I know I complain about the weather a lot in Syracuse, but according to my very scientific internet research, we actually only get, on average, 63 sunny days, and 98 partially sunny days per year. We have 161 total days per year without any sun. If you are not from this part of the country, picture your gloomiest, cloudiest, greyest day. That’s our “normal” weather.

The many benefits of living in Upstate NY outweigh this one crappy downside (I’ll write a post this summer just about all the amazing things I love about Syracuse and the surrounding area), but in order to compensate for the downside I have only come across a few things that help me from spiraling into total despair during the long winter: Vitamin D supplements, lots of outdoor time (no matter what the weather), hot yoga, and traveling! It’s essential for my mental health to travel to sunny places throughout the long winter (October through April).

Florida is an obvious choice from the east coast but that can get old. So this year for April break I thought about taking myself and the kids to sunny Southern California. I also had some Alaska Airlines miles and an Alaska Airlines companion pass to use, and they fly primarily to the west coast. Out of all the potential West Coast destinations to travel to in April, San Diego promised the most sun and warm weather. I had been to California before but never San Diego, and it had been on my bucket list for years. Unfortunately, my husband could not join us because of his teaching schedule (but he is actually going to go to San Diego with friends for a conference in a few months).

The trip

The kids and I had a 7 am flight out of Newark on Saturday morning. We got in the car right after school and drove down to NJ. Unfortunately the drive was very rainy and so took longer than expected. We got to the airport Hampton Inn around 9pm and went right to sleep. In the morning we took an Uber to the airport since there were at least 40 people waiting for the shuttle which would only fit maybe 12 (but at least this was covered due to my Amex platinum Uber credit). The airport was insanely busy due to it being spring break, however we got on our flight on time and took off to San Francisco. At SFO we only had about 45 minutes to quickly eat something and get on our next flight to San Diego. That was a quick flight and pretty soon we were in sunny San Diego getting our rental car. We drove over to our quirky Airbnb and checked in. The space was a former art gallery and decorated very artsy. It was also bright and sunny and had plenty of space and amenities for us to feel comfortable.

Finally here!

Our Airbnb

We decided to walk around the neighborhood we were in, North Park, and we stopped at Target to get some supplies and then Hammond’s ice cream which was awesome. North Park is one of those neighborhoods that became  gentrified and “hipsterized” recently. In fact it shows up on the “Where is Williamsburg” app (google it – it’s pretty funny) as ground zero for San Diego.  The good thing about this is there were a lot of great little restaurants for us to try, right outside our door. We had dinner at a taco restaurant, Lucha Libre, which was decorated with luchador and Ron Burgundy memorabilia.

The next day we were up early due to the time change so we got in the rental car and drove out to Coronado Island. The beach there was beautiful and the kids ran around and we took pictures. We got to see and walk around the famous Hotel del Coronado. After that we drove down to Imperial Beach which my friend who grew up in SD had recommended and walked out to the end of the pier for some fish and chips at the Tin Fish. It was so beautiful to see the ocean and the houses lining the shore.

The Hotel Del Coronado

Fish and chips!

Next we drove over to the Barrio Logan neighborhood and Chicano Park. My friend also told me about this and a great little coffee shop (Por Vida), where we got some awesome iced coffee and then walked over to the park, which is under the Coronado bridge. There is a community garden and the pillars holding up the bridge are all painted in these amazing murals inspired by Mexican-American culture and history. We took some pictures of the murals and then headed home to rest for a bit.

Por Vida coffee

Later that day we drove over to Old Town San Diego. This is part historical site, part tourist-trap but overall pretty fun to walk around. There are lots of Mexican themed shops and restaurants and a historic section with old-timey shops and exhibits. Since we went later in the day we were only able to visit a few places before they closed; the Sheriff’s museum and the historic Whaley House. The kids had a blast playing around in the Sherriff’s museum where they could go in an old cruiser, a helicopter, a jail cell, and more. The Whaley House was one of the first houses in San Diego and my son had heard it is one of the most haunted houses in the country. We didn’t see any ghosts but it was fun to tour the house and hear a bit more about the history. After that we walked around a bit more and had some Mexican food for dinner. Later I was able to meet a friend of mine from college who recently relocated to the area.

The next day we had a delicious breakfast at a very cool place called Breakfast Republic near our Airbnb, and then we hit the zoo! The San Diego zoo is truly the most incredible zoo I have ever been to. It is like the “Disney World” of zoos. The exhibits are just so well constructed with great attention to detail. Plus they have over 5,000 animals! The kids and I looked at the zoo map that morning and decided we would try to conquer the entire thing. And we did! We made it through every single exhibit and had minimal meltdowns along the way. We did have to wait in line over an hour for lunch though, so I would recommend brining in your own food. We got there around 9:30am and left around 5, so we were pretty exhausted that evening. We went to a little sushi restaurant in our neighborhood and crashed.

The following morning we headed over to Balboa Park, which was very close to our Airbnb. This is a beautiful park that houses many of San Diego’s museums. We started by walking around the park a bit since we arrived at 9:30 and the museums don’t open until 10. Our first stop was the Museum of Man, since they had an exhibit on cannibalism and my older son had just read a book on the Donner Party. They had some other cool exhibits but many were under construction and they also had some school field trips visiting so we left after about an hour and headed over to the automotive museum, which my car-obsessed son had been waiting for. This one was a real treat to see some classic cars and motorcycles from all decades in mint condition. My son was so happy to just look around and read about the cars.

