Goblin Valley

This trip was so fun that my kids forgot to ask for screens for three days.  I brought them, but never needed them, not even in cranky afternoons or for winding down at the end of the day.  It was wonderful, even in the end of July heat.  We rented a yurt (#2).  I really loved the yurt, but next time, I will try for yurt #1, as #2 is very close to the pit toilets and can occasionally be smelly.  Just FYI - there was no way to open the dome, and the ceiling fan only has one speed and no way to change it.  Not complaining, just noting!  Other things to know about yurt living: They have ice for sale at the visitor's center, and a few displays, but the visitor's center isn't enormous and won't keep the kids busy for long.  They do have giant popsicles for $1 that are amazing after a hike.  The water from the hand pumps is drinkable and tastes fine.  Showers are cold (at least mine were) but feel wonderful.  No soap or towels provided.  Flushing toilets in the campground bathroom, but no a.c. or swamp cooler in there.  Still, flush toilets!  The yurt has a grill with a propane tank and a single burner, so you might not need to bring a camping stove at all.  (We didn't.)  Green River is the closest town and has several good dining options.  We had a delicious huge lunch at the Tamarisk and later had an amazing lunch at Tacos La Pasadita (which really is housed in a former gas station).  There is a fire ban, so don't plan to roast marshmallows unless you want to toast them at the grill.  The closest grocery store is about 45 minutes away, so pack a lot of food and the medical stuff that makes life happy - immodium, benadryl, pain killer for you and the kids, bandaids, big gauze pads and tape to cover big bike crash injuries, tweezers for cactus needles and splinters, etc.  The visitor's center has a few things, but best to just take it all.  (I am not a minimalist.)  (You might have guessed that already.)

On Sunday, we ate lunch at Tamarisk, checked into the yurt, unpacked, and went to explore among the hoodoos.  Unbelievably beautiful and fun.  We had a late dinner and fell asleep in the surprisingly comfortable and spacious yurt.

Monday, we went to Little Wild Horse slot canyon.  It was absolutely clear with no hint of rain, so it was safe for the hike.  Take plenty of water.  The scramble to get to the actual canyon kind of sucks.  I have a fear of heights and had a squirmy toddler with me, and I ended up with a full on panic attack while getting down to the slot canyon area.  Maybe we just went the wrong way?  But once we got down there, it was flat and astonishingly gorgeous.  In spite of the crappiness of getting in there, I really recommend this hike.  But take plenty of water, because there is no place to refill anywhere along the way.  Also no bathrooms, which makes sense (slot canyon!), but was apparently a surprise to the person who pooped in one of the alcoves.  (Dude, putting a rock over it doesn't actually make it go away.)   We were tired after the awesomeness, so we rested at the yurt.  In the evening, the kids flew kites and the glider and played in the campground area.  They created names for all the rocks and nooks and crannies of the rocks and mini canyon behind the yurt and dug in the dirt.  I drank a beer on the porch and watched lizards.  It was awesome.  My husband took all the kids on a bike ride or three, which they all loved.

On Tuesday, we went to Green River and explored the museum there.  It's across from the Tamarisk, which is how we had noticed it to begin with.  The air conditioning was wonderfully cool in there.  They had some interesting and fun exhibits, but there isn't much the kids can touch.  There are great dinosaurs in the basement.  The big hit there was the wonderful movie, which everyone loved.  Admission for the whole family was $15 and was good for a week.  We thought about going to Swasey's Beach, but I had forgotten swimsuits.  We tried to get to the Ratio land art but had trouble getting there.  We made it in the end.  If you are also searching, drive on Airport Road until you go across the railroad tracks.  Immediately turn right.  It will look like a railroad access road, but I don't think it is.  Follow it until you get the chance to turn left, and you'll find yourself at the Ratio.  It's really huge and explores the Fibonacci sequence, which my kids remembered and could discuss.  (Please note the gratifying homeschool moment.)  The tall pipes across from the sculpture represent earth, wind, fire, and water, and include actual gold on one of them.  (It's an element, get it?  The sculpture is called Elements.)  We also tried to find Fossil Point but somehow missed our spot.  It was a gorgeous drive anyway, and I was enthralled with the beautiful Horse Bench Reservoir.   That night, we went geocaching in the hoodoos at sunset. We were triumphant and successful.  The treasure hunt was incredibly motivating.  Take a few small trinkets with you (McDonalds toys, plastic coins, finger puppets - small stuff) to trade with the things in the box, and take a stamping book and a stamp pad.  There are beautiful stamps to put in your book.  You could keep the kids busy in the middle of the day by letting them make their own personal stamps to stamp the visitor book.  They can even make their own notebooks, and maybe decorate them with glued on sand.  If you find three geocaches in Emery County, the Goblin Valley visitor's center has a special patch.  Next time, we will plan to take the Penny Press Challenge.  More bike riding happened somewhere in here.  The road by the yurts dead-ends, so it was great for the little guy to ride around on, and the bike trails here are awesome.

