So it turns out that planning a 12 day European vacation is very time intensive. So any free time I had at work on the Internet was purely devoted to trip planning, I am sure my boss appreciated all my hard work. Hence, my blogging has suffered. Once again I debated just stopping the blog but I am no quitter so here I am again. With a few trips between my last post and this one I will try not to overwhelm you with details all at once. I have many stories to report from Europe but before we jump across the pond I need to blog about the amaziness that is Utah.
If you are like I was a few months ago then when you think of Utah you mainly think Mormons. I am here to tell you that there is so much more in Utah than just Mormons. I said after we went to our first trip to Utah last year that if we moved from California I would put Utah on my list of top places to live. I know that might seem surprising and perhaps I haven't thought out all the sacrifices of living in a primarily dry state but what it lacks in liberalness it makes up for in natural beauty. We have now visited 4 must see places in Utah, all natural parks I might add. Zion, Bryce, Arches, and Canyonlands. Given we only had like a day at each place so I haven't fully been able to enjoy all they have to offer, but after what I have seen I can definitely give it 2 thumbs up. Currently Zion and Canyonlands are competing for the top spot, not that the other 2 weren't awesome in their own rights. The problem with seeing overwhelming natural beauty is that you want to capture it and show it to your love ones so they will be inspired to make the journey themselves but pictures never do it justice. If you have ever gone to the grand canyon, which I did for the 2nd time last month, you have been struck by the size and taken lots of pics only to get home and look back and think that is not the same thing I just saw. So frustrating. Hopefully enthusiasm in this blog in combination with facebook photos will inspire you to book your plane tickets now. If there was ever a place to take a week long RV trip I would say it was southern Utah. We are already planning more trips back, if only we had unlimited vacation days.
Let me break down a few details for you to help you understand. Zion, amazing colors and mini-mountains layered in tons of shades of pinks and browns with lots of greenery on top of everything. Water is abundant and you can even do hikes in the river. No cars allowed in the park so you just drop your ride and take a shuttle where ever you want to go and it is small enough that you don't waste to much time doing this. Canyonlands, so we only got to explore one little section of the park which is massive so it will definitely require follow-up visits. We explored the Needles area of the park which is basically rock spires that I guess resemble needles but not in a bad way. We stayed outside of the park in an area that is just free camping off the road, so there weren't amenities like bathrooms but you quickly get over that. Our campsite felt like Mars, red rock boulders, canyons, crevasses, climbing, you had it all. The hike we did once we got in to the park was our own creation since we combined a few of the trails together to make a big loop and it was seriously in my top 3 hikes ever. Most of the time what makes a killer hike for me is a huge payoff view at the end and maybe some along the way. This trail did have some good views but it also had a ton of variety which made it so interesting and fun the whole way. We experienced lots of different terrains. For example caves, overlooks, desert, woods, red rock, white rock, and sand. It was like 5 hikes rolled in to one.
What also made this trip great is that we met John's sister and brother-in-law, Amy and Josh, at the park. It was nice because they had some experience in the area and a good idea of where to camp so it took some of the usual trip planning stress off of us. Considering my time had been devoted to Europe trip planning I didn't have much time to think about logistics on this trip so it worked out great. Sometimes I want to be a control freak but this time I was happy to just sit back and enjoy the ride. We also took turns cooking dinner so it was less work and since we could divide up some of the stuff we needed to pack it cut down our load a little too. I am usually nervous to go camping with other people because if they don't camp often you will be doing twice the work to get them ready but when you go with experienced campers it just makes life easier. Did I mention the weather was also amazing on this trip and that we made a stop at the Grand Canyon on the way home.
OK so I have a few other stories from before Utah and after that I need to tell but I am typed out for now. I also want to give an update on how my annual goals are going so far. Stay tuned.
If you are like I was a few months ago then when you think of Utah you mainly think Mormons. I am here to tell you that there is so much more in Utah than just Mormons. I said after we went to our first trip to Utah last year that if we moved from California I would put Utah on my list of top places to live. I know that might seem surprising and perhaps I haven't thought out all the sacrifices of living in a primarily dry state but what it lacks in liberalness it makes up for in natural beauty. We have now visited 4 must see places in Utah, all natural parks I might add. Zion, Bryce, Arches, and Canyonlands. Given we only had like a day at each place so I haven't fully been able to enjoy all they have to offer, but after what I have seen I can definitely give it 2 thumbs up. Currently Zion and Canyonlands are competing for the top spot, not that the other 2 weren't awesome in their own rights. The problem with seeing overwhelming natural beauty is that you want to capture it and show it to your love ones so they will be inspired to make the journey themselves but pictures never do it justice. If you have ever gone to the grand canyon, which I did for the 2nd time last month, you have been struck by the size and taken lots of pics only to get home and look back and think that is not the same thing I just saw. So frustrating. Hopefully enthusiasm in this blog in combination with facebook photos will inspire you to book your plane tickets now. If there was ever a place to take a week long RV trip I would say it was southern Utah. We are already planning more trips back, if only we had unlimited vacation days.
Let me break down a few details for you to help you understand. Zion, amazing colors and mini-mountains layered in tons of shades of pinks and browns with lots of greenery on top of everything. Water is abundant and you can even do hikes in the river. No cars allowed in the park so you just drop your ride and take a shuttle where ever you want to go and it is small enough that you don't waste to much time doing this. Canyonlands, so we only got to explore one little section of the park which is massive so it will definitely require follow-up visits. We explored the Needles area of the park which is basically rock spires that I guess resemble needles but not in a bad way. We stayed outside of the park in an area that is just free camping off the road, so there weren't amenities like bathrooms but you quickly get over that. Our campsite felt like Mars, red rock boulders, canyons, crevasses, climbing, you had it all. The hike we did once we got in to the park was our own creation since we combined a few of the trails together to make a big loop and it was seriously in my top 3 hikes ever. Most of the time what makes a killer hike for me is a huge payoff view at the end and maybe some along the way. This trail did have some good views but it also had a ton of variety which made it so interesting and fun the whole way. We experienced lots of different terrains. For example caves, overlooks, desert, woods, red rock, white rock, and sand. It was like 5 hikes rolled in to one.
What also made this trip great is that we met John's sister and brother-in-law, Amy and Josh, at the park. It was nice because they had some experience in the area and a good idea of where to camp so it took some of the usual trip planning stress off of us. Considering my time had been devoted to Europe trip planning I didn't have much time to think about logistics on this trip so it worked out great. Sometimes I want to be a control freak but this time I was happy to just sit back and enjoy the ride. We also took turns cooking dinner so it was less work and since we could divide up some of the stuff we needed to pack it cut down our load a little too. I am usually nervous to go camping with other people because if they don't camp often you will be doing twice the work to get them ready but when you go with experienced campers it just makes life easier. Did I mention the weather was also amazing on this trip and that we made a stop at the Grand Canyon on the way home.
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