Once we were museum-ed out, we drove downtown and walked around the gaslamp quarter, and then went over the Petco park to see a Padres game! We first had a snack of some Carne Asada fries at Lolita’s, next to the ballpark) since one of my friends had recommended that. The stadium was really nice and we had pretty good seats. The boys were super excited and we stayed until the 8th inning ended, once it was clear that the Padres were going to lose.

On our fifth day, we went to a gourmet donut shop for breakfast and “fueled up” for a trip out to La Jolla. First we drove to Torrey Pines State Reserve, which is a gorgeous natural reserve on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We took a hike out to one of the bluffs and took pictures of all the breathtaking views and cool desert plants and flowers. My older son and I wanted to hike down to the beach but my younger son had had enough. so we left to get some lunch.

The boys had been wanting to try “In and Out Burger” since they had heard about it as being a California “must.” I have never been there myself and was always curious, so we actually drove about 20 minutes south to get to the closest one. The burgers and fries were pretty good, although I learned later I should have ordered “animal style” (secret menu) where they fry the onions in mustard. Next time!

After this we drove back up to La Jolla cove to see the seals and sea lions. This was absolutely one of the highlights of the trip (if somewhat stinky!). They were so cool just lounging around on the rocks near the beach and we even saw a young sea lion walk around (poor guy had a fish hook stuck in his mouth). We stayed there for a while watching them and then we headed up the coast to the Birch Aquarium. This is a small but lovely aquarium with a gorgeous outside patio with a touch tank overlooking the ocean.

After the aquarium we drove up the coast a little more to the town of Solana Beach where we were meeting some of my travel hacking internet friends for a meet-up! It was so much fun to meet them and their kids over pizza and beer. We had a blast.

The next day was our last and we were determined to hit everything that was still on our list. We woke up super early and went back to the fancy donut place for Montreal-style (wood fired) bagels, and then drove inland about 45 minutes to the Safari Park, which is a whole different place also run by the San Diego Zoo. This one is equally well done but has a tram going through an open area for some of the animals to roam, and other exhibits that are a bit more open. It actually got pretty hot mid-day since we were further from the ocean, so we decided to leave and head back to San Diego. We wanted to check out the USS Midway so we went and toured that famous Aircraft Carrier.

Then we drove over to Point Loma to see Cabrillo National Monument. The views of the bay and city were incredible and it was cool to see the historic lighthouse.

After that we met up with a few of our travel friends in the hippie/surfer town of Ocean Beach, where they live, and had dinner at an awesome burger place called Hodad’s. Finally we walked over to the famous “Sunset Cliffs” area to watch the sun go down as our final activity in SD. It was very beautiful (there were actually two couples taking wedding photos) and we felt satisfied that we had wrung so many fun activities out of our trip.

The next morning we woke up super early to make our 6:30am flight. Fortunately they had a nice lounge at the San Diego airport for us to eat breakfast, and we had a direct flight back to Newark. We were so pleased with our flights on Alaska. Everything took off early or on time and the flight attendants were great. I would definitely fly them again. And we were supper happy with our trip! We got to see many fun sites, saw thousands of animals, met up with friends old and new, ate great food, and soaked in that amazing Southern California sunshine. Mission accomplished!!!

Mesa Verde

The drive from Telluride to Mesa Verde is short (under 2 hours) and beautiful, through the San Juan mountains. We stopped in the nearby town of Cortez to re-stock our food, then headed into the park to set up camp. After lunch we went to the visitor’s center and then made the hour long drive through the park to Mesa Top Loop, a loop road at the top of Chapin Mesa that has stops along the way of some of the ancient ruins. It shows how the people who lived there went from nomadic to farmers with pit houses, to using more elaborate masonry, and eventually how they moved into the cliffs and built huge apartment complex type dwellings. They have a pretty well appointed museum and then at 6:45 we met up with a ranger for a twilight tour of the largest cliff dwelling, Cliff Palace. It was incredible to get up close to the dwelling and see this city built into an alcove of the cliff. You could even look up into one of the towers and see some art that was still painted on the wall. We were truly awestruck.

I highly recommend doing at least one tour of the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. It’s a great park with a twist in that you learn a bit more about human history and anthropology rather than just nature. It also has a nice campground and beautiful views along the scenic drives up the mesas.

Monument Valley

The next morning we ate breakfast and packed up the camp and drove over to the Four Corners Monument. The kids were very excited to have one limb in each state. It was pretty hot so we didn’t stay long. Driving through the Navajo reservation, we stopped for lunch at a historic little restaurant for some authentic Mexican and Navajo food (fry bread!). Then we drove up to Monument Valley. It was hot and crowded but fun to do the 17 mile car tour around the monuments. The kids felt like we were really off-roading.