Wednesday morning, there was more bike riding, and I packed up the yurt.  We tossed all our stuff in the car, got sworn in as Jr Rangers and pressed some pennies, and hit the road for home.  Plans for next time include trying to find Fossil Point again, Crystal Geyser, hiking the Black Dragon trail to see the pictographs, going on the Goblin's Lair hike, and going on the Curtis Bench Trail to see the cryptobiotic soil.

We arrived on a Sunday and left on Wednesday, and for each day, I had a goblin picture book.

• We loved Nobody Likes a Goblin by Ben Hatke.  It's a very sweet story from the goblin's perspective, and he triumphs in the end.  No one is all that awful to the goblin, either.  (They do chase him and say he's disgusting, but no one hurts him.)  
• The younger kids reread Imelda and the Goblin King by Briony Smith many times.  The more times I read it, the more I felt a little weird about it.  I don't love that the king is immediately described as a bully - but there is no denying his awful behavior.  I don't love that Imelda wins by basically drugging the king - but it is a reasonably non-violent way to deal with him.  I don't love that the queen doesn't save herself, or even seem to put up some resistance, but Imelda takes care of that.  I would still recommend it.  Maybe I'm just being overly sensitive.  
• A Ride on the Red Mare's Back by Ursula K. Le Guin is a great option for Goblin Valley, even though it is about trolls.  (Why couldn't the hoodoos be trolls instead of goblins?  I don't see why they couldn't.)  A little girl rides her magic wooden horse to rescue her little brother, who has been kidnapped by trolls.  The trolls turn to stone in the daylight, which makes this perfect for a valley full of stone sculptures.  It's a fairy tale, and those usually have some dark elements, but it's fantastic.  

Others we liked but didn't take with us included:

• We liked the Rainbow Goblins by Ul De Rico, but it has some dark elements to it.  If you are ok with all the goblins dying, this might be a good option.  If you have sensitive kids, maybe hold off.  
• Sensitive kids will probably love the Goblin and the Empty Chair, though.  There is an implied death of a child, but there is nothing graphic or spelled out - just a child in a picture on the wall that is not in the book.  
• Where's Halmoni is fantastic, with great illustrations, and not at all scary.

Longer book choices:

• I read the Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald out loud to the kids.  I got the version with anime illustrations, which went a long way in making an older book accessible to them.  It was a big hit.  If your kids like this one, there is also a sequel.  
• My middle guy loves the Baby Animal Rescue Fairies books, and the (not-that-bad) baddies in those are goblins.  They come off as more bumbling and worried than anything else.  
• If you haven't read the Hobbit with your kids, this is a great choice - plenty of goblins, plus it's a travel story.  There's an illustrated edition, a comic version, an audiobook option, etc.  The movie is intended for older kids, so don't expect it to be the same as the book.  There's a cartoon version that's pretty benign too.  
• My older two love the Tank and Fizz books, which feature a mystery solving goblin named Fizz and his friend Tank (who is a girl, not that it matters).  
• We love the Phoebe and her Unicorn books too, and there is a goblin queen in book three.  
• My oldest loved the Goblin Wood and highly recommends it.  
• He also liked the Goblin's Puzzle - the logic problems were a hit.  
• Goblins in the Castle was another favorite.  
• Elliot and the Goblin War was hoarded by my oldest, so I can't say how good it is, but he says he loved it.  
• The Problem with Goblins: Furry and Flo was also much appreciated.
• Luciana: Out of this World takes place in a desert.  Not this one, but desert-related, if that would be a hit for your kids.  My oldest loved these.  This is book three, if that matters to your kids.

