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This is the OP again. For what it's worth, we did end up going, but our plans changed substantially from what I had inquired about (thanks for all the advice though). We went last weekend, and car camped two nights at the Green River CG in Dinosaur National Monument. Not the best choice for August in retrospect, but we didn't want to drive quite as far as, say, the Winds, or Bryce, etc.
In brief, our two person tent proved to be very cramped with the baby, who rolls and tosses a lot in her sleep. The second night there were multiple spells of thunder and lightning, which freaked Mom & Dad out, but baby slept through. We packed up to the car on two different occasions b/c of the weather, which is kind of absurd in retrospect, but we felt very vulnerable at the time. B/C of the weather, I had to put the rain fly on the tent, so it got quite stuffy inside. After a largely sleepless night, we got a cabin at the KOA Vernal for the third night.
I think Dinosaur is a greatly underrated destination. We drove the Harpers Corner drive for the first time this visit, and the view from the end of the Harpers Corner Trail is just phenomenal. And very few people. We also visited the McConkie Ranch petroglyphs, which are just awesome, on par with the best I've seen in Horseshoe Canyon or Sego Canyon. Vernal sure seems to be thriving with the energy price boom, but boy is it redneck-y; scads of huge pickup trucks everywhere.
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I've gone camping with a lot of babies... (seems it is baby season among my friend group... even regional Burning Mans, yikes!).
What I have noticed is that the couples who strictly maintain their child's schedule (feeding/bath/sleep) failed and that the couples that let the experience and cues from their baby of when the child was ready to do anything had a MUCH better time of it (and a much happier baby).