Antelope Canyon

We then headed to Page, Arizona, checked into our Hampton Inn and ate dinner at an awesome sushi restaurant. The town of Page is not necessarily quaint or cool, but we thought it had really good food! The next morning we checked in to our Antelope Canyon tour. This little slot Canyon on the Navajo reservation has become very popular since photos of it became screensavers for Microsoft and Apple. You can only go through the canyon with a Navajo guide. As we waited at our tour company we couldn’t believe how many people were there – they run tours every hour and there were at least 120 people for our 10am time slot! They ran it very efficiently however, as they broke the group down into smaller groups, each with their own guide. They take you out to the canyon in pickup trucks and our guide had fun making the drive extra bumpy. They then take you through the canyon and the guides show you the best shots to take with your camera phone. It was pretty packed in the canyon but most of your pictures are looking up. It was fun to experiment with pictures. The canyon itself was amazing, I just wish they hadn’t packed so many people in. It would have been nicer to go at your own pace. It reminded me of some cave tours I’ve been on, except busier. We were lucky that at the end we caught a sunbeam coming through the top and our guide helped us snap a few pics of it.

Afterwards we headed to the iconic Horseshoe Bend, which was also so crowded!!! There were so many tourists, mostly foreign, at both places. It got me wondering if Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend are listed as top spots on tour guides of the American West for international travelers. I’ve never seen so many foreign tourists at one US site. It was also ridiculously hot. After a great lunch at a burger place, we headed back to the hotel for a swim and I went to wal-mart for a last re-stock of supplies.

In the evening, we went over to the Glen Canyon Damn and visitor’s center and watched the sunset over Lake Powell. We had made a reservation for a dinner-theater type place I read about on yelp called “Into the Grand.” It was in a warehouse and you were greeted by the owner, Hoss, who seemed to be a cross between Rodney Dangerfield and “the Dude” from The Big Lebowski. His parents were one of the first river rafting tour companies through the canyon and so the place was somewhat of an homage to that. The warehouse had paintings of the Colorado River from the floor of the Grand Canyon and old rafting boats. There was an acoustic guitar player on stage while we ate our food (Mexican and Navajo and very delicious). After about an hour, Hoss introduced some of the Navajo dancers. Several were adolescents who compete internationally. There was even an adorable two-year old who took to the stage. They all put on a fantastic show, and the finale, a Native American hoop dance infused with hip-hop music, was amazing.

Grand Canyon

The next morning we woke up very early for the 2 hour drive down to the Grand Canyon. Our campground was first come, first serve and we wanted to make sure we got a good site. We made it there around 9:30am and got a nice site at the Desert View Campground near the Desert View Watchtower on the east end of the park. We toured the watchtower a bit and the kids and my husband got their first view of the canyon. My youngest had really been looking forward to it but he said he was underwhelmed.

Our campsite

overlook at the watchtower

Watchtower

No matter, we next drove into the park a bit to find the semi-secret Shoshone Point, which I had learned about on a Podcast and in a couple of my National Parks books. The trail is unmarked, but not too difficult to find. We made a picnic lunch and hiked about a mile down a flat trail through the forest. Eventually we came to an area with picnic tables, a pavilion, and even a bathroom area. The view of the canyon from this spot was amazing, and even better, there were only a handful of people (unlike every other overlook at the South Rim which was over-run)! I am so glad I did some research to find this place, because otherwise we would have never known about it. It really goes to show that doing a little bit of research on a location before you go can make a huge difference in finding some of the hidden gems.

lunch with a view

Shoshone Point

Afterwards we went over to the visitor center and watched the film about the canyon. Next we made our way to the Village, where all of the hotels are. It was so crowded! We got some ice cream and checked out the Bright Angel lodge and hiked only about 0.2 miles on the Bright Angel trail to the first tunnel. It was super hot so there was no way we were going to hike down and up more than that. After we checked out the Kolb brothers studio (2 brothers who did daredevil photography at the turn of the century in the Canyon), we started walking west on the rim trail. This got us a little bit away from the crowds and we were able to get to some of the other lookout points. We made it to Maricopa point and then hopped on the shuttle bus to go west to some other lookouts, like Hopi point, Powell point, and the Abyss. The shuttle bus system was great but again, so crowded. There was no place to sit and we were packed in like sardines. We took the bus back to the village and drove all the way back to the campground (about 25 miles), stopping at a few points along the way to catch the sunset.

The next morning we left camp early to go to a fossil walk led by a ranger. My husband LOVES fossils and fossil hunting and we had a great time as she showed us an area off the rim trail with TONS of fossils. After this we went to the supermarket to re-supply. Yes, Grand Canyon NP is so big they have their own supermarket, in addition to hotels, restaurants, and a postal service. To be honest it was a bit off-putting after going to some of the less-visited national parks. And talk about crowds, we then went to the visitor center because we wanted to rent bikes (we had looked into it the day before), but there were absolutely no parking spots in any of their four parking lots! It was like being at the mall the week before Christmas where you are stalking people who you think are leaving to get their spot. We ended up parking illegally and then went to the bike rental place to learn they were sold out! At this point we had enough of the crowds and decided to head east where it is a little less busy. We stopped at some of the lookout points along the road heading east, and then just went back to our campsite to chill. Of course, right around the time we started cooking burgers over the fire pit we had a rain shower, but we were able to cover them with foil and eat quickly during a break in the rain.

Fossil hunting

When the rain stopped we walked over to the desert view lookout and waited for the sunset talk by a local Native American. The gentleman was the grandson of one of the painters of the interior of the desert view watchtower. He played the flute, sang a Navajo song, and then talked to us about the local Native American people and some of the atrocities they have been through, such as getting sent to boarding schools hundreds of miles away, and having their land decimated by uranium mines. Apparently there are still 500 open and abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo reservation, because the companies would declare bankruptcy so they didn’t have to clean them up.

