GFR 2017

Our neighbors, the Ashbys, invited us to spend Spring Break at "GFR" this year.  When we asked what that was, they said it is a fun place to camp and ride motorcycles/ATVs near Green River.  Kyle (our neighbor) has been going there since he was a little boy and his whole family loves it--over the years it has grown into a really big group who goes.  I think there were probably 40 people there:  9 families, 4 from our neighborhood, plus Kyle's 2 brothers, a cousin, high school friends, etc.  (If you're curious about the initials, they stand for "Green Frickin' River!"  Ha ha!)

We caravaned down together with the Ashbys, and unfortunately they got a flat tire outside of Price.  While they waited for some repairs we collected all the kiddos in the motorhome and headed down to meet the rest of the clan who were already there.  I tried to take a panorama of the 8 kids (plus Bryan and Parker dog).  (As a side note, for a panorama it's best to hold still--but Miles loves to ham it up for the camera so he always moves in crazy ways so that his face will look wacko.  It sure worked for this picture--he's next to Bree on the couch--kind of creeps me out.)

We got in late that night but when we woke up we realized how beautiful it is there!  There were so many trails...actually not really trails because it was mostly sand dunes so it was really just one gigantic trail!

The kids loved playing with friends, climbing rocks, catching lizards, etc.

Bryan loved trying out the Jeep and his motorcycle in sand.  The Jeep did pretty well...it couldn't match the speed of the side-by-sides on the sand, but it was fast enough for me!

One fun thing that the Jeep could do that the others couldn't (well, they could do it, but it wouldn't be pleasant) is drive through huge puddles!  

The sand is the fine red sand like at Lake Powell.  So the kids liked to bury themselves in the sand, and when we got home it felt like we had half the mountain with us....sand falling out of clothes, shoes, sleeping bags, etc.!

The guys riding at GFR were hard-core.  A couple of them race motorcycles (and win!) so they are a bit more adventurous (craaaazy) on their bikes than Bryan wanted to be, which is fine with me!  I need him in one piece! (Did I mention that when Bryan broke his hand on his motorcycle a few years ago, it was with Kyle??)   By the end of this trip, there were bruised ribs, a broken-in-2-places wrist, and a trip to the ER (for kidney stones...so not ride-related, but still a bummer).  Thankfully, our bamatamb fam made it out unscathed.   (Kyle really likes to make "memes" out of his pictures, and we thought this one was pretty good.  Poor Walker though--he's the teenager--13ish?--who broke his wrist.)

All in all, it was a super fun trip!  (And we did all the meals together, so that was awesome--Bryan & I just had to prepare/clean up one meal and after that we could just get fed by everyone else!  Yay!)

We are already thinking this could be a new Spring Break tradition!