Day 11 - Dinsoaur National Monument, UT to Salt Lake City, UT (again) - Actual tourism activities!

While the boys seem to have been sleeping well throughout the “adventure”, Amy and I have not been sleeping great.  But with the adventures associated with the Whale behind us, we woke up and felt relaxed and ready to actually start our vacation.  Thankfully, we were waking up in Dinosaur National Monument!

After a quick breakfast, we decided to be one of the first people into the Quarry Exhibit before the crowds.  As it turns out, we weren’t one of the first, we were THE first people to arrive that morning.  As a result, we received a personalized shuttle ride from the visitor center up to the Quarry and then a personalized Q&A from Ranger Tif when we arrived at the Exhbit.  The boys were able to get ALL of their questions answered - it was great.


As for the hall itself, it seems completely unreal.  There are legitimately fossilized bones everywhere.  It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like to find this many bones in one place.  If you want to see more about this, there’s lots of pictures/videos on the web, but here’s our attempt to show what it is.









After our time in the gallery, we did a short hike back to the visitor center.  We found Rover and headed back to camp to put Rover to the test as we hooked it up to Dover.  Pretty soon Rover and Dover were together and we were headed back to Salt Lake City.  As it would turn out, Rover was MORE than up for the task.


We felt that after all we had in the first week, it was appropriate to take a break and give the boys a treat.  So we booked a room at the Embassy Suites!  We checked in and, after a bit of a struggle to get Rover and Dover into the parking garage, we were all set for the evening.  


Sebastian had requested some General Tso’s tofu and my friend Laura from high school came through with a great recommendation of Mi La-Cai Noodle House.  Delicious and a wonderful treat after what had already been a long week.  After dinner, we headed down the street to Normal Ice Cream and met up with Laura and her family.  It was great to see her after more than a few years.  She and her family chatted with us and then showed us a HUGE park - Liberty Park.  The boys and Laura’s daughter ran all over the park while we had a chance to visit some more.  It was great to connect and relax with them, though sadly I was enjoying the evening so much I forgot to take a picture! Perhaps on the return journey.


As the sun went down, we shut down the park and walked back to Rover.  We headed to the hotel and were quickly asleep.  While not all the way there, it felt nice to have a day that felt like vacation.


Total miles travelled - 2,993 miles

# States (Provinces) - 10

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