The Towering Bluffs of Utah

 Two Hidden Gems Great for Camping With Kids

 Bluff Fort in Bluff, Utah

Traveling with kids is a great way to introduce them to different ways to explore the world, immersing them in history and science in an up close and personal way.

My kids are budding rock hounds. I still haven't figured out how to discretely discard the pile of rocks that is growing on their bunkhouse bookshelves, much of it strangely patterned gravel collected from the parking pads of the may campgrounds we have visited.

My daughter also likes to play with bugs. As in she likes to pick them up and put them in a not so secure bug cage and try to bring them into the camper. She actually managed to sneak in a pair of crickets before I got wise to them.

Rocks, bugs, leaves and flowers. These are things that come easy to kids.

Trying to instill that level of fascination in them about past civilizations and the geology of the Grand Canyon - not so easy. They would rather play with Legos than go on another hike on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Even a scavenger hunt isn't always enough to bestir them unless there is an ice cream or some cookies at the end of the hunt. 

But then we stopped at a little town called Bluff, Utah.

There is a little gem of history in the middle of town that is run by volunteers and operates on donations called simply, Bluff Fort.

Bluff Fort has a visitor center and is full of interactive toys and exhibits that give the kids a feel of what life was like for the Mormon settlers that helped populate Utah. There is a great little gift shop and snack shop where you can get baked goods and soft serve ICE CREAM.

There are also a dozen cabins decorated by descendants of those settlers with artifacts from their family that they have donated or loaned to the museum. Along with the exhibit, each of the tiny homes has a recorded reading from a journal of one of the home's inhabitants by one of the recent descendants. It is all very touching and insightful.

I don't know if the sun and stars were aligned just right or if there was some magical energy or magnetic rays shooting out from the displays but my 6 and 7 year old children visited each of those houses and listened to the recordings at each one. And they actually listened to what was said because they were able to tie together what we heard at previous houses to the activities being described at the one they were listening to.

I was dumbfounded. And excited at their new passion for history. I imagined whipping out text books and biographies for class time and savoring the ease of future history lessons.

Sand Island and the Petroglygph Wall

We went straight to the petroglyph wall at Sand Island the next morning. I just knew they would have all sorts of amazing things to say about what was depicted and questions about how they got there.

Wrong. All I got was "Meh".

We still have a couple months of museums, monuments, and parks to go. Maybe that interest will show itself again. Hopefully sooner than later.

A mother can dream.

Sand Island is a great little beach spot on the San Juan River. We saw several kayakers in the water as we hiked through the short trails along the shoreline.

We were there in June and there was a lot of prickly brush you would have to push through to get to the water if you go off the trails. But like the name implies, there were little sand islands in the middle of the river that you can swim over to and explore. Just be sure to keep a hold of the kids, the currents can be a little fast in the deeper water.

Up next: Valley of the Gods and Goosenecks State Park

While staying at Coral Sand RV Park in Bluff, we ventured out for a day of scenic driving and settled on Valley of the Gods and Goosenecks State Park since they were right next to each other. I will be posting about each of those separately.

Until then, travel safely!