Following Ed’s talk we watched an amazing sunset over the canyon and headed back to camp for the night. The kids worked on their junior ranger books and were very excited about completing all of the activities. They have these at all of the parks but the kids were somewhat disinterested before. Isaac did do one at Capitol Reef. It is a really nice part of the National Park system. After they do some activities in the book and go to a ranger program, they can be sworn in as “junior rangers” and they get a little badge.The next morning we broke down camp and headed back to the visitor center (much less crowded at 8:30am) so the kids could be sworn in. We took a look at the famous Mather Point and the started driving 2.5 hours south to Sedona.

I’m glad we went to the Grand Canyon so that my husband and kids could see it, and we had some incredible moments there, such as the hike to Shoshone point and the sunset talk by the Navajo gentleman. But overall it was just so crowded it turned me off a bit. North rim next time?

Sedona

The drive to Sedona along 89A south goes through Oak Creek Canyon and is very beautiful! You start to see the red rocks with green foliage as you make your way down the windy road through the canyon. As we got to Slide Rock state park it started to get crazy busy! It was a Sunday and there were so many people parking along the side of the road to go to the state park and national forest. Apparently there is a nice swimming spot in the state park and I guess when it’s a hot Sunday in the middle of the desert the place gets full fast!

We got to our resort in Sedona around noon but the room wasn’t ready so we walked into town for lunch. Sedona is definitely interesting. It’s pretty touristy and of course has a bunch of crystal and new age type shops along with a “Wild West” theme. It was just really hot for walking around so we were glad to be able to check into our hotel and use the pool.

We stayed at the Kimpton Amara Resort, booked using Ultimate Reward points. I also learned online that Kimpton does a little promo over the summer that if you say the “password” you get something for free. I learned the password (out of office) from one of the travel blogs I follow and we got a free movie rental. We used that for the kids to rent Peter Rabbit and got them room service while we headed over to have dinner on the patio at the resort. It is really nice for the kids to be old enough to do this. We wouldn’t have left the resort but we were close enough to check on them and also my son could text us if they needed something.

The next morning we ate breakfast in town and headed out for a hike. A few people had recommended Devil’s Bridge, so that’s where we went. It was about 10am but already super hot in the desert. The trail follows a Jeep/ATV road for about a mile, and then another mile up the side of the rock formation to the natural bridge. It was pretty amazing. There is kind of an optical illusion so that the stone bridge looks very thin from the the side as people are walking across it but then when you face the bridge head on it is actually pretty wide. We took turns going on it and even though I knew I was an illusion, I have to admit when the kids were on the bridge my heart almost stopped. Scary!

We walked the two miles back and were soooo hot we couldn’t wait to get back to the resort pool. We scored a cabana and had lunch poolside! So nice to relax in luxury after all the camping! I made an appointment for a massage at the spa that afternoon, which was my reward for planning the whole trip. It was heaven. My body and feet were so sore after 3 weeks of hiking and camping.

We then hung out at the resort for a bit as they were supposed to have s’mores outside and someone to talk about the stars. But for some reason they only put a few, ready made s’mores in the lobby. We ate those and headed into town for some pizza. When we came back the person to do the star talk wasn’t there (maybe they cancelled due to threat of rain), so we watched TV in the room and went to bed.

The next day was our last day but our flight didn’t leave Phoenix until 11:15pm! We decided to enjoy swimming at the pool for the morning. We checked out around noon and went to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross, this really cool 1960’s style Catholic chapel built right into the red rocks. After a last meal in Sedona (expensive!) we made our way to Phoenix and stopped at Montezuma’s Castle National Monument to see another cliff dwelling.

We arrived in Phoenix around 4pm and wanted to visit the botanical gardens, we even walked up to the entrance, but it was 114 degrees out and would have cost us $75! We just couldn’t stomach being in the heat that long so we decided to bag it. Our flight wasn’t until 11:15pm but there really wasn’t anywhere else to go. All the museums closed at 5 and it was too hot to do anything outside. We went to a taco restaurant and then to Tempe near ASU for some ice cream. Eventually we decided just to bite the bullet and head to the airport because at least it would be air conditioned. After dropping off the rental car and checking the luggage we got comfortable in the terminal and just hung out in the a/c for 3 hours.

All in all, it was a trip to remember! The parks were incredible, the scenery was indescribable, and we made lots of fun memories. We can’t wait to see more national parks and I hope we have inspired you to as well!

Dinosaur National Monument

After we left Capitol Reef we set off to take a 4 hour drive north to Vernal, Utah, near Dinosaur National Monument. Within the first 30 minutes I made a mistake with the GPS and missed a turn, which probably added 30-40 minutes to the trip. No biggie, we had all day to make the drive. We were just hoping to get to the hotel in Vernal with enough time to enjoy the pool and maybe go to a nice restaurant. About halfway there, we started to head up route 191 which goes north from Helper to Duchesne through the mountains. About 5 miles before the exit for 191 on Route 6, we saw a digital highway sign that maybe said route 191 was closed at mile 283, but every other letter was blacked out, so it was almost impossible to read. We took the climbing mountain road about 20 miles up only to see construction crews and wait 15 minutes in a line up of cars and then were told the road would be closed for at least another 5 hours! At this point we had no cell service to check alternate routes, and had to consult the (gasp!) paper atlas! The only thing I could see to do was go back down to route 6 and take that all the way up to Provo, and kind of go around the mountains instead of through them. There was one very faint grey line that looked like a National forest road that maybe would have taken us through the mountains, but I was worried about getting turned around again, especially if there was a fire (it turns out there was).

