Kristy Tate: Road Tripping, Escalante Utah, the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and more...PLUS lots of free books

Happy August! I feel like we’re still in the thick of summer, but the sad truth is the kids are just two weeks away from the first day of school. Other than the sounds of the school below our house, this won’t affect us too much.

This weekend, five of my children hiked San Jacinto Mountain. We had considered going, but we had just returned from our trip and at that point, I’d promised myself I would never again ride in a car any further than church.

We had a great trip and were so grateful we got to visit with some of our family. We camped in Escalante, Utah at Half Calf Falls. We didn’t arrive until late afternoon, so the hike to the falls was blissfully quiet and considerably cooler than during the heat of the day. At the falls, we spotted a mother turkey and her chicks. Our campsite was near the creek and extremely private. We got our tent set up moments before the rain started. (We had electrical storms almost every night.)
The next day, we drove down a dirt road for 26 miles to Spooky Gulch and Peek-a-boo Canyon. Our hike started about 9 a.m. Sadly, we went the opposite direction from everyone else, which made the slot canyons even trickier. There were places that required serious shimmying between rocks and scrambling over boulders. It was only a four mile hike, but the heat and the difficulty made it seem much longer. I’m glad I did it, but I wouldn’t do it again. Still, that part of Utah—which I’d never seen before, was incredibly beautiful.
We had dinner that evening with my sister and her husband and spent the night at my husband's sister. To our surprise, we weren’t her only guests. She also had her son's family and Larry's brother and sister-in-law visiting, so it felt like a slumber party with some of our favorite people.
The next day, we shopped in Park City and Jackson Hole before arriving at the Grand Tetons. There wasn’t any camping available in the park, so we boondocked on national land about three miles from the park’s entrance. It was great. Again, our campsite was extremely private and this time free. I really loved the Grand Tetons. We hiked around Jenny Lake. Larry had a chipmunk climb onto his lap. A butterfly perched on my hat. We saw a moose. While here, we learned we wouldn’t be able to travel into Canada as we’d hoped, but it’s hard to imagine Banff is any prettier than the Grand Tetons. (I hope to one day see it for myself.) We spent two days here before traveling the short distance to Yellowstone.

By this time, we’d been hiking 10-12 miles a day and my legs were feeling wobbly. Still, there were a lot geysers to see and it seemed the best ones were off the beaten path. We were in Yellowstone three days. One night we camped. We had hoped to find a place in a lodge, but they were full so we found a hotel in Gardiner, Montana, about five miles outside the northwest entrance. This turned out to be so much better than the lodges, because it was not only a lot cheaper, but also had internet—something we hadn’t had for almost a week and we were feeling the withdrawal.
The northeast corner of Yellowstone is where all the bison live. We were told if we hiked in the area, we were guaranteed to spot bears. So, we stayed in the car and drove to Cowley—my parents’ hometown.
I’m sure if you were to ask Larry, it wasn’t worth the drive, but I loved it. We ate in a little café and ran into someone who knows my 94 year-old Aunt Charlotte. We dropped by her house, but she wasn’t home. We took pictures of the war memorial that had both Mom and Dad’s name on it, the Cowley Academy, and my grandparents’ tombstones. If I decide to write a Christian Cowboy romance series, I’ll set it in Wyoming.
We hadn’t planned on driving all the way to Salt Lake City that night, but we did. It was fun to spend time with family. Because it was the 24^th of July, there were fireworks and from my sister-in-law's home high on the hill (mountain, really). We watched fireworks going off all over the Utah Valley.
Sunday morning, Larry and I went to church with Linda and Michael. I spent some time visiting an old friend. We had raised our kids together and it was fun to see five of her six kids. She’s like me with most of her adult children living close by and bouncing in and out of the house.
That evening, we began the long haul to visit my son in Walnut Creek. Once there, we didn’t have to set up our tent, but we did camp in their new home. They hadn’t moved in yet because the floors were being redone. (They moved in on Saturday.) We had fun playing with my four adorable grandchildren. And Jared and Jen, too, of course.

Now, we’re home. For a short while. In two weeks, we’re going to Bass Lake. We’ve rented a house that sleeps 30, but only 20 of us are going. Isn’t that amazing? There’s 23.5 of us when there once was just two. We’ve collected all these people, all this stuff, our lives are full and we’re blessed.