The first time friends Jim and Susan asked us to meet them in Page, Arizona, we thought, “why?  What’s there?”  After that visit 5 years ago, we couldn’t wait to come back for more.  Aside from visiting Antelope Canyon and Wire Pass, we were excited to spend more time at the national recreation area and in Page.

Lake Powell is amazing, and seeing how the river has carved out the area is unbelievable.  Horseshoe Bend is just out of town, and a short 1/2 mile walk.  The views are just incredible.  Of course we had to attempt recreating a picture taken there 5 years ago.

The dam visitor center is another great spot, and a perfect way to learn more about the area.

The Wahweap Campground is right on Lake Powell, with great views and access to the lake.  The campground is in the sand, with a fun beach atmosphere.  Thankfully, they have electric and non-electric sites.  We were grateful for electric this time with the warm temperatures.

The lake is within walking distance, and although cold, the kids loved taking a dip after each day in the heat.

  

Page, we will be back again!

Travel dates: 6/16-6/18

Additional photo credits:  Jill Heikkila and Kim Hoff

Antelope Canyon has been on our list for a few years now, so we finally splurged on the $40/adult and $20/child over 6 ticket price while the girls are still free.  It was truly amazing!  We did lower Antelope Canyon with Ken’s Tours, although there are other outfitters also.  After visiting other remote slot canyons like Wire Pass,  it felt more like an art museum than an outdoor experience.  Water has done amazing things in Antelope Canyon.  So many photos were taken – Kimmy ended up with 500 pictures in the short one hour tour!

Ethan thought it was interesting that Native Americans hid in it when settlers came.  Gavin couldn’t imagine what it was like when flash floods came through and knocked out the stairs.  Braden said it was one of his favorite parts of the trip and felt like a different planet.

  

 

 

The tour guide was excellent and showed us many of the canyon highlights including Bruce the shark.

 

 

  

 

  

  

It’s amazing how much these rocks look like the woman with her hair in the wind after years of carving.

 

 

The kids loved the skylight view of the seahorse.

 

Here’s a great view of the “Rocky Mountains.”

  

 

  

 

Of course, here’s the belly button of the canyon.

Antelope Canyon, you did not disappoint!

Travel date: 6/16

Additional photo credits: Jill Heikkila and Kim Hoff

The drive from Arches to Bryce was much longer than we remembered, partially because it was more than 5 hours, and partially because the drive was windy, the roads were difficult, and some stressful hitch moments along the way. 

The kids all traveled with Jill, Ben, and Kimmy and made a fun stop at Capital Reef National Park on the way.

We had a bit of culture shock when we arrived at Ruby’s Campground after staying in the primitive Arches Devils Garden Campground.  We had electric and water at Ruby’s, in addition to a beautiful pool, hot tub, showers, shuttle trolley, and more. 

  

We drove into Bryce to watch a spectacular sunset while chuck and the kids had fun taking an extended swim.  

  

The next day, we did a figure 8 hike on the Navajo Loop,…

The first part of the trail was spectacular.

One of the loops was also a horse trail, which was highly over-rated in our opinion.

  

    

 

 

As we finished up the hike, the wind kicked up, and we were happy to take a little break in the campground for the afternoon.  Nothing is like those Utah winds!  We enjoyed one of our few fires for this part of the trip while we cooked pie iron pizzas.  We were loving the cool Bryce temperatures after the sweltering temps in Arches!

We headed back into the park for yet another amazing sunset.   I was excited to get some great shots with our new rumpl blanket 🙂

 

We ended the evening ready to head off to Zion with 28 of our favorite friends and family!

Travel dates: 6/14-6/16

Additional photo credits: Jill Heikkila and Kim Hoff

There is nothing like driving through 100+ degree heat through the desert, anticipating our arrival in Arches National Park, where we would proceed to spend two nights at Devils Garden Campground, at the very back of the park with no electric or services.  Despite the fear, I have been totally looking forward to camping in this amazing playground for six months, since making our reservation at the coolest campsite ever.

