Have Media Will Travel

A blog about outdoor adventure, family travel, national parks, media, technology, marketing, fitness and me.

adventure

Utah’s Goblin Valley is a Hit for Families

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We recently returned from a week-long camping trip in southwestern Utah for spring break. About every other year we head for southern Utah’s state parks and national parks to get dirty, hike, climb on big rocks, camp, play games, sit around a camp fire, star gaze and eat as many s’mores as possible.

Our boys had fun climbing the formations near our campsite in Goblin Valley.

For this trip, we headed to Utah’s Goblin Valley State Park, then to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument to hike to Calf Creek Falls, then to Kodachrome State Park and finally, to Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. Normally we spend time at Zion and Arches national parks, but since we had our puppy in tow this time, we invested our time in the more pet-friendly areas of the state.

Jerry and our boys begin exploring Goblin Valley.

It was our second time to Goblin Valley. This is a magnificent place to visit, especially if you have young children. It is home to thousands of “hoodoos” — mushroom-shaped rock formations that range in size from a couple feet to several yards high. The uniquely shaped formations are formed of erosion-resistant rock that is on top of softer sandstone.

Hayden, 9 and Wolf, 11, check the GPS as they get close to a geocache.

Our three sons played hide-and-seek, and climbed up and over and lounged on top of weird formations while looking for any goblins that might be “fleeting” by in between the odd formations. We also enjoyed our first official “geocaching” adventure here. Members of geocaching.com, we researched geocaches for the area during our trip planning. The one we were looking for in Goblin Valley was reported to have “3 stretchy skeletons” and a recently-activated geocoin in it.

Lounging on hoodoos called 'goblins.'

We followed the hints that were provided and the GPS coordinates to find the area where the treasure was supposedly cached. According to our GPS, we were hot on the signal, but could find no cache. After lots of hunting but nothing to show for it we determined someone had probably taken the skeletons and the cache and left the geocoin behind. Despite our not finding the geocache, we had a blast during our four hours of hiking, climbing, and adventuring throughout the cool landscape of Goblin Valley.

Hayden, scrambling.

We camped in Goblin Valley State Campground, which is a few minutes’ drive from the aforementioned hoodoo-filled area. The campground is situated wonderfully, right below a bunch of towering formations with narrow passages, providing yet more interesting terrain for our boys to explore.

The boys and I proclaiming victory on a formation above camp. 🙂

Here’s a short video of our almost-4-year-old son, Finis, leading us on a geocache adventure:

Stay tuned for upcoming posts, including photos and videos, for our adventures in Grand Staircase Escalante, Kodachrome State Park and Coral Pink Sand Dunes. Please check back soon, and thanks for reading my blog. 🙂

“Surprise Adventure” Was a Splash

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Last Sunday morning, I roused my husband, Jerry, and our three sons, out of bed. I told them to “rise and shine” and get their clothes on because we were going on a surprise adventure.

We started their surprise adventure off right by stopping at the local bakery to get ’em a box of donuts. Next, we pointed the adventure wagon north and headed out of our town of Lander, WY, on Highway 789 and then Highway 20 through the scenic Wind River Canyon.

The boys were excited, but curious. They pounded us with questions in an effort to get clues. They asked if we were going hiking? No. To the cabin? No. Sledding? No. Camping? No. Skiing? No. Biking? No.

Wolf, our oldest, and almost-11-year-old son, admitted he was excited, yet anxious. When I asked what it was like to not know, he said, “Well you say it’s an adventure, and I remember you once telling us that what makes an adventure an adventure is to have some hard work involved and some unknown challenges that come along. Also, the backpack you take on your ‘epic adventures,’ is in the back of our car, and, well, that makes me kind of nervous.” Smart kid. 🙂

Hayden, our middle and 9-year-old son, said he was, “Curious. Just really curious.” To which, Fin, our youngest, and almost-4-year-old son, said, “like Curious George!”

Just creating an adventure that was a surprise for our boys was an adventure for Jerry and I. We enjoyed the heck out of it. For quite a while, it was great to have this surprise to hold over our three young, eager sons. It was a 90-minute road-trip that had a backseat full of anticipation. It was a riot, and I highly recommend other parents do the same if you’re looking to shake things up and create some new fun for the family one of these weekend days.

Our surprise adventure was swimming at the Star Plunge, located in Hot Springs State Park.

