We drove away from Tristen’s house today to Choose Our Own Adventure! (More like the kid’s adventure!)
They chose north, and I drove.
We decided that signs along the roadside could give them great clues about what was around them, so when they started seeing signs for “City of Rocks”, the kids said…”Follow Those Signs!”
We followed them off the road for ten minutes, when we decided to get some snacks and fill up. When we were there, I told them the drill. They needed to talk to the locals, and ask them for the tips and tricks of their area. Scout and Dash headed in, where Scout headed up the conversation. He was talking to the lady behind the counter, and said, “Hi there. We are heading to The City of Rocks. Is it cool? And is there anything else to look for while we are out there?” She inquired a little more and when she heard what we were doing, she spouted off tons of great stuff. She told them all about the City of Rocks and some Ice Caves north of us. She was awesome, and a perfect first local to engage with. Dash didn’t do a ton of the talking, but he watched how it worked and was taking mental notes.
When we got to the City of Rocks, it was beautiful. There was also a huge group of people who had just finished rock climbing. The kids in that group were all playing Ultimate Frisbee. Scout and Dash watched for a while, and soon enough, they were given positions in the game.
At one point, Dash ran back to me to excitedly tell me, “Mom…Mom!!! I asked a local, and know the next thing we need to do!” I knew he was watching…
After Ultimate Frisbee, we headed to the rocks. Apparently, this place is known in the rock climbing community, and has famous rocks to climb. The kids and I found a great area where they could climb and explore.
After climbing for a few hours, Dash directed us to Thermal Pools his local buddy told him about.
We drove about a mile away, and the dusty and filthy kids jumped in the perfectly warm pools.
And then Dash ran and bombed in another of their pools. This one was perfectly hot. When he came up, he was screaming over how hot it was! Scout, who had inched his way in a few minutes before, and I were dying laughing.
After swimming in the thermal pools (which were a blast), we drove through the rest of The City of Rocks. It was a 90 minute drive that turned into a 3 hour drive. The rocks were amazing, and we stopped and watched insane rock climbers, who were everywhere! Our favorite was Elephant Rock — we were there for a solid 45 minutes oohing and aahing over the rock climbers and their brave routes.
As we drove on, I saw a tall mountain. Since we all had adrenaline pumping through our bodies from watching the rock climbing daredevils, I told the kids that whichever of them could make it to the top in 20 minutes, would get 20 bucks of spending cash on the trip.
All four started.
Within seconds, Pippi was back.
It was too scratchy.
Within minutes, Navy was back.
It was too hard on her burn.
Dash and Scout….they never stopped.
About 10 minutes in, they were what appeared to be close, but based on how small they looked, they were really far.
Another 7 or 8 minutes had gone by, and I started to get a pit in my stomach.
They were so tiny, I couldn’t even find them without my zoom lens. Thank goodness they were both in bright colors. But like I said — I had a pit in my stomach. Scout was determined to make that $20, and I was determined to bring him back to safety. I honked and honked. Then I yelled to Scout. No answer. I finally reached Dash by yelling, and he was then able to yell to Scout to turn around. About 20 minutes later, they were both safe and sound in my presence.
Dash’s legs were so beat up, but he was so proud of himself. He told me he would have made it if I hadn’t called them back. He then asked if he got any money, and I offered him a penny.
Scout said he was getting really dizzy and having a hard time breathing by the end. Holy high altitude!!! He also said he got all the way to a barbed wire fence, and that he was looking for a way around it. Holy cow am I glad he turned around. That could have been a bad situation.
In the end, I gave them both $20 spending cash for the trip, because it was all very impressive.
When they got back in the car, I just felt so grateful for all four kids being safe and sound in the car…and we adventured on while we listened to Scout and Dash comparing their stories for an hour!
The kids chose Twin Falls (a big city) for our next stop.
I told them to feel free to doze off as I drove, and that when we got to a hotel, I would wake them up.
The kids were stunned when I mentioned a hotel, and all of them said, “No Way!!! We want to sleep in the car!”
What!?!
I knew they got to choose the adventure — but not the sleeping arrangements too!?!
But they begged.
As we drove into Twin Falls, I was a little nervous about where we would all sleep in the car safely. I told the kids I wasn’t sure where to sleep. As we got closer, there was a bright white building in the distance, that became the outline of one of our temple steeples as we got closer. The kids were so excited to see a temple, and all agreed that we would sleep under the Temple, because they were sure we would be safe there.
I almost got choked up, and drove straight to the temple parking lot, where we got out every blanket and pillow we had, and made our spot for the night.
And I am pretty sure Scout and Dash slept the soundest.
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