I think I have discovered my favorite way to travel with the family and see a lot of sights, renting an RV. I once had a dream of owning an RV or camper. We even went so far as to purchase an old one to fix up. Unfortunately, a lot of medical issues and chronic pain got in the way of my accomplishing this. I accepted this and we sold it. Overall, I was not disappointed when it hit me that every trip would result in a whole day to drive out of our state. Renting an RV was a happy medium. I still like finding an Airbnb or a hotel, but when there are numerous sights to see and they are spread out, an RV is great. We do not have to pack up a room every night, as it travels with us.
We flew into Las Vegas, arriving late at night. Our first night was in a hotel on the strip, and our beds called immediately. When we woke, we were able to walk down the main strip and see all the sights in the light of day. This was my first time there, and i really want to go back and see more of it, and perhaps even a show! Definitely a show. I’ll have to plan another trip with friends.
We walked through the casinos that were still popping in the daytime. We also saw a lovely flower display for the Chinese New Year!
Our RV was ready to pick up by mid-morning, and we took an UBER to Roadbear to collect it.
Our RV came with kitchen goods and such, but we did not add on the bedding option. Our first stop was Target to fill our camper with snacks and easy meals. We also bought some $3 pillows and towels, and some $10 blankets. It was definitely better than traveling with them there. In the future, I would probably bring our own sleeping bag or blanket, as a few nights were colder than expected. But the pillows and towels were cheap, and we donated them to the homeless after.
The first stop on our trip was to The Valley of Fire State park, where we camped for the night. Before we stopped, we picked a couple of short hikes to take. The ground was red and sandy, which I did not expect. There were large red rocks. It was fun to see that some of them had petroglyphs etched on their surfaces. We have talked about these so many times in our studies, but this was the first time that the girls were able to see them in real life. When lessons can be applied in real life, it always makes them even more memorable.
We are not on the west coast, but we are further west then normal. The first sunset we were able to see over the rock formations was so beautiful to look at that night.
The next morning we woke up and drove out of the Valley of Fire. We stopped at a few place and climbed some rock formations and did some walking and climbing, but out goal was to get to Zion National Park in Utah.
When we arrived, we parked and started a hike up The Watchman Trail, which was the closest to the welcome center. It was an easy going hike that took about 3 miles with gradual elevation change and a nice and easy path to follow. When we made it to the top, we were able to see The Watchman Tower and it felt like a wonderful accomplishment.
The next morning, it was still chilly, and we drove the RV to the end of the drivable road inside the park. We started the paved trail, which leads to The Narrows. That trail requires a special permit and involves walking through the water. We saw people walking in waders on their way up. We personally did not even make it to the observation area because the path was closed due to ice covering the path.
We got back in the RV and warmed up with the heat, because the mini hike was cold for us South Floridians, especially in the morning and in the shade. Then we drove down the road a little to stop and take the Emerald Pools via Kayenta Trail. We crossed a lovely bridge and began the hike. This hike was in the sunshine, unlike the first one, and we warmed up really quickly. This hike is about 2.5 miles to the pools. Evie and I made it and then did some off-roading to find the. Isla stopped just shy of the end, which was thanks to some people who said we were halfway there. Chris went back towards the start while Evie and I went on and found the many steps that led to the final little trail.
We spent another night at the Zion National Park Campground. We walked across a little bridge into the town to have a nice hot meal with some variety. In the RV, we had purchased simple groceries, so nothing fancy. We did make sure to buy marshmallows for s’mores around the fire almost every night.
We left the park we left through the East entrance which took us through a very windy road that let us up, and up, and would take us further up. Eventually, we arrived at the entrance tunnel was only wide enough for one vehicle, so the entrance was manned. We entered that tunnel, and it was pitch black. There were a few openings in the rock wall that allowed us to see the magnificent view of Zion from above. There was no stopping, but we did get to look while we drove slowly.
We stopped at a few sights along the way. Belly of the Dragon was just off the road, and a very interesting natural tunnel that we could walk through under the road.
