Labor Day Weekend 2017: Sand Hollow

Sean, Tayler, Casadee Bartlett, Luke Parker

Sean, Tayler, Cali, Luke Parker, Simone Parker, Casadee Bartlett

Me, Cali, Brynn, Crystal Bartlett, Taylee

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.

Easter. Sand Hollow.

Easter has a long standing tradition of fleeing south for us.

It's a holiday that signifies, for The Man, that it's past time to have the trailer out and stocked and ready to roll.  He washes the winter dust off the toys, loads them up, along with The Circus, and we head out for fresh air with fresh spring hopes in our hearts.

Fleeing south guarantees us that we won't get snowed on.

This is Utah, afterall.

The drive seemed longer this trip than other trips, but I somehow feel it was a harder winter for us mentally, so perhaps it took us a little bit to shake winter off our brains as we drove.  School seems to be dragging for everyone, and there have been the mental pressures of The Man switching from being a business owner to putting that on the side and taking a job working for someone else in hopes of growth and new opportunities.
We made a traditional pit stop at the Scipio gas station that doubles as a petting zoo to check on our llama friends and our favorite Utah resident zebra.

Sadly, we didn't find our zebra friend, but we believe we found his offspring.  What we can't decide is should we call it a Zonkey or a Deebra? Whatever you call it, it was super friendly, pushing its nose at us to be pet.

Either way it was a fun find on that stop.

We made it to Sand Hollow (here) and pulled right up on the beach, which seems to be par for us.  Easter is always right on the beach.  Fall is in the campground where the rock formations in the water can be explored, and where it's nearer to the scuba diving launch.  The water is warmer in the fall, which is a little more inviting for submerging yourself down to the bottom. Although we have yet to actually dive there.

This fall.  This fall.

It only took a moment, long enough for us to level and open the trailer up, before we found our groove for the next three days.

As we pulled up to the beach area we noticed a lone kitchen chair sitting out in the water.  We claimed it for a day but it didn't take us long to find a better use for it.

More on The Man's brilliant fire pit shoveling skills here.

It was a good beach chair.  But it was even better firewood.

We got to visit with Grandpa Dick and Grandma KC, I pretended to do some Spanish homework (two weeks left!), and we welcomed Papa Mike when he showed up to sit on the beach with us.

The Easter Bunny showed up leaving books and kites, which directly translated to occupied kids for hours.

I truly think all I need is my family, the beach and sunshine (and I'd be a... happy snowman!), and a good book and I would be happy for life.

This.

I can be content in taking it in spurts.