So we ended up taking a very long route to Vernal, and our 4 hour drive became 8! But this is what happens in the West, especially around mountains. There just aren’t a lot of roads to choose from. We were pretty exhausted from driving when we got to Vernal and were thrilled to check into our Springhill Suites, which I got with 15,000 Marriott points for two nights! The suite was large and very comfortable. We headed into town and had a delicious Mexican dinner with two large margaritas for the grown-ups. The kids were excited to take a dip in the pool and I was very excited that there was a laundry room at the hotel!!! After 4 days of camping including still rain soaked (and now very stinky) clothes from our incident at Zion, I was thrilled to be able to do some laundry (when do you ever have that sentiment at home??).

Margarita time!

Yes!!!

The next morning we ate our complimentary hot breakfast at the hotel and drove a few blocks down to a car service station (we were having an issue with the oil that needed to be a addressed) which was only a few blocks away from where we were to get on the bus for our white water rafting adventure. It was nice to have something so convenient (dropping the car off to be serviced and walking to our next destination) after all the inconvenience of the day before! It was about a 45 minute bus ride to the put-in, and along the way the guides stopped at a site with some pretty amazing petroglyphs for us to look at.

We were all a little nervous and excited about the trip. The kids had never gone whitewater rafting before, and my husband and I hadn’t been for about 12 years. Also the last time we went my husband fell in, which was a bit traumatic for him. All of our fears fell away as we got onto the raft and started to head into the canyon on the beautiful river. The water level was low and slow so there were mostly class II rapids, with a couple class IIIs. We ended up having an amazing time. The guides were great, and the river was awesome. We did a full day trip with lunch and we got to go swimming and my oldest got to jump off a rock! The kids were so happy they got to do this and can’t wait to go again, except they want bigger rapids of course.

After we got back to town we picked up the Audi and the issue was all fixed, yay! We headed across the street to the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum, which had some impressive little exhibits on the archeology and fossils from the area. We then headed across the street to a local brew pub (FYI I’ve never gotten carded so much as in Utah. They are very strict about alcohol!) and then a quick run to TJ Maxx for a couple things and back to bed.

The next morning we packed up and headed over to Dinosaur National Monument and took the shuttle up to the dinosaur bone quarry. This was super cool as they left a lot of bones exposed but still stuck in the rock and they built a building around it. You could actually touch some of the bones!!! Then you could do a short hike back to the visitor center and stop at a couple rock formations that still have dinosaur bones and other fossils in them! We saw part of a dinosaur femur and a spine in the rocks!

The dinosaur bone wall

Arches National Park

Next we headed to Moab, Utah and had a pleasant drive, even making an unplanned stop in Highline State Park, CO for a picnic lunch and a dip in a really nice lake. Moab was way more built up than I remember. Our hotel, Expedition Lodge, was cool. It was once a 50’s style roadside motel that they updated but they kept the theming sort of vintage 50’s style. They also had a pool and a water slide that the kids loved, as well as complimentary breakfast and a game room with ping pong and free arcade games. We spend that afternoon and evening hanging out in Moab, getting a bite to eat and some awesome cryogenic ice cream!

Arches National Park is super close to Moab (like a 5 minutes drive). In order to beat the heat and the crowds we got up at 6am, ate breakfast, and were in the park by 7. We were able to hike Park Avenue, a mile long hike through a wash that has impressive rock structures (no arches yet) in either side. Then we went to the far end of the park to hike to Landscape Arch and were able to see a couple more on the hike back. We were able to see Sand Dune arch and balancing rock on the drive back to town. Arches is also like visiting another planet. I kept feeling like Luke Skywalker was going to cruise by on his hovercraft any minute.

Wall Street

We had lunch at some awesome food trucks in town and the kids did more swimming in the pool while I went to the store to stock up on supplies. Then we went over to the town park to listen to a free bluegrass concert! Afterwards we headed back the park for some sunset hikes in the Windows section. The light was incredible and I got some great shots as the sun went down.

Canyonlands National Park

The next day we packed up the car again and drove 30 miles into Canyonlands National Park to try to score a campsite at the first come, first serve place. We got there around 9:30 am and picked a sweet spot. The campground was right by a gorgeous overview of the canyons. Since they don’t have water (you have to bring your own), this campground is not super popular which makes it nice and quiet.

After we set up camp and relaxed a bit, we decided to pack a picnic lunch and hike some more. We picked White Rim trail, which was a great choice. At this section of Canyonlands, called (Island in the Sky), you are on top of a Mesa so you can drive or hike out to all of these lookout points to see the canyons below. After hiking about a mile along the rim, we came to the peninsular edge, where we could see 270 degree views. It was one of the most incredible sights I have ever seen. It was also getting hot, but we found this awesome cave formation that provided shade and looked out at the view, so we had lunch there. Did I mention we only saw 4 other hikers on the trail and had this whole amazing viewpoint section to ourselves??? Canyonlands is the largest and least visited of Utah’s national parks, and that allows for some great privacy.

