24th of July - Cabin Weekend!

For the 24th of July weekend, we were invited with a couple of our neighbors to the Drury's cabin outside of Duchesne. It was SO beautiful.... This is the view from the porch of the cabin the first morning.

It was so peaceful... until all the kids woke up! (Although Chandler slept hours longer than the rest!)

We hung out in the morning, drinking coffee and talking about what we were going to do that day. Adrian and I had serious plans for book reading while the kids wanted to play and the guys wanted to ride the ATV's.

Our fabulous hosts, the Drury's

Erin and Kylee playing in the dirt

After a leisurely morning, we went for a ride on the Drury's 4-wheelers and motorcycles. It was Clint's first ride since he tore his ACL on his dirt bike last October and he had a blast. It was Erin's very first ride on any kind of ATV and as we took off from the cabin together she said to me "WOW, Mommy - this is even funner than riding my bike OR my scooter!" She is definitely hooked and I can't say that I hate the idea of owning a 4-wheeler of our own to ride around on. We had a blast... well, the first part was fun anyway!

Bryce and Adrian

Me and Erin

We got to the turn-off for the trail we wanted to ride and one of the 4-wheelers died and wouldn't start again. So, we all hung out in the hot sun while Cary and Jeri dealt with the dead machine which turned out to have a very dead battery. So, we all headed back to the cabin with the disabled ATV in tow (literally). We tried everything to get us all back on the road and finally decided that Jeri would "take one for the team" and stay back at camp while we all went to see the cool rock formations. We had a bit of lunch before we left and I remember Cary saying something about how it looked like it was going to rain. I know I brushed the comment off - I've been camping in the Uintah's all my life and everyone knows that there's always dark clouds but it very rarely rains - especially at the lower elevations!

So, we headed out again - Erin and I together on a 4-wheeler, Clint on Cary's dirt bike, Bryce and Adrian on a 4-wheeler, Cary and Chandler on the other dirt bike, Kylee on her 50 and Trevor on his 50. It was a great 10-mile ride and this is the cool area that was our destination - they call it "The Rock".

Chandler, Erin, Kylee and Trevor

The kids climbed up to the top, found some cool animal bones in the rock wall and stretched their legs while the adults laughed at how dirty we all were. I was in the very back of the caravan and ate so much dust; I had dirt caked on my face which you couldn't tell until I took off my sunglasses and you could see the contrast. Ewwwww....

About 5 minutes after we got there, it started raining and I mean RAINING! Then, it started hailing - which really hurts when it hits bare skin! We all huddled under trees which gave us very little protection and added to the discomfort by getting pine needles mixed in with the rain and dirt. I was still being optimistic that it would pass over quickly as it does in the Uintahs... ha! We stood there watching rivers of water and mud form and come running toward us and still it wasn't letting up. So, the first break we saw in the rain, we decided to head back to the cabin as quickly as we could. Of course, that was after Cary pointed out how great the 4-wheelers were going to be since the wheels stick out further than the protective fenders... And I remember it being after he said "I told you so" about how he knew it was going to rain! Ok, ok, I'll admit at this point I was totally wrong - not to mention cold! I was glad that Erin had a helmet so it protected her from the rain as well as the possibility of crashing. After Adrian and I "did" each other by brushing off the tree gunk, we hit the trail again. No sooner than we all got under way, it started raining even harder than it had been before it let up. Bryce and Adrian were leading and I don't think he ever let off the gas in their bee-line for the cabin. I was worried about Clint and his still-recovering-and-weak ACL so I pulled over under another tree to wait for them. Once everyone was safely under way, it was the craziest and wildest ride I've ever been on. The faster we went, the higher the wheels threw the mud up onto us. I kept thinking how stupid of me not to take Jeri's offer of a helmet, gloves and goggles - any one of which would have made the trip back a tad more comfortable. It was another 10 miles back to the cabin like that and Erin was a trooper! I KNOW that I have never been that dirty in all my life and never so happy to see Jeri there all comfy and warm and ready to take charge of operation clean up the troops.... Here we are after we got back and before we hit the showers - poor Adrian had to wait 20 minutes for the rest of us to get back just for this photo!

After the showers and some dinner, we built a fire and roasted marshmallows for s'mores.

The kids all went inside "supposedly" to go to bed and this is what I saw when I went inside several hours later... I don't think they got to sleep until way past midnight!

The next morning we cleaned up the cabin - and did a really really good job so we could be invited back! We have awesome neighbors and thanks to them, it was an awesome weekend!

Princess Sasha

Cabin girls