Picnic in the Mountains?

Saturday was supposed to be a beautiful day, and I thought it would be fun to do something fun. We decided we'd go up the mountain canyon in Tooele, find a nice little spot to build a fire and make some hamburgers. So, we packed all the food we'd need and some jackets and everything , then headed for Tooele. Morgan was excited about going to the mountains.
We got to the mouth of the canyon and there was a big gate blocking the road. We had to turn around. Bummer. Morgan was not happy and had to keep clarifying, "the mountain is closed?" So we tried to think of a plan B.
Aaron wanted to go see the salt flats. And, he reasoned, they are only a little further down the I-80 than the Dugway turnoff. So off we went. And went. And went. Then Aaron checked his phone for a map. It appeared that the salt flats were much closer to the Nevada border than we thought. So we turned around. Heading back toward Dugway on Skull Valley we made a stop at a big ol' rock.
We got out of the car and were greeted by some cool wind and the smell of dog poop. In reality it was probably smells from a dairy near by.
Morgan had to use the bathroom pretty bad, so he had his first experience peeing outside. Actually, it was his first time standing up to go to the bathroom. Aaron tried to coach him.
Then we walked around the big rock on narrow trails with steep slopes on either side. Morgan was nervous for a lot of it.

We were sitting on a big rock shelf, plenty of room, but Morgan was still holding on to me for dear life.

After this little adventure we took another one. In an attempt to drive up to the old Lake Boneville water line, we drove off the main road onto a rough dirt road. Morgan kept complaining and campaigning that we go back on the clear road. Anyway, we eventually got to rougher road that didn't look like it was going anywhere so we turned around. However we had to stop before getting to the highway so Morgan could empty his bladder again.

We made one more stop on the way home at a Spring. There was water, which Morgan could throw rocks into, which made him happy.

The wind had died down, (or maybe it was only a problem when we were up high on a rock) and the weather was wonderful. We walked down the boardwalk and spotted some lizards and huge ants, and Morgan wore himself out running back and forth from the parking lot to the pond to gather rocks and then throw them in the water. His rocks were gifts to the fishes, or so he thought.


After this stop we went home where I cooked up some hamburgers for dinner on a griddle.