Vernal, Utah

Our week in Vernal, Utah was a fun one! We enjoyed Dinosaur National Monument 2 days (here and here) and meeting up with our friends we met in Cali. We had dinner together each night and the kids got lots of play time!

This KOA had a fun playground / bounce pad/ pool

and I loved that our spot backed up to a field. There were lots of different kids to play with each night.

It really was so great to have a big “backyard”.

Our friends found a Zentangle art class at the local library so we joined them for that one afternoon!

That was a fun experience ! And the kids liked seeing their art on the projector after class was over.

And look who was there to greet RR :

The kids just didn’t seem interested in the pool at this koa (the water was pretty cold!) so we looked for other things to do during the week!

We visited the local heritage museum and loved all the pieces of history. The kids love depression-era collections (like things they see in the Waltons).

So many of these things reminded me of my Grandma Evelyn!

The girls looove antique kitchen things like this:

And they loved this collection of First Ladies!

RR was more interested in:

My fave was this hilarious permanent hair waver ! Lol ! I have never seen that before:

And I love the “first peoples” items:

Another day, AB woke up and said, “I wish I had BSC # 7” …. so I told her we should check the thrift store. Would you believe it was the first book she saw on the shelf just waiting right there for her ! Isn’t that so good !? :). And we found quite a few others too haha:

We found out that July 24th is Pioneer Day in Utah – which from what we gather is the state celebration of pioneers (Mormons) coming to Utah July 24 1847. It’s like a 2nd 4th if July ! There were rodeos, parades, and fireworks throughout the week. Everything shut down on the 24th so we went to the parade and we loved it! It was probably one of the best parades I’ve seen and definitely the most unique haha . This is such a small town so I wasn’t expecting much but is it just me or do Mormons never do anything half-way? They seem to be people that strive for excellence.

Small towns are awesome. I seriously love small town America for many reasons but their respect and honor for history and public servants are 2 of them. When the military started the parade with the America and Utah flags – every.single.person stood up, stayed quiet, and had their hand over their heart. I had never experienced that before.

My favorite float ? Was this one with the oldest citizens / veterans of Vernal with the sign “Greatness at its finest”:

Okay I was cracking up at this. I have never in my life heard of this! This is amazing. A unicycle team for the high school:

AB loved this train one:

E loved this celebration of flight one because she loves the Wright brothers:

RR loved the tractors :

And our other faves were the “God so loved” one:

And this one:

We loved the costumes, antique cars, and the horses too:

It’s clearly a very patriotic area!

And I gotta tell you something about this small town! They love their flowers! They win the award for best flowers we’ve seen. They are everywhere and huge!