After this we went to the visitors center and it was starting to become the hottest part of the day so we decided to go for a drive into town to get gas and more cryo-ice cream. We then headed back into the park and did the hike out to Mesa Arch (a little busier as this is a short and popular hike). We then made dinner at camp and we’re going to do a sunset hike at another viewpoint but as soon as we got there the rain and wind started! After what happened at Zion we didn’t want to get stuck in a bad thunderstorm on the trail so we went back to camp. Good thing we did because one of the tents had almost blown away! (It was staked!) The only thing that stopped it from blowing over into the canyon was the other tent! We went into our tents while it stormed, and fortunately it was nowhere near as bad as Zion and only lasted about an hour. My husband and I tried to stay up to see the stars but it was so cloudy we didn’t see much. Luckily, at around 3:30am I woke up to pee and the clouds had cleared. I saw one of the clearest night skies I’ve ever seen. I could see the Milky Way, Mars, and thousands of stars. I woke up my husband and we star gazed for a little bit before going back to bed.

The next morning after breakfast we packed up our camp and went for a hike to Upheaval Dome, a part of the park where a meteor hit 200 million years ago and left a cool hole and rock formation. We also got some views of the other side of the canyon. We said goodbye to Canyonlands and started our drive to Telluride, Colorado!

Canyonlands is definitely worth the trip, especially if you are already in Moab at Arches. The views of the Canyons from Island in the Sky are so breathtaking, and as I said it is the least visited of the “Big Five” parks so you are more likely to have some solitude. Just bring plenty of water! There are no services there and the only water is at the visitor center.

Telluride

We arrived in Telluride, CO around 4pm and got into our Airbnb condo. It was right in town and the balcony faced the mountain and San Rafael river, which has a walking path that was very popular for people and dogs. After taking some much needed showers we walked around downtown and ate dinner at an awesome brew pub. The short ribs I ordered were divine. Following this we walked over to the free gondola, which takes you from Telluride up to Mountain Village (the ski resort area). We had fun just riding that through a few stops and picked up a few groceries in Mtn Village.

The next day my youngest and I took a little walk on the river path and we decided to have breakfast in town. As you can imagine, the restaurants in Telluride are awesome but expensive. After that we walked through town the the popular Bear Creek trail, and started our upwards descent. It’s about 2 miles of a steady incline up to an incredible waterfall, with views of the mountains as you go up. It’s a really popular trail since the trailhead is right downtown, so there were lots of people. We got back to the condo about 1pm, ate lunch and relaxed. Later that afternoon we hung out in the pool and hot tub at the condo, and then walked around downtown again and took another gondola ride up the mountain.

There was a Thai restaurant right by our condo that we had wanted to try for dinner. Even though it was a Monday the wait was over an hour! At least we could go back to the condo and my husband and I could have some wine while we waited. We finally were seated around 8:30 and unfortunately the food didn’t come until 9:30 because they were slammed. But it was super delicious.

The next morning I had my last coffee on the balcony watching the gondolas go up the mountain, and we packed up and left.

I loved Telluride! It was so nice to get out of the desert and into the crisp mountain air. The town itself is gorgeous; they have done an incredible job re-habbing the old houses to retain their original character (of course at price tags starting in the millions). The food was excellent and the people were really nice, if a little yuppie-mountain-hipster. And everyone has dogs everywhere!!! You can even bring your dogs on the gondola. I could have easily spent a week or two there. We met some people just spending the whole summer there, getting away from hotter places. Lucky!

Vegas baby!

We flew out of Syracuse on Delta at 6:45 am, after checking all four bags with camping gear with no problems. The flight was great and arrived at Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) early, where we had a 3 hr layover. We headed over to the Escape Lounge, which we could get into with our Amex platinum cards. This place is awesome! It was practically empty, clean, and had lots of seating. It also had a great spread of food, including these delicious little egg dishes in mini cast iron skillets. We ate breakfast here and then on our way out we went to the PGA golf store/restaurant, where our priority pass card got us a $15 credit per person to buy whatever we wanted at French Market, a bakery next door. We were full but we bought $60 worth of chips, nuts, and other snacks to bring with us, all for free! Score!

The 2nd flight was also great and we landed in Vegas ahead of schedule, around 12:30pm. We headed over to the Centurion Lounge for a quick lunch and welcome cocktail before we picked up our luggage. We could also get in here with our Amex platinum cards. So breakfast, lunch, and snacks all free with our lounge benefits from credit cards!

I love empty lounges!

score!

Once we picked up our luggage we got an Uber (using our $15 Uber credit from Amex platinum) to our hotel, Delano. The room, a suite, was great with a view of the strip. I paid cash for this room but was able to get several benefits by using my Amex platinum. When I booked it Amex was running a deal to get an extra 6,000 membership rewards for booking an MGM property. Delano is also part of their “Fine Hotels and Resorts” program, and if you have the Amex platinum you get early check in and late check out, $60 breakfast credit, WiFi credit, and $100 food and beverage credit. So I paid $350 but if you subtract the food credits it came out to $190.