Located at the edge of the town of Thermopolis, WY, Hot Springs State Park was built around the world’s largest mineral hot spring. Big Spring pours forth millions of gallons of mineral water every day at a constant temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Wyoming Tourism‘s website, “The perpetual fountain forms a seething caldron from which some of the water is channeled into pools to be cooled and then piped into bathhouses for public use. From another stream, the water flows over enchanting Rainbow Terrace and then spills down into the Big Horn River.”

Star Plunge has two large pools, one indoor and one outdoor hot tub with jets, two outdoor slides and one tube side, steam room and sauna. The indoor pool temperature ranges from 94 to 98 degrees F, and the sides and bottom of the pool are lined with a porcelain-smooth layer of pale pink mineral deposit, the result of decades of contact with the thermal water. The pools and steam room at Star Plunge are supplied with hot water from nearby Big Spring.

The boys loved the slides and the jumping board. They even triple-dog-dared me to jump off the jumping board. It was scary but I did it. Just one time. I especially liked the “Vapor Cave,” and Jerry liked the “Lobster Pot” extra-hot hot tub.

My guys.
Hayden enjoying one of the slides.
Wolf, pulling the rope to signal to his brother the slide was clear for takeoff.
Fin, having a 'Fintastic' time.
My boys, just soaking.
More like, 'Caution: Mommy is Flying.' (I did this on a triple dog dare from my boys).

Creating Fun in Your Life – Just Do It

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Since selling our business in September 2008, some people think I’m retired, or semi-retired. While I’ve certainly gained more personal time and freedom, I’m not retired and don’t plan on retiring anytime soon — if ever.

Family fun in our backyard, Sinks Canyon.

In fact, in addition to doing my best to be a good mother to our three sons and a good wife, this past week I worked at least 40 hours a week, coaching clients, working on consulting projects and developing my new business.

Like most people — and other parents — it’s easy to come up with excuses for not having enough time for many important things, such as exercising, making time for relationships that are dear to us, and having fun.

Although I’ve always been pretty good at having fun, at times it takes effort even for me to do so. This past Sunday we went to church, and I had loads of laundry to catch up on and some consulting and coaching work to do. We helped our middle son on a big solar system project, bird-dogged homework, and so on. By 3:30 pm on Sunday, Jerry, I and our three sons had each/all had a very busy day. We were tired and feeling pretty lazy. It was tempting, and certainly justified, for us to just settle in, lounge, and call it a day.

At the same time, upon looking outside, I spied a cloudless, blue sky, a bright sun, mild (30-degree) temperatures, and sparkly white snow everywhere. We should go out and do something fun, I thought. But frankly, I wasn’t feeling particularly motivated to do so.

So I forced it. I “notified” the family to get their snow gear on, we were headed to Sinks Canyon for some sledding. Jerry, my wonderful husband, went along with it and helped me rally our sons and puppy for the sudden adventure.

We had a blast.

It would have been easier to not do anything. It’s work to get out the door with kiddos and pets and winter clothing and sleds. But one of the things I want to help my life coaching clients do is to create more fun in their own lives. I need to practice what I preach, right? And I knew from past experience that we’re always better as a result of such adventures.

So, to see what happened next, watch the following video. And to think we almost missed out on this! The moral of the story is to create fun. Don’t think about it, just do it. It can happen in five minutes time and doesn’t have to be an elaborate, or outdoor adventure. It just has to cause smiles and/or laughter, even if for a very brief time.

Of course, the house is a mess. But that’s okay. (Just please don’t stop by unannounced!) I have a feeling I won’t regret that I didn’t keep a super neat and tidy house. I would, however, regret it if I didn’t take time to create fun with my family.

Help Me? I NEED a NOLS Expedition

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Hi friends. I appreciate your readership. I need to ask you a favor. I am trying to win a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) expedition. I entered a video in a contest that ends Friday. I need people to watch the video. (And, if you feel so inclined, please vote/give it a ‘thumbs up’ and/or leave a comment.)

The video is funny. It was a family affair and I hope/think you’ll get at least one laugh out of it. Hopefully.

To watch the video, click HERE, scroll down a bit to a blue button that says “View Entries.” My video is the one with a man in a bright colored shirt and has a headline that says “Help! Shelli Needs a NOLS Expedition.”

Thanks a million, in advance, for watching the video and helping me out. I appreciate it very much!