Utah Day 5: Vegas, Baby

After four full days of taking in nature's beauty, the next stop on our trip gave us a chance to revel in some of people's greatest (or worst, depending on your take on it) creations - awesome buildings, unlimited alcohol, indulgent food, and plenty of gambling. And of course, to observe the wildlife in their natural habitat.

Utah Road Trip Day 4: Zion National Park

Oftentimes, after pouring through guidebooks and internet reviews, I go into a trip expecting a certain place or experience to be my favorite. More often than not, the highlights of a trip end up being something completely unexpected – a detour I didn’t plan on, or restaurant I never heard about. Zion ended up being both. It was the park I looked forward to visiting most and remains the highlight of the trip, but not for the reasons I anticipated.

After driving through Utah’s desert for three days, entering the canyons of Zion National Park is a very welcome site. It truly is an oasis – the Virgin River is never far away, the canyon’s steep walls are awe-inspiring, and the green trees are an appreciated contrast after endless red rocks. Since we entered the park pretty early in the day, and from the less crowded East entrance, we didn’t have to deal with the park traffic jams we’d been warned about.

Utah Road Trip Day 3: Bryce Canyon

The quickest route from Torrey, UT to Bryce Canyon was on Utah's scenic Route 12. Simply put, the drive was beautiful. We traveled through Dixie National Forest, on high (and incredibly steep) canyon ridges, and back down to the desert near Bryce. The road cuts through numerous cow farms, and we passed hundreds of cows grazing near or right on the road. We stopped for snacks in a small town called Escalante, and were surprised when two men walked in with cowboy hats and spurs on. This was a reminder of how huge our country is. One of my favorite parts of drive through this beautiful state was getting a glimpse into the people, places, and livelihoods between each tourist destination.

But I digress. Driving into Bryce Canyon was pretty unspectacular, until we pulled up to the actual canyon. The canyon is huge and (according to the guidebook) constantly expanding. The constant wind erodes the sandstone to form large red-rock formations nicknamed 'hoo-doos.'  My descriptions won't do it justice, so I'll let the pictures explain :)

Utah Road Trip Day 2: Canyonlands and Capitol Reef

Visiting two national parks in one day, 144 miles apart, while actually trying to see the best of both. Sounds like a pretty impossible task, doesn't it? Although I'm not sure I would do it again, we only had 5 days to visit the "Mighty 5" parks, so on Day 2 of our road trip that's just what we did. Both Canyonlands and Capitol Reef are extremely immense but we did our best to get a feel of each location.

Only 30 minutes from Moab, Canyonlands was up first. We drove to a popular overlook, parked the car, stretched our legs and walked about 30 minutes out to a rock ledge jutting out into the canyon. The walk was peaceful - lots of cactus flowers, lizards, and rock towers guiding the way. And after a day at the extremely popular Arches National Park, the solitude was definitely appreciated :) We hung out on the overlook for a while, and then headed to a trail I had picked out to an "Aztec Butte" (actually a Pueblo grain storage area). The word 'trail' is a little deceptive out in the desert - it just means a flat expanse of land with random rock piles for you to spot and follow. The butte was pretty cool, it's amazing to think how people lived in such an arid landscape.

Utah Road Trip Day 1: Arches National Park

So...I went to Utah! It may not be everyone's dream vacation destination, but during our five day whirlwind road trip this state proved itself well worthy of a trip accross the country. A few months back, my friend (or big sister ;)) Jessica mentioned that she and her roomate were planning a trip to visit the "Mighty 5" National Parks in Utah. I invited myself along that same day, and it didn't take much convincing to get CJ on board as well. After a whirlwind month of buying plane tickets, brainstorming itineraries, and getting excited, and a few flight delays, we landed in Salt Lake City, UT at about midnight and went to go pick up our rental car.

Spoiler alert: one of the highlights of the entire trip occured at a National rental counter. CJ and my sleep deprived eyes lit up when the sales person told us we had the choice between a Chevy Impala, a Dodge Caravan and..... a Mustang convertible. A drive through the American Southwest in an Impala is a nice trip, but driving through the American Southwest in a Mustang with the top down is a roadtrip.  Long story short, we drove off to our super swanky accomodations (a Super 8) in a pretty sweet ride.

Weekend in the Smokies

Ryan just head off to basic training and the beginning of a 3 year commitment to the US Army this past weekend. He'll be missing our family vacation in July and we were looking to spend some time as a family before he left, so we decided to go on a mini vacation before he ships out. Ryan was tasked with picking a location - the only requirement was it needed to be in driving distance. He found a resort in the Great Smoky Mountains in Western NC, complete with 'yurts' for lodging :)

Day 1:

Ryan and I started our trip down South after work on a Thursday (the rest of the family would be joining us a few days later). Since we left so late, the drive was pretty brutal, but we arrived at our hotel in Bristol, VA safely. The plan Day 1 was to visit a natural waterslide and then check out Asheville for a little bit before heading to our second hotel in Cherokee, NC. Well, we didn’t do too great of a job researching and the day involved a lot of wandering. But it wasn't so bad, because we had the amazing Smoky Mountains in the backdrop the whole time.

Quality Time in RVA

My younger brother and I went to visit our grandparents in Richmond, VA earlier this month. He is enlisted in the Army and is currently at basic training, so we made our rounds to visit family members before he leaves. Although I have plenty of family in and near Richmond, most of my visits to the area consist of holiday dinners, so we rarely venture downtown. We had a little more time to kill this weekend and were able to explore a tiny bit of the city.