The (Unexpected) Road Less Travelled By

Okay, so my friend Constance and I had this fabulous field trip planned with my children for yesterday afternoon. I would meet her at her house in the morning after Owen's viola lesson, we would have some kind of a lunch, and then drive up to Ogden to go to the Ogden Dinosaur Park. We met up and ate lunch at Kneader's (oh wow it was good. You should try their 12-grain hazelnut bread. MMmmmm). The kids were thrilled to be treated to any treat from the glass cases. And then we were on our way, Constance in her car with Bronwyn and me in our car with the boys. I have learned the kids are much calmer in the car when we listen to books on tape, so we finished up Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo on the ride up. It was a smooth ride, really, and traffic wasn't nearly as crowded as I was expecting. I don't drive north of Salt Lake very often.

The museum and park were so much fun. The boys got a kick out of copralites (fossilized dino dung) inside the museum, and we could watch three people cleaning up actual dinosaur bones for re-assembly. The outdoor part of the park was cool. There are life-size models of dinosaurs, skin and teeth and all, all over the place, and it was so interesting to get a feel for size. There was a giganotosaur from Argentina that I was kind of excited about because we've seen an IMAX movie about them at Thanksgiving Point. I couldn't believe what a massive head this one had. The kids enjoyed running ahead to see what dinosaur was poking through the foliage next. My only complaint about the set-up is that not everything in the exhibits are clearly labelled. Some are not labelled at all so you have to guess what you're looking at. Also, the full-color half-page map you are given has very poor print resolution on the 6-point font so you can't read the dinosaur names on it either for help. Small criticisms, however, for a great field trip. Even Owen was having a good time.

We munched on apples and cookies on the grass by our cars before heading off on the unplanned part of our journey. Since it was late afternoon and we knew we would be hitting commuter traffic for the next two hours on I-15 we elected to go through Ogden Canyon, picking up I-84 and head home through Provo Canyon via Heber. And gee whiz, the canyon was right there by the park. Owen decided to join Bronwyn and Constance and I had the other two boys with me. Constance put me in the lead and we headed right up the canyon. It was a lovely drive, and soon we were driving through cool mountain air in the direction of Huntsville. "Hmmm," my brain said. "I don't remember there being a Huntsville on the way to Park City and Heber. Hmmm." No alarm bells were going off in my brain. Yet.

Well, the road we were driving on kept heading northeast. I was really starting to doubt we were going the right way because I knew we should be heading south any time. The road was still climbing through gorgeous mountains, and it even got cool enough that Liam was begging me and Evan to roll up our windows. The two-lane highway was largely unoccupied save for our two cars. As we continued driving northeast I (half) jokingly said to Evan, "Well, we may end up in Wyoming before we're through!" I knew there was a road going through the mountains from Woodruff to Ogden because my sister-in-law and her husband had lived up in the Woodruff area for a number of years working on the Church's Deseret Land and Livestock ranch. My suspicions were confirmed when we came upon a sign announcing Woodruff and Randolph within fifty miles. I pulled over just past the sign and burst into laughter. Constance pulled up beside me and we had exchanged laughs for a few minutes before deciding we had come far enough that we might as well just continue on. We had enjoyed the exquisite scenery and the most opposite of commuter traffic that we could have experienced.

Once we reached Woodruff I felt like I was in familiar territory. I've driven that road a number of times going to and from Star Valley and visiting Lauri and Jay on the ranch. After a late stop at Granny's in Heber for juicy hamburgers and shakes we finally made it back to Provo around 9 p.m., eight counties and two states later. Phew! Sorry there are no pictures. I forgot my camera.

I can safely recommend Scenic Byway 39 as a glorious, cool drive. It's long, but not too winding. With the July and August heat here, maybe we'll just have to accidentally take that road again.