We headed over to the pool complex at Mandalay Bay, since the two hotels are connected. It was so hot!!! But the pools were pretty cool. They have a giant wave pool, a lazy river, and a pool just for Delano guests. After a little swim we went back to the room and got ready for dinner.

room with a view

“The beach” at Mandalay

On our way to dinner we walked through the casinos to stay out of the heat, and the kids got a kick out of seeing how they were connected but each had their own theme: Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York, etc. We decided to go to the Wicked Spoon buffet at the Cosmopolitan. I had been there before but thought the kids would be amazed at the huge selection of food. (Another little perk, we were seated more quickly through the VIP line, just for having Marriott gold status). We definitely ate our fill and then left to go see the fountains at Bellagio. Unfortunately, right as we were leaving, my 7 year old said he felt sick and I knew from the look on his face he was about to throw up. We ran back into the restaurant and were not even 5 feet from the bathroom before he started puking. He ran into the bathroom and at least got the rest in the toilet. I felt terrible for the mess but by the time we left the bathroom they had it cordoned off and were taking care of it (I did apologize). He wasn’t sick, but he has a sensitive stomach and so it’s not unusual for him to throw up sometimes when traveling. Plus he ate his weight in pizza and treats at the buffet. We tried to watch the fountains at Bellagio after that but he felt really sick so we walked all the way back to the hotel. We all felt bad for him but we also didn’t want to take an Uber back in case he threw up again. He started to perk up by the time we got to Luxor and then we made it back to the room without incident. By that point everyone had had enough of the heat and the excesses of Vegas.

The next morning we took a Lyft over to an enterprise rental car in the suburbs. I booked the car by going to autoslash.com, which found me the best deal on Priceline. I had requested a standard SUV and when we got there they said they had a Mazda CX-7. They said they also had an Audi Quattro 7 and offered it to us for a $50 a week upgrade. When I hesitated because of the price the guy said he would give it to us for $25 a week. We checked out the car and it looked awesome, so we took it! The guy said the car usually goes for $120 a day. With my deal through Priceline plus the upgrade we got it for $43 a day! Score!

Sweet ride!

We headed over to Target and bought some supplies, then back to Delano to get our bags, and finally we hit to road to Zion!

Zion National Park

When we arrived at Zion it was about 2pm and very hot. Our campsite at Watchman campground was in the new, tent-only loop and was pretty cool. We set up camp and then headed over to Zion Outfitters to ask about renting equipment to hike the Narrows the next morning. The Narrows is Zion’s iconic hike through the canyon, and for part of the hike you are wading through water so they recommend wearing neoprene socks and shoes. We rented them for the next morning and then went over to the pub next door for some cold drinks and snacks. After that we cooked some burgers, and then the sky started looking ominous and the wind started blowing. Hard. Like so hard the tents were barely staying upright. We heard thunder and lightning and then the rains came. It was a massive, intense thunderstorm. For part of it we sat in the car but it was too hot and we knew we couldn’t wait there all night. Plus we were worried about the tents blowing away and wanted to weigh them down with our bodies. We ran to the tents and my husband stayed in one and the kids and I went to another. That’s when my youngest started puking. Again. In a tent, during a thunderstorm. Awesome. The kids and I ran out of that tent, leaving a puke soaked air mattress, and into the other tent with my husband, where he kept puking into a target bag. After that he felt better. (I think he may have been dehydrated and not used to the heat).

Watchman campground

Setting up camp

This doesn’t look good…

Winds a blowin!

For several hours we sat in the tent through what was the worst thunderstorm I can remember. There was almost constant thunder, lightening, and pouring rain. Luckily, our little Coleman tent held up pretty well and we stayed dry. Eventually we all fell asleep (four people on two twin size air mattresses) and the storm stopped. Of course, someone’s car alarm went off twice in the middle of the night, waking us up. Needless to say we got very little sleep. When I woke up at 5am it was still dark, and I worked on cleaning the puke off the air mattress. We ate some granola bars and then put our neoprene socks and shoes on, ready to hike the Narrows early before it got crazy crowded. Unfortunately we learned that because of the storm there were massive floods and mud slides all over the park, and most of the hikes up Zion canyon were closed, including the Narrows. Apparently it was one of the worst storms they’ve had in a while and they got one quarter of their annual rainfall just in that one night! Here is a story on their Facebook page about it and a screenshot of the news.

Instead we hiked Watchman trail, which was beautiful with great views. After that we hopped on the shuttle bus and made stops at the human history museum for a ranger talk, and then to the Zion lodge where we ate lunch. After that we rested at camp and spent some time wading in the river, then we went back to the museum for another ranger talk and to see the film about Zion. When the film was over and we went outside to catch the shuttle, we were met once again with torrential downpours!!! Ugh!!! We thought this was the desert!!!

Hiking the Watchman Trail

Cooling off in the river

Learning about Yucca!

Rainy dinner

At least post-storm is pretty!

We ran from the shuttle over to our campsite to secure everything and then as the rain settled down we decided to go out to dinner in town rather than cook hot dogs in the rain. We found a great little place with awesome Tex mex food. That night we slept very well. The next morning as we packed up our site we learned the Narrows was still closed but the shuttles were taking people a bit farther up the canyon. We decided to hit some of the short hikes off the shuttle stops such as Weeping Rock, Emerald Pools, and Court of the Patriarchs. After a picnic lunch we drove about 2 hours through more rain to our Bed and Breakfast at Bryce National Park.

Zion was SO CROWDED!

