Little Sahara Trip

Since we couldn't visit the real Sahara Desert, we decided to visit the Little Sahara a few hours South of us.  We had one night and two days to try out our RV for the first time, so we decided to go to the closest destination that had the most sand.

It was a fun trip that started with a bit of an unfortunate event.  Just after we arrived we were playing in the sand up on top of the dunes in the OHV free area.  Out of nowhere a huge wild wind came sweeping in creating the craziest sand storm I have ever and probably will ever witness in my life.  The kids could not even keep themselves upright without help and we could barely see through all the blowing sand which stung our faces and ripped at our clothes. During our frantic flight back to the RV, our camera must have fallen out of my jacket pocket.  I didn't realize it was gone until about a half hour later.  By that time the wind had moved entire sand dunes around the place. We searched and searched in that sand for the camera, but it was a completely futile effort.  Talk about dropping your camera in the wrong place at the wrong time.  I am pretty sure it was buried under about three feet of sand within 20 minutes or so.  We searched and searched the next day as well.  So sad.  I loved that camera.  The funny thing is that it is in an almost indestructible waterproof (and sandproof) case.  I can imagine someone playing in that sand one day, in like ten years, and finding our camera still in near perfect condition.  I wonder what they will do with it.  Maybe they will try to find us by posting our pictures on the news or something.  For now, all I have is my phone for taking pictures, and I tell you, I am working really hard to make sure it does not fall out of my pocket during the sandstorm of the century.

We were definitely sad about the camera, but made the best of the trip without it.  The kids loved all that sand.

They had just as much fun back at the campground as well.  This tree became the "good guy ship" with super cannon blasters big enough to sit on. . .

. . .and this pile of branches became the "bad guy ship" with lots of smaller blasters.

For some reason the boys thought the tumbleweeds were hilarious and they would chase them down laughing and screaming until they caught one.  Then they would bring it back to camp with the biggest proud grins on their faces.

Mark enjoyed some wood carving as the kids were playing.  I'm not surprised he's a natural at that in addition to everything else he does.

We climbed the hill/mountain behind our campsite to get a good view of the surrounding area.  It was actually a really steep climb and Brian did awesome!  Timmy on the other hand made Mark carry him the whole way up and the whole way down, but at least we went.

Back at camp we enjoyed a delightful fire and roasted hot dog after hot dog.  Those boys were hungry and just kept on eating.  Then we enjoyed a warm comfortable night in the RV.  Besides losing the camera, it turned out to be a very successful maiden voyage for the RV.

The next day after breakfast, playing the sand, and watching the OHVers climb the 700 foot sand mountain, we headed home.  We had some time, so we stopped in Provo to visit Mark's brother.  He was studying on campus so we got to take a little trip down memory lane.  I hadn't been back to BYU campus for years and years.  We walked around and showed the boys a few things.  I had a massive smile plastered on my face the whole time.  I have so many fond memories of my time at BYU.  To top it all off, we stopped and ate at Carrabba's Italian Grill on the way home.  Mark and I consider this our special restaurant because it is where we went on our first date and we celebrated our birthdays and anniversaries there while we lived in Provo.  It was so fun to remember those days in Provo and share a little bit of it with Brian and Timmy.