We took along a few star books like Zoo in the Sky, Curious George's Find the Constellations, or the Klutz Guide to Stars.  There are so many great star books for kids - some glow in the dark, some you can shine a flashlight through - lots of choices.  Definitely take one, though.  Goblin Valley is a dark sky park, and it is unbelievably beautiful at night.  Take a telescope if you have one, but even without one, if the night is clear you'll have a great view of the Milky Way.  One night we accidentally all woke up around four a.m., and sitting in the chairs on the porch of the yurt, staring up at the sky with my sleepy snuggling kids, was beyond belief.  It was one of those moments you are sure parenthood will be full of, before you have kids and discover how much of parenting involves "don't poke your brother" and poop.

Coyote trickster tales would be a great option here too, as would stories from the Ute tribe.  There are also a lot of Native American stories about the stars that are quite different from the Eurocentric ones, and those would be fun to read.  I will update later with specific book recommendations.  We are still reading through our stack.

We took a bunch of desert books with us as well:

• Way Out in the Desert was a huge hit.  It follows the same rhythm as Over in the Meadow, and my kids love it.  I love that it sneaks in a fair amount of knowledge and isn't painful to read over and over again.  
• Cactus Desert was nice, and there are prickly pear cacti in Goblin Valley (although I didn't see any in the campground), but some of it won't apply to what the kids are seeing. 
• There is a Junior Ranger badge booklet that is very well put together.  It can be purchased for 50 cents, and is totally worth it.  
• Footprints in the Sand is short, easy to read, and adorable - almost all the animals are heading home to their babies.
• Hiding in a Desert is for older kids but is fascinating.  
• Desert Baths is also really, really interesting.  Sun bathing, dust baths, tongue bathing - lots of details on how animals in the desert keep clean.  
• Desert Song is lovely and poetic with beautiful illustrations.  It would be a wonderful option to read at dusk in the desert.  
• Looking Closely Across the Desert is fascinating.  We love the tiny photo that zooms out to reveal something interesting - animals, plants, rock, and sand.  
• A Day and Night in the Desert has very cool illustrations and walks the reader through a 24-hour timeline, three hours at a time.  It was a hit with my wiggly kid.
• Next time, I will plan to take Desert Animals origami.  There are no camels in Goblin Valley, but there are rattlesnakes and tarantulas.  
• I also like the Draw Desert Animals book - it's very accessible, even for younger kids.

Movies you could watch at home:

• the Hobbit cartoon (or movie, with older kids or kids who have no issues with violence)
• Labyrinth
• the Princess and the Goblin cartoon (which is terrible but still kind of fun)
• or with much older kids, Galaxy Quest, which was filmed there and apparently funded the building of the roads in the park.  Lots of innuendo with this one.

We started studying erosion a few weeks before we went to the park, using the R.E.A.L Science Odyssey Earth and Environment curriculum.  (We skipped ahead after doing our model volcano to the erosion section.)  I highly, highly recommend this or something like it.  My kids got so much more out of our experiences since they knew what they were looking at.  Vivid illustrations of erosion by wind, water, plants, and humans are everywhere at the park.  We made a model of a hoodoo with sugar cubes and a salt dough slurry from this lesson plan.  I am not sure that it was much more educational, in the long run, than baking soda volcanoes - but we love baking soda volcanoes, so it's worth a try.  We put them on our shake table to see if our earthquakes would knock them over, but sadly, they survived.  It was fun anyway.  Of much more value were the demonstrations with sandstone recommended in the lesson.

As far as keeping the kids busy, here's what I did.  My husband thinks I am out of my mind, so keep that in mind.

