We made it to our dome in Monticello, Utah yesterday evening about 7:20 PM Mountain time. The area is absolutely beautiful and we are all amazed by how blessed we are to get to experience this place. Jack and Eliot say it looks like Alaska (which kinda shows that we've never been to Alaska), but I'm glad that they are impressed.
The morning started off at 2:30 AM. The boys did a great job getting up. I just told them one time that it was 2:30 AM. They got up, went to the bathroom, put on their shoes, and waited to leave in the den. I'm a horribly nervous traveler and I just get worse the more I travel and older I get. I take Dramamine before flights to avoid vertigo for weeks after the flight, but that makes me even more tired. I'm a bit of a mess, and all the flights and driving were quite the intimidating ordeal, but I knew we had to get out there.
And it was so worth it. And we haven't even done anything yet other than be at the dome.
After flying to Salt Lake City, we began our drive to Monticello. We rented a "standard SUV" and picked out a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It would have been nice to get a Rubicon or something, but I couldn't find any available to rent from the airport. So, Grand Cherokee it was.
Jeep Week in Moab is wrapping up, so we wanted to be outside of town a bit to avoid the crowds. We chose this dome in Monticello to feel a little like camping and enjoy some seclusion. On the way, we stopped in Provo to pick up some groceries. The dome has a fridge, but it is all solar-powered, making cooking kind of limited and the next day would be Easter (and most places closed?).
We drove what felt like forever. Every time we looked at the GPS, it seemed like more and more time was added. The closer we drove to Moab, the more interesting the landscape and we said we were amazed or a-mesa-ed.
Finding the domes wasn't too difficult, but then I finally understood why everyone was asking if we were going to Utah to ski. Snow covered the ground and mountains. And it was melting. And the dirt road became a mud road. I pretty nervous to drive on these roads in a rental car that I didn't know, but for some reason Chris and Jack said they believed in me. Kicked it into four-wheel drive and we just went for it. What else could we do? I'm definitely going to try to find a car wash before returning the Jeep.
The boys were so excited to explore the dome and share it with their grandparents. There is a queen-sized bed with a loft with two twins. We have a bathroom and little kitchen nook with a fridge and microwave. Everything we need. And of course an amazing view of mountains with a fire pit and grill. We are staying two nights here before renting a townhouse in Moab.
We were all so tired, yet also not. We managed to stay up late enough to see the stars come out and I took a few photos with the "real" camera. Chris kept me company as I set up the long exposures and shivered in the cold. I used to dabble in photography a lot more, but now it is mostly all kid-centered. It was nice to be outside with Chris doing things we used to do before kids: spend too much time taking pictures. Coyotes yipped in the distance.
Chris and I decided to sleep up in the loft in case the boys needed to use the bathroom at night--the ladder seems tricky in the dark. And of course Eliot was still on eastern time, so he woke up at 4:00 AM Mountain time. I turned on the gas heater to warm the dome and we looked at the early morning moon-lit sky together.
No comments:
Post a Comment