Finally, Going Camping
We woke up this morning and I felt tons better. Nikki, on the other hand, didn’t. She had been up a few times through the night and was feeling quite nautous and queezy. Zaiden was doing a little better than that but clearly wasn’t doing so well. As I was feeding him breakfast, he seemed quite lethargic. After eating most of his meal, he threw up. Pretty much all of it. After that, he seemed to be feeling much better. He was giggly and happy. I guess even babies feel better after yacking when they need to.
(Click on the photo to the right for more pictures)
Nikki and I discussed things and decided we would head out from Fruita despite the two of them not feeling so well. She didn’t seem to have whatever bug nearly as bad as I did and Zaiden seemed OK. Realistically, there isn’t much more we could do for him if we stayed than if we go … so we got the vehicle all packed up, again, then had to figure out where to go.
I spoke with LaMont before we left about some good camping spots between Fruita, CO and Sedona, AZ. I took lots of notes and looked up some places on The Internet and Nikki and I figured we would decide where to go while in Fruita. I proceeded to leave all my notes at home. Schweet. Back to square one we looked at a lot of places in UT. Many of them would have left us with a six or seven hour drive to get to Sedona. Some were quite remote and we didn’t want to get too far off the beaten path with a sick boy. We decided on Natural Bridges National Monument. It was roughly half the distance and it sounded nice from what we found on the net.
We timed things quite well when we left mom and dad’s house as Zaiden was ready for a nap when we hit the road. We drove through Moab on our way and about the time he woke up for lunch we were a little south of Moab. We stopped at a rest area next to “Hole N The Rock” (?) that was quite nice. There were lots of trees and a nice grassy area to let Zaiden get out and stretch his little legs. While walking around, Zaiden (a HUGE dog lover) went and made friends with the dog, at the right.
When we got to Natural Bridges National Monument, we drove around the campground and grew quite concerned as there were no available spaces. We headed back to the ranger station to ask if there was anything else close by. They mentioned that their campground is a first-come first-serve basis and they fill up by 11am this time of year as it’s their busy-season. We spoke with the ranger about other potential places to go and he suggested Sand Island. It’s just off the 163 between Bluff and Mexican Hat, UT (Natural Bridges National Monument is west of Blanding on the 95 — I’d like to go back there, someday, and stay there). He also suggested we head down the 261 to get there as it might be a slightly longer trip but much more scenic. We didn’t want to make Zaiden sit in the car for much longer than necessary but we decided to chance it.
Wow did that pay off. It was a beautiful drive. Just before the 261 meets back with the 163, the road turns into a dirt road and drops about 2,000 feet. At the top (the direction we were coming from), there is a wide spot where you can stop and take some great pictures. The one to the left is one of the views that can be seen from here. It was very windy and a little chilly but well worth stopping for a photo or two. The photo album for this section of our vacation includes some more photos from this spot.
When we got to Sand Island, we were pleasantly surprised. It was lovely. Southern, UT in May is just starting to get rather hot and it’s always dry. Sand Island, though, is right on the San Juan river. Our campsite was about 20 or 30 yards from the river so we got to sleep listening to the running water (the picture for this post, way at the top, is if our campsite).
During dinner, Zaiden threw up, again. Poor little guy — stuck in the car all day (longer than expected due to the fact that Natural Bridges was full) and not feeling well. Just like this morning, though, after throwing up he felt much better. Nikki is going to put him to bed and we’re going to have some hot chocolate before joining him. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be OK. I’ll try skipping his cereal at breakfast to see if that helps. He was eating fruit and bottles all day just fine. I’m hoping it’s the cereal that is causing his stomach to feel upset.