• We bought these kits for rock and mineral exploration and found them to be excellent, although I did write the number of each rock on with a sharpie, since the stickers came off pretty easily.  We took a few rock i.d. books and this rock sample kit.  It kept the kids busy for hours and was really nicely done.  There were great examples of things like polished red jasper and rough red jasper, geodes to split and small geodes already cut, polished amethyst and a rough chunk with crystals, shark teeth, arrowheads, and lots more.  The paper guide that comes with it is informative and easy to use.  My kids sorted them into various piles, i.d. things, looked them up in books, etc.  If you let them do streak testing, you might not see your kid all day.   They also have a fossil kit, if that might interest your child more.  We took these microscopes, which are plastic and easy to use.  We also took these magnifying glasses.  I wish they were a little bit bigger, but the kids love them.  I took a measuring tape, just in case.
• It's surprisingly windy in Goblin Valley, and since the campgrounds are all run on solar power, there are no power lines to tangle with, so it's a great place to fly kites.  We took ours right outside the yurt and had a great time.  This four foot glider was the best thing ever, though.  It really, really worked.   The kids spent hours with it.  You could see it catch thermals.  It went astonishing distances.  The kids ran and ran and ran with it.  Best toy ever.
• We took glow in the dark beads, which were exciting because they changed color in the sun as well as glowing at night.  The kids made their own bracelets during naptime.  I took a little embroidery thread for stringing the beads, and we were all set.
• I took this sticker pad for my youngest, who is almost three.  He had a wonderful time playing baker.  When the sticker sheets lost their charm, we cut them out and he had another go at feeding us all delicious imaginary treats. We used an empty cracker box as an oven.  Other big hits with my two year old included his construction hat, a shovel, a small handheld broom, and some small wooden pastry brushes for playing construction worker and/or archeologist.

Some notes for comfort:

• We took these cold towels, which I highly recommend.  Don't go to the desert in the summer with kids without these.  
• This sunscreen was awesome.  It doesn't hurt if it gets in eyes (although try to keep it out of the eyes), it's wonderfully thick, and after three days in the desert, no one had a tan, let alone a burn.  
• I also took eye drops and cetaphil, and both came in very handy.  Dust gets in everyone's eyes sometimes, and it really hurts.  There are great working showers, but it's good to have a backup, since a shower isn't guaranteed, and you can smooth on cetaphil and wipe it off with a dry washcloth.  It's also great for dust in eyes (over closed eyelids), or irritated and unhappy skin.  I always always take it camping.  Bonus: it can get gum out of your hair.  
• We also took these fans, which were great.  The blades are foam, so the kids can't hurt themselves.  The flashlight option is just bright enough at night.  I wish they could also mist water, but then again - the kids can't squirt each other.  Having the little fans gave the kids some small personal control over how hot they were, and that was awesome, especially in the car.  
• We loved these for a non-messy healthy snack food, and I was shocked to see the kids guzzling cans of V8, so I would recommend those to get a little nutrition in.  
• We took an entire second cooler of drinks, and they were much appreciated.  
• This time I also brought coffee drinks instead of trying to make coffee, and this was awesome.  It turned out that our grill didn't have a propane tank, so we had a cold dinner our first night and wouldn't have had any coffee the next morning without the drinks in the cooler.  Much tidier than bringing all the coffee making supplies along with us.

Finally,

• Things I meant to do but didn't get around to: sun paper, sandstone carving, solar oven to cook lunch one day, origami
• Things I will bring next time: fly strips, fly swatter, battery operated big fan, extra chairs for table, Jeep, geocaching stamp book and tokens, costumes and script for awesome space movie with the kids.  Steak knives.  Duplos.  Possibly desert animal puppets.
• Things I am glad I brought: Mini coordinating Lego sets for each day.  (Found these on clearance at Smith's, and they were so awesome in the afternoons.)  Treat bags for car.  (The kids get a bag with a small treat and small toy/book/other item of interest every hour that we are in the car and they are pleasant.  If they fight, ask if we are there yet, squabble, etc., the hour restarts.  It's magic.)  Lots and lots of good food.  Steak.  Booze.  Trash bags.  Sun hats.  Water backpack.  Storytelling cards.  Binoculars.
• Other ideas for next time: I might pay more attention to teaching the kids when each of the rock layers came from.  We might focus more on desert animals and their adaptations (this time we mostly saw lizards, bats, and a few ravens).  We will go look at the petroglyphs and talk more about the Fremont people who used to live in that area.  I might put more of a focus on identifying desert plants and their adaptations.  Because I can't stop picturing disaster, we will probably go over what to do about snake bites and scorpion bites and heat stroke and sun stroke.  But we will definitely go back.  (To yurt #1. Far away from the pit toilets.)