Echo Island RV Resort in Coalville, UT/ Western Hills RV Park in Rawlins, WY

Originally, we planned on heading further north toward Bear Lake, UT so we could travel into Grand Teton National Park. Unfortunately, due to the heavy amount of snow accumulation this year, we had to change our plans. Instead of heading north, we diverted east of Salt Lake City and stayed in an RV resort in Coalville up into the Wasatch mountain range. There was another round of snow heading our way as well as some very cold temperatures, so we hunkered down for the week. The snow didn’t stop Lylah though. She still ran outside to play in it. By the end of the week, the snow stopped falling, the temperatures rose, and all of the accumulated snow had melted.

Colton and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary during this week. The day of our anniversary wasn’t anything anyone would have expected. I accidentally broke the glass part of the coffee pot and sent glass shards flying throughout the RV. Colton was on his hands and knees with a flashlight so that he could find the smaller pieces glistening in the light. He ended up finding most of the glass shards and even found some with his hand by accident, ouch. Later that night I had a severe panic attack like I have never experienced before. It came on suddenly in the middle of the night while I was sleeping. I have no idea what triggered it, but it woke me up and lasted for about an hour. Both Colton and Lylah were up with me trying to help me resolve the tremors I was experiencing. If you have never had a full-blown panic attack before, I don’t recommend it and I would be happy to never experience it again. I felt really bad because Colton had to be up early for work and undoubtedly only got a few hours of sleep that night.

The next weekend we decided to make a better memory of our wedding anniversary. Since we had so much fun in the Salt Lake City area the weekend before, we decided to make another weekend trip back into the city. I had another aerial silks lesson, and we also took the kids back to the ninja gym where Colton decided to join us in the fun. After that, we drove to the Great Salt Lake to check it out. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting to see when we arrived, but what I saw wasn’t close to what I had anticipated. I was previously unaware that the Salt Lake was drying up. I read that the lake has lost over fifty percent of its surface water in the last hundred years, and that scientist have reported it could completely dry up in the next five years. Walking out to the lake it was obvious how much the waterline has receded. Another unfortunate sighting was the amount of dead ducks along the shoreline. You could smell the carcasses wafting in the air over any other beach smell. Apparently, it is normal to find a plethora of dead ducks along the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake. Migratory birds travel to the area over the winter months and sometimes they die. If they die in the lake, the salt and cold water prevents them from decomposing and essentially “pickles” the dead birds. Tens of thousands of birds die in the area every winter and even though they died months ago, they are just now washing onto shore. From what I read, this is a normal occurrence every year, but thousands of dead, pickled ducks littering the beach takes away from the majestic beauty I was anticipating.

After exploring the Great Salt Lake and enjoying the essence of pickled, rotting duck, we headed into the town of Ogden for dinner. We stumbled upon a restaurant called Prairie Schooner Steak House. The theme of the restaurant sealed the deal for us. Every table resembled a covered wagon and in the center was taxidermy wildlife offering a wild west feel. The kids loved it and thought it was the neatest restaurant. We then traveled to a place called iFly Utah. I somehow convinced Colton for our anniversary that we should try indoor skydiving. I’m too chicken to actually skydive, but I found this indoor skydiving place and everyone agreed to give it a try. After a quick training video, we suited up and headed into the wind tunnel chamber. As we sat down, Lylah was asking me if she could go first. The couple ahead of us heard her and gave up their spots, allowing Lylah to be the first in our group to try indoor skydiving. I am so proud of her, she didn’t hesitate one bit. When the instructor was ready for her, she jumped right into the wind tunnel and took flight. Every person gets two, one-minute rounds of flight time. The first round is to try it and get comfortable. The second round you can opt to have the instructor take you forty feet high into the wind tunnel. This was such an exhilarating experience and one we are likely never to forget.

After spending a total of six weeks in Utah, we made our way east into Wyoming. Shout out to Colton for his mad driving skills on I-80. The number of large potholes on that road were terrifying and we saw a number of drivers with blown out tires on the side of the road. As Colton had stated, “They were the size of small cars!” He had to weave through a minefield of cratered roadway, dodging other vehicles, and keep the camper from taking too many hits. Thankfully, we arrived to our destination in one piece. Our stay in Rawlins was lackluster. There was not a lot to do in the the area so we kept it pretty lowkey. The RV park had a playground and there were quite a few kids staying that week, so the kids enjoyed making new friends from Florida and playing at the playground.

My birthday also happened to land on the week we were in Rawlins. I was just fine not doing anything crazy for my birthday, but Lylah was determined to make the day special for me. She woke up early, handmade streamers, and decorated the RV. She also hid Easter eggs around the RV for me to find. Both kids made homemade birthday cards for me. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday celebration.