We pulled into Moab early afternoon, knowing full well we could not drive into the park right then.  We killed some time in Moab collecting report card freebies around town.  

A stop at the Arches Visitor confirmed we would have a great visit!  The kids were overjoyed when we arrived at our campsite, claiming it was one of the two best spots ever, tied with the Redwoods. 

Despite the heat, there were shady areas amongst the red cliffs and trees. 

We discovered that Skyline Arch was a short walk behind our campsite, and as we looked down from inside the arch at all the people at the viewing pullout along the road, we couldn’t help but think we had found the best kept secret of the park.  The kids called it “our arch.” 

After getting settled, we took the loop trail to Tapestry Arch

and Broken Arch.  We had so much fun trying to recreate our original family picture at Broken Arch from 5 years ago. 

 

It could never be as amazing as Jim David’s amazing photo, but we sure had fun trying to recreate it with our makeshift self-timed tripod. 

Wow things have changed it 5 years!

  

While there is no service in the campground, we were able to collect some messages while we were out hiking and found out Kimmy, Ben, and Jill were arriving shortly.  Kimmy and Ben had come in from India, and cousin Jill from Chicago, and we were all so excited to have them join us for the next 10 days.  After eating a quick dinner, we showed them the amazing rock playland behind our site.

We went to bed early, with plans for some early hikes before the heat of the day came.  Delicate Arch was a great 3 mile hike to kick things off with the gang. 

  

Turret Arch, the Windows, and Double Arch were up next.

 

  

Fiery Furnace was high on our list, so we raced over to the visitor center before lunch to purchase permits ($6 adults, $3 kids) for the next day.  

By then, it was so hot, we knew we couldn’t be outside for any length of time, so we discussed a couple options, Ken’s Lake, the Moab Aquatic Center, and a drive up to Canyonlands National Park.  Because our vacation buddies had never been there, we took the drive up to Canyonlands.  The air conditioned car was a nice reprieve,

and we spent some time at the visitor center, Mesa Arch,

and Grand View Point.  The photos never disappoint with this crew!

Back at the campsite, we had dinner before an evening hike out in Devils Garden to see Landscape, Navajo, and Partition Arches. What a beautiful evening hike!

  

  

  

The kids loved catching lizards and other critters along the way.

 

 

Once again, the sunset was spectacular.

The next morning, we pulled out early with the camper in tow to snag one of the few RV parking spots at the Fiery Furnace Trailhead.  This was definitely a highlight of Arches for us! 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

  

While the ranger said there were no trails, we found the arrows through the towering peaks essential to navigate through the furnace. 

While the name made it sound like the last place we would want to be, the Fiery Furnace was cool and shady with the towering peaks cloud cover overhead.  If we weren’t moving on this day, we would have loved to spend all day here!

  

  

 

 

 

We ended our time driving back through the park past balanced rock and so many other amazing rock formations in Arches

at the visitor center becoming junior rangers.

What a magical place!

Travel dates: 6/12-6/14

Additional photo credits: Jill Heikkila and Kim Hoff

With some amazing things to look forward to, we have been anticipating the summer of 2018 for a year now.  We raced out of IL immediately after running camp for a free stop at a Walmart in Gretna, Nebraska, possibly the nicest Walmart we have seen. Stays at Walmart are never the best, with lots of truck generator noise, and other unforeseen circumstances, but free is good!  (for example, just a few days later, we would find that the Glenwood Springs Walmart that we had ok’d a stay was now under construction, so we continued on to the Rifle, CO Walmart.  In the middle of the night, a “striper” woke all the campers up and said we would all need to move because they were painting the parking lot of course.  Another fun Walmart night!)

After being cooped up in the car for hours, it has become a tradition on these long travel days/Walmart stays to have a little fun once we get there.

Ethan wasn’t very excited about traveling on his birthday, but we made sure Day 2 was the shorter travel day, and he was excited to test out his new sleeping back, as well as enjoy a morning of Grandma’s crepes.  We split up all his birthday gifts, and gave him a new gift at each gas stop, which he really enjoyed,

 

After doing this trip year after year, we seem to make many of the same stops.  The girls love this gas station dino in Ogallala.

