Good times in Vernal

We went to Vernal last weekend to see Hannah and Jake, our friends from way back. They've been living in Houston, but then they got real and moved to Vernal. Vernal is a little closer than Texas, so we decided we should go see them while we were at least kind of close. This is Jake.

I asked him how to best describe himself, and he just sent me this picture. It really does speak volumes. (I copied that pic from their blog without permission, which might be illegal, but probably not in Vernal.)

We mostly spent the weekend hanging out, playing games, and eating. It was great. On Saturday we took a trip to Split Mountain, so named because the Green River split the mountain instead of going around it, which apparently baffles the scientists who study this kind of thing.

This is inside the Dinasour National Monument. (Oh, and don't be fooled by the name "Monument," because it's basically a Park.) The Monument boasts of some nice hiking, and cool petroglyphs. We went on a hike and found this tree bent clear over the path.
We named this the Arch of Friendship. The petroglyphs were left by the Fremont people ages ago.

To me it looks like an ancient playbook.

This rock goes by two different names. Would you say it looks more like a "Turtle Rock" or a "Skull Rock"? Feel free to make your voice heard in the comment section.

Can you believe we were there for 2 days and this is the only picture we got of Alexa with Annie (age 2) and Molly (age 4)? We are ashamed of ourselves.

But Alexa provided other photo ops. She found a primitive version of her pack-n-play, probably crafted by the Fremonts. Those clever Fremonts . . .

And let this be a lesson to you: When you look like a movie star, the papparazzi will find you.

Thanks Jake and Hannah for hosting us in Vernal. It was great to see you again!