Circus Adventure: Toquerville Falls.

We've recently decided that with all our visits down south to Sand Hollow and St. George, it's about time we actually start exploring the area and seeing some new things.  There are so many places we haven't discovered yet.

So when I got word that such a thing as Toquerville Falls existed, I knew it had to be added to our Labor Day Weekend trip to Sand Hollow (here).

{pic source here}

We found directions to find the falls on THIS post.  My only correction would be the street you turn on is actually Spring Dr. not Spring St.  A small detail, but one that made us question if we were going the right way.

Be fair warned that you do need a vehicle with higher clearance.  My brother drove a Subaru car up and he scraped a few times.

I would highly suggest find this place.  Being as we visited it on Labor Day Weekend, it was crowded with a lot of people.  But I know others who have visited and had the entire place to themselves.  I'm keeping this puppy on my to do list for the next time we head south so we can check it out and play on it when it's not crowded.  Also, the water in the bottom pool was stirred up when we were there.  I'd like to visit it when we can see the bottom better.

Regardless, we had fun.  

Everyone jumped off the bottom fall, including our dog, Milo.  Now that was a sight to see.  I wish he would have told me he was planning on doing that so I could have caught it on camera.  As it is I only have him checking it out behind West as West jumped...

West (and Strider and Milo)

And then in the water after West pulled him out from under the falling water.  I think Milo got a little disoriented with the water falling all around him and he didn't seem to know what to do.  West had to grab him and pull him out.

Milo, West, Sean

After that people kept asking if we could make our dog jump again.  Truth be told, we're not sure he even did it on purpose the first time.

Please keep in mind, when jumping from a waterfall, it's important to wear a frog floatie.

Cali

Safety first.

Jayme

Tayler

Cali jumping with cousin Brenna.

Casidee

Sean

Brynn

Sean

This would be the trip that Casidee cut open the bottom of her foot.  But not from jumping.  She simply cut it by standing there.  Well, on a sharp rock.  So take note, as I would suggest with any publicly known adventure, take water shoes of some sort.  If the rocks don't get you, the broken glass will.  Generally speaking, not necessarily here at Toquerville Falls.

I think next time we go I'm going to spend a little more time on the upper part of the falls.  I like the view from up there.

Tayler

 And of course we drug all our family and friends with us.  When you go on an adventure with us, you can't miss out on any of it.

Hanging with Grandma Julie.

Circus Adventure: Sand Hollow. Always.

If you haven't discovered the beauty that is Sand Hollow yet, all I have to ask is why not?

The beaches are soft and red.

The water is clear and warm.  In the fall, that is.  In the spring they're clear and cold.

This reservoir sits in the dessert in Hurricane, Utah.  Pronounced: "Hurrikin."

I know, it doesn't make any sense, but I didn't make the rules, I just follow them.

We've been visiting Sand Hollow at least once (but usually twice) a summer for several years now.  It doesn't matter if we're camping right on the beach, or parked in a paved camping spot with hookups.  It doesn't matter if we've brought the rzr's for riding, or the jet skies for pulling people on tubes and knee boards, or if we've brought or scuba gear for diving, or if we've just simply brought swimsuits and sand toys.

We love this place.

I think that's the part of the beauty of this place. How accommodating it is to different outdoor hobbies.  The Man likes to ride his rzr.  Great.  Sand Hollow has it's own mini sand dunes set aside for just that.  As well as several trails just outside the park and rocks for climbing around in.

Papa Mike likes to take his jet skies out.  Great.  You can do that here.

Grandpa Brent is all about scuba diving.  Great.  There's a section of the lake buoyed off limits for boats specifically for scuba diving.  They've even planted an airplane, a VW bus, a toilet, as well as platforms, tubes, and different shapes for swimming around in.  We even found an old missile.  And the canyons that are made by the natural rock formations are amazing.  The lake isn't very deep.  We only hit 40 feet at our deepest, and generally stayed around 30 feet, but that just means we're open to dive all day long if we so desire, and if we have the air left to do it.

The Circus likes to swim from rock island to rock island and jump into the water from the higher tips.  Great.  There isn't anything too high that it makes me nervous for them to be doing that, and the rock islands are inside the scuba diving area, so there aren't any boats around while my kids are out swimming and jumping.  The area is good for them to practice their snorkeling as well.

(My camera got fogged up with moisture on this picture, but it shows how Cali spent the whole weekend so I included it anyway)

I generally like to sit on the beach with my feet in the water, reading a good book, enjoying the sun, and hanging out with my kids.  Great.  The beaches are incredible.

This trip we loved have Grandpa Brent and Grandma Julie hanging out with us.  We also had my good friend and her kids join us as well.  Plus, we let Sean bring a friend on this trip in lieu of a birthday party.

 But even if we have to go it alone, we think Sand Hollow is a pretty great place to land for a few days.

Midway Ice Castles

Yesterday Cali turned nine.

Because she thinks she can do that or something.

She also thinks she gets to choose Olive Garden for her one on one birthday lunch... which she does.

This girl is all spit fire and sass.

So for her birthday we decided to cool her off a little bit by taking her to see the ice castles in Midway.

And can I just say, this is a must see.  Like, you need to see this at least once in your life.  You have to.

There were tunnels, tunnels that ended in a slide, Olaf, a waterfall, "slot canyons", and all sorts of nooks and crannies everywhere we looked.

And the textures with the lighting.  I was in awe with it all.  The Man said he wished we would've gone in the daylight so he could see all the texture of the ice better, but honestly, I couldn't get over the way the light hit it.  I think either way you see it is going to be spectacular.

And though we haven't seen Frozen yet (I know, I know, but seriously, when you have eight people in your family it's around $80 to see a movie, and that's without treats!  We have to patiently wait for the movies to show up at the local dollar theater), we knew Olaf when we saw him.

(Though the flash was killing them while they tried to pose with him).

We found an awesome ice throne.

You know it's good when all six kids insist that they need a picture on it.

If you don't have plans this weekend, we highly recommend going and seeing this.  Day or night.
You can find the information on the website here.

The ice castles will open through the end of February.

Just don't forget to layer up.

Baby, it's cold outside!

We got to watch some ice maintenance with a chain saw going on.  And we saw a demonstration with a guy sculpting the ice with a blow torch.  How awesome is that?

Also, while we were there they brought in this piano:

Apparently the Piano Guys are going to be filming a video there in the next few days.  I can't wait to see it!

Have I convinced you yet?

Go see it already!

Also, this is the part where I say I did receive compensation of free entry to the ice castles in exchange for writing this post, but absolutely, 100% the opinions, experience, and pictures are all my own.