The evening before we left Wyoming, we made the beautiful hour and a half drive from Rock Springs to the Flaming Gorge Red Canyon Overlook.
It was a gorgeous mountain drive the whole way. We really enjoyed the views.
Flaming Gorge Reservoir is the largest reservoir in Wyoming, on the Green River, impounded behind the Flaming Gorge Dam.
We drove over the Flaming Gorge Dam, which was neat to see.
There are many long drives we take with certainty our kids will find the drives worth it. Others, we chance it and hope for the best. This was one of those kind of drives.
Our kids oohed and aahed a few times along the way, and they really got excited when we arrived at the Red Canyon area.
When we first turned onto the road heading to Red Canyon Overlook, we saw a group of goats hanging out right beside us.
We parked at the Red Canyon Visitor Center, and we walked a short paved trail to this amazing overlook. It was quite a view to see!
We walked around and admired the beauty as the sun was making its way down.
After taking it all in, our kids excitedly squeezed into a large crack in the ground.
Then we started walking back down the short paved trail. Jubilee and River ran ahead. I called out for them to wait on the rest of us. As they turned around to start running back toward us, River fell. Bravely had fallen about two minutes earlier, cried a minute, and was ready to walk again. When River fell and then stood back up, though, I started yelling, “Breathe, breathe!” Tapestry ran ahead and yelled back, “She did breathe!” Just as she said that, River fell straight back and hit her head on the paved path.
I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced a child who holds his/her breath when scared or hurt to the point of passing out, but it’s scary! River started this when she hit her head on the floor as a baby. She has done it several times since. We used to rush her to the ER every time. They always assured us she was fine and would outgrow this phase. She has mostly outgrown it, and she does usually breathe when I remind her to do so. This was her first hard fall from not breathing fast enough. Her head was bleeding to the point we thought she may need stitches. Once I got her cleaned up, we knew she was ok without stitches but that we’d be on concussion watch for the next few days. Within a couple hours, she was her happy self. She came to our room with a huge smile on her face that evening and said, “I’m better because the girls gave me stickers.” When you get hurt in a big family, you get showered with love, attention and treats. And that was just the cure River needed!
We all ended up loving the Flaming Gorge Red Canyon Overlook, and we found it worth the drive. We only wished River had not got hurt, but we are thankful all is well now!