Our second stop was the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont, which doesn’t take reservations, but we were fortunate to get a camp spot.  We immediately raced off to meet some friends at Chataqua Park in Boulder.

It’s been a couple years since we met up with the G family, so it was great to catch up for a couple hours while we stretched out our travel legs!

The kids of course insist on taking pictures at every rock or tree.

 

 

I loved that Laney found this kindness rock along the way, a reminder for my “wicked strong” girl.  She carried it along for awhile before replanting it in this fence post for others to find.

Ethan enjoyed testing out some of his new gifts, including hiking socks, zip off pants, and hat.  Turning 13 is big, and I can’t believe how far he has come so fast, yet he’s still the same boy that changed our lives forever many years ago.  See the resemblance?

  

It was only a couple mile walk, but it felt so good to be back!

 

 

We enjoyed a late night stop at Pearl Street too.

 

  

The next morning, we drove the couple miles up to our first apartment when we were married.  Boy, do we miss this place!  The boys were able to get a nice run in, while I walked around the old neighborhood with the younger ones.

The kids were ecstatic about all the prairie dogs.

We spent a little too much time in our old stomping grounds, and had to check out, move our camper, and come back to our spot to finish cooking breakfast.  Disaster!

As luck would have it, the fairgrounds was hosting a dairy goat show across the street from the campground, so we had a blast checking out all the different breeds of goats.

Our next stop was the V family, who we also haven’t seen for 2 years.  It was so hot in the Denver area, so a swim in their neighborhood pool was so welcome!  It just so happened to be a neighborhood pool pizza party, which made for a perfect lunch!

  

The kids loved playing on all their fun inflatables, and look forward to seeing the V family again soon.

Our final Denver area stop was at the M family’s house, and they are definitely the queen and king of hospitality.  They were able to finish putting in a campsite in their backyard just in time for our arrival!  It was so good to see them again, and their perfect spot was equipped with electric (for some welcome AC), 2 parks, a trampoline out our door, meals included ;), and great company.

Even though it was the day after Ethan’s birthday at this point, of course, they had a little celebration for him too.  Without much warning, Laney lost her front tooth and was oh so proud!

  

We spent Sunday boating on the Cherry Creek Reservoir, and the kids couldn’t have been happier.

Ellie opted off the “crazy ride” for some practice driving the boat with Mr. Rick and some cuddle time with Dad.

After witnessing some interesting paddleboard yoga moves, Rick made his best attempt too 😉

We enjoyed meals on the deck while the kids played away with one of our favorite families while the “kids” played on slippy slidey.

Julie’s dad has an amazing hand made train set in his basement, which was even more amazing this visit now that the kids are a few years older and more appreciative of the work involved.  Unbelievable!

The girls managed to sneak into our bed a few times as they adjust back into camper life, and its always a surprise coming in to find them there.

Our last morning in Denver was spent working on a game the kids have been creating over the last several visits, complete with laminated cards.

We made an attempt to stop at Crispy Crème for some free report card donuts on our way out, but found out that was discontinued a few weeks ago.  They were a delicious treat regardless.

On our way up to Glenwood Springs, we passed a truck that had started smoking, and as we passed, the lady driving raced off as it became engulfed in flames.  The whole truck burnt, and I-70 was closed down for the rest of our day.  If we had been 5 minutes later, we would not have made it through.  We are always so appreciative of a safe day of travel, but devastated to see something like this on the way.  It was a reminder that as safe as you can try to be, you never know what could happen.  Seconds later and impossible to stop our car with camper attached, our car and camper would have also caught fire as we passed by.

We were very appreciative to make it to the beautiful Glenwood Hot Springs.  For years, we have passed by it, saying “someday.”  The kids are all decent swimmers now, and it was a perfect time to enjoy the world’s largest hot spring pool!  (Travel dates 6/7-6/11)