National Ice Cream Day!) and stayed up to watch Zootopia.

Friday morning we got up and packed for a day at the beach. We moved carseats around so that Jack and Levi could ride together and then drove over to St. George Island for the day (about a two hour drive).

The weather was perfect and since it was a Friday, the beach wasn't too crowded. The big kids had a blast jumping in the waves and building sand castles. 

Isaac was content to just hang out in the tent, eating snacks and watching seagulls. That boy will go along with any activity as long as he has a snack.

We packed up our stuff and headed to The Blue Parrot for lunch (it was less than 10 minutes away from where we were swimming) and Jack fell asleep on the way. He was just so tired. 

After a delicious seafood dinner, we headed to get ice cream at Aunt Ebby's before making our way home. We visited this same beach and ice cream shop last year so I guess it's becoming a tradition.

Saturday was another low-key day for us. Everyone but me and Isaac went to the movies in the afternoon (they saw Finding Dory) and that night my brother got the kids to do a little talent show. 

This is such a typical Mark thing and we love that he is carrying it on with a new generation of kids.

Izzy was our emcee, Levi demonstrated cup stacking skills, Jack told jokes, and Isaac practiced walking for us. Mark and Izzy also sang. It was a great show. 

After the "Amasing Tallint Show" the kids jumped on the trampoline and then lit sparklers. It was hot and sticky, but such a great way to end our trip together.

I come from a fairly large extended family – my mom is one of five siblings, my siblings and I are a part of 16 cousins and between all of these cousins, we have an additional 12 kids. 

We kind of joke that there is a northern Lock Flock and a southern Lock Flock. My siblings, cousins from Nashville and our parents and families make up the southern extension of this group. 

This was the first time we have gotten together, just the southern cousins and our kids. While we missed our parents (and Daniel), we had a really good visit, though it is kind of strange that we are all adults now! The last time my cousins, Andrew and Moriah, took a road trip with me was about 10 years ago and they were still kids!

Can't wait til next time!

 The cousins "Amasing Tallint Show" in Tallahassee