Great Basin National Park

A few months ago we decided to embark on another National Park adventure - this time to Great Basin National Park.  On our way we did some off roading in our mini van to go find trilobites.  The map said we had to drive on an unpaved road, but holy moly - it was miles of dirt, and mud, and there were a few places our brand new van just could not make it.  My knuckles were white on this drive - I was so worried we were going to get stuck somewhere.  Our car couldn't make it to where we wanted to go, but we ended up stopping and digging next to a closed fossil quarry, and we actually found some trilobites! Wesley was in heaven!  Blake and Chase just had fun running around and digging in the dirt.  We were out in the middle of nowhere without reception, so it was a little nerve-wracking,  but we had a lot of fun.  We then made our way down more dirt paths to get back to the freeway, and had to stop to let a huge sheep heard go by.  I've never seen anything like it before.  We finally made our way to "Prospector Inn" which was a cute hotel decorated with Western themed items.  The next day we drove to the National Park, which was sadly mostly closed down since it was still off season and parts of the roads were still covered in snow.  We were able to take a tour of the cave (which was one of the main reasons we came out this way anyways).  Chase was really scared to go in, but once he was in, he did great.  Wesley kept trying to touch everything, and Blake did good (and even fell asleep on Jason for a few minutes), but was starting to melt the last 10 minutes of the tour.   We were deep down underground in tight spaces with a group of people while Blake was crying.  There was nothing we could do, and it was a little bit stressful for those last few minutes.  Luckily, we all made it out alive, and touring the cave was a very neat experience.  We also drove around the little city of Ely, Nevada and had breakfast at a cute little cafe.  There was a fun train station, but sadly, the trains were not running since it was still off season.  In California - everything is open all year, so this is a new experience for me! On our way home,  we stopped by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere to take a break and let Wesley hunt for rocks.  Wesley, being a rock hound, managed to find fossils out here at this random stop. Jason and Wesley ended up finding these huge slabs of shell fossils out there!  Then, right before we came home, we stopped at the salt flats.  I was expecting to see miles of crusty white salt, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a gorgeous vast shallow "lake."  After the snow melts, the ground gets covered in only a few inches of water for miles and miles.  The boys were able to run way out in the middle of this "lake" and play in the water.  It was an amazing sight, and a really fun experience.  I love going on all these mini vacations and adventures with my little family.  It fun to experience our beautiful world with my little boys, and watch them learn and grow.

trilobite! 

There was this old coin operated ride on toy (not working) that must have been from the 50's.  It was so cute! 

The hotel had a fun pool that changed colors 

Playing in the snow while waiting for the cave tour to start 

I brought my old DSLR camera on this trip, and its not very good at taking pictures in low light conditions.  I didn't get the best cave pictures, but it was beautiful down there.  Blake and Chase took turns wearing a head lamp, and they looked so cute!

Wesley finding fossils on a random stop off the freeway.