Weeping rock

Court of the Patriarchs

Thunderstorms aside, I had mixed feelings about Zion. The scenery was truly awe-inspiring. However when they say Zion is crowded, they weren’t kidding! It is so jam-packed with people, it had me feeling a bit claustrophobic to be honest. I did think their shuttle system was very well run. I would love to go back when it is less crowded sometime. Maybe I’ll finally get to hike the narrows.

Bryce Canyon National Park

When I was looking to book a campsite at Bryce, I read on the National park’s website that they would be doing lots of construction at the campgrounds this summer and therefore sites would be limited and first come, first serve. Not wanting to mess with that, I booked a bed and breakfast near the park through hotels.com. After all the storms at Zion I am glad I did, as there were still more storms in the area the days we were at Bryce and frankly we were desperate for a shower and a bed by that point. The BnB was very nice with a large room with a king size bed for us and a futon for the kids. There was a private bathroom and we all enjoyed showers and baths very much! The first night we went to dinner in town at an awesome little BBQ place.

The room

Adding their names to the wall at the BBQ place

View from the BnB

The next day after breakfast at our BnB we headed into the park. I’ll never forget the look of awe on my husband’s face as he peered into the big bowl of hoodoos (drippy looking rock spires) for the first time. We knew there was a chance if thunderstorms around 1:30 so we did the Queens Garden and Navajo Loop trails into the canyon first thing. It was so amazing to be walking a amongst the hoodoos, although the trail was way busier than I remembered. There was a constant stream of people to walk around. It did start thunderstorming around 1 so we took a break to eat lunch, go to the visitor center, and rest at the BnB.

Later that afternoon we went back to the park to do a couple more short hikes and drive the whole 18 miles of the park highway out to Rainbow and Yovimpa points. I took a million pictures but none of them can do it justice. The landscape and rock formations are so other-worldly. It’s something you have to see in person. We did the Bristlecone trail at this end of the park which offers some incredible vistas.

We headed back to town around 7:30 and ate dinner at a great little pizza place and then crashed at our BnB. Overall, Bryce was just as amazing as I remembered it. It seemed like there were more tourists than there were 20 and 30 years ago, when I was here before, but It was definitely less crowded than Zion, which was very nice.

Capitol Reef National Park

I don’t even know what to say about Capitol Reef…it has rendered me speechless. To get there, we drove on scenic route 12 from Bryce through the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. This drive was incredible. The scenery continuously changed and went from sweeping vistas to an other-worldly rock-scape, to an Aspen forest, and finally to the bright red rocks and huge formations rising out of the earth as you enter Capitol Reef National Park. We had AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” playing on the stereo as we drove in, and it was oddly fitting with the huge bright red rock formations looming all around us.

Very quickly the landscape started to become greener as we drove into the Fruita historic district, where the campground sits. The Fremont River flows between the massive rocks and created a fertile valley for indigenous people and later some Mormon pioneers in the 19th century. The Mormons planted several orchards and the trees still produce copious amounts of fruit today. Our campsite was pretty close to the orchards and after we set up camp and ate lunch we were able to pick some apricots! We then headed over to Gifford House, a historic building from the old village that is now a museum, gift shop, and pie shop!!! We bought some ice cream to eat now and some pie for later. Then we headed over to the visitor center, the historic schoolhouse, the Petroglyph wall, and went on a hike to the Hickman bridge, a massive arch. The hike was great and the boys had fun finding little caves to sit in, We ate dinner at the campsite and the kids started to make friends with some of the other kids at the campground. For the rest of our time there they would find each other and have “apricot wars” in the orchard with the fruit that had dropped to the ground.

After dinner at the campsite we went to a fabulous ranger program on astronomy – they have a nice modern amphitheater right in the campground, and then we stayed up pretty late to star-gaze (Capitol Reef is designated as an international dark sky park). The stars were incredible and we could just make out the Milky Way.

Fruita school

petroglyhs!

Hickman bridge

ranger talk

The next morning we did the Cohab Canyon trail which takes you through a desert canyon with some cool slot canyons on the sides and has a couple climbs to viewpoints of Capitol Dome and Fruita. It was an awesome hike but got hot pretty quickly, so when we were done we escaped to the air conditioning of the car and went to town for lunch, more supplies, and to check email.

We were still pretty spent by the time we got back so we went to a ranger talk on the Petroglyphs and the Fremont Indians, and then did the 10 mile scenic drive which ends in a drive through Capitol Gorge, a dirt road that goes through a canyon and used to be the only way through the whole area. It was both exhilarating and kind of scary to be bumping along in the car so close to the canyon walls. That night we hiked a little of the Fremont river trail and went to another ranger talk. The next day we packed up our camp and left to drive to Vernal, Utah near Dinosaur National Monument.

I can’t say enough good things about Capitol Reef. It was so much less crowded than Zion and Bryce which made our stay much more enjoyable. At the other parks the trails felt as crowded as walking down Broadway in NYC! Crazy! At CR, there were other people hiking but you would run into them maybe every 15-20 minutes, and the rest of the time you could have a little solitude. The landscape was just out of this world. It really seemed like an alien planet at times. The park also had lots of different things to offer, from the amazing vistas, the desert and canyon trails, the rock formations, the night sky, the ancient petroglyphs, and the historic pioneer town. We went the three ranger talks and all were awesome. I could have easily spent a week just exploring this park and was sad to leave. But, onwards we went!