Another was the Sand Caves. This one had a parking spot off the road, but did require a slight hike. Then a climb up a very steep wall face until we reached these caves in the hill that was filled with, well, sand. This was definitely unique, and the climb was fun.
We also stopped at Kanab Dinosaur Tracks before reaching our campground of the night. This trail was right off the road, but it was very steep. It was definitely a workout. The top is flat, and you can spot several dinosaur footprints on the surface. It appears that I did not take a photo of them, however.
We spent the night at Lake Powell at Wahweap RV park. While we explored the area, we even found a patch of snow in an area that the sun had not reached. So much fun for the girls, especially Isla, who had hoped to see snow again soon.
The next day was definitely the day I had been looking forward to. We were going to Navajo Country and had a tour scheduled for Antelope Canyon. A Navajo tour guide took a small group of down into the canyon. Normally I like to explore on our own, but a tour guide is required to enter the canyons, and our guide just knew all the photo spots. She also know all the angles and colors to make the camera capture exactly what we saw. On our own, it would come across a little flat, which if definitely was not. I felt like I was in a National Geographic magazine. It was beautiful! Take a pause while I spam them.
The day only continued to be the day I had been waiting for, because we were only the way to the Grand Canyon, the place I wanted to see.
On the way we stopped at Horseshoe Bend. It is a mild trek from the parking lot to the viewing spot, but the trail is cleared and flat.
The view is worth it. The canyon bends at a perfect horseshoe and you are at the top of the bend and see the whole U. It is a steep drop down if you get close to the edge. I was looking for a spot for that of course.
We continued on the drive to the Grand Canyon. The road is winding through the trees and occasionally you see the drop. We are even stopped by Wildlife on the road! The Elk are just blocking the road and munching alone. Perfect day!
We went to the south rim, because the north rim has a lot of closures in the winter. We stopped at the main view point before camping. It includes a coffee shop, gift shop and then an original watch tower. The number of people were limited, but you could climb up the stairs of the watchtower and see artwork and other artifacts from the area. You could also get and even higher, and cleared view of the canyon from there.
We went to the campground and there were even Elk just walking through the RVs. That was wild!
In the South Rim village they had their own little grocery store that we shopped at for dinner to grill and snacks for our adventures. The next day we rented some bikes to ride alone the rim. So much better then all the walking we had done recently, and my legs were getting tired. Isla could not ride a bike yet, so she got a really cool ride that attached to Chris’ bike. They upgraded him to an E-bike to pull her, but she was able to pedal too. Chris was in charge of keeping the upright and steering. It was a really fun way to explore the rim trail. We were definitely tired of hiking by a week, so we did not hike into the canyon. Passing some of the mules, when we were on the bikes, and I do want to take them down a trail if I find myself back here.
We stayed at the Grand Canyon trailer village for two nights and they were the coldest two nights we had. It was because we were higher and not as protected from the wind and all I supposed. A really big fuzzy blanket would have been nice then. We were not turning out heat up that high, because we did not want to run out of the propane gas. We learned at the end of the trip, that we barely used any! We will be warming up the RV a lot more the next time around.
The day we left the Grand Canyon, was the day Isla had been waiting for. She loves animals, and although we had seen some animals in the wild, so far we had not seen a lot. All the mountain goats we had been keeping an eye out for, had stayed hidden.
This day we were on our way to Bearizona. Bearizona is a drive thru animal park. We were able to take the RV through, though with the recommendation to take the cover of the spare tire, because apparently it was the wolves’ favorite treat. The girls could also lay on the bed in the back of the RV and look out of the back window. There was a lot of moving around to see all the cool animals from that side of America. We saw mountain sheep, reindeer, wolves, bears, bison and more.
After the drive thru there is a place to park and a walk through zoo too. There were our favorite artic foxes, raccoons and other forest animals. Isla had a blast. We all did, but this definitely made her week. When we were done at the zoo, we actually went through the drive thru again for fun!
This day also had something else the girls were looking forward to. We decided to have a night off from sleeping in the RV and booked a train caboose at the Canyon Motel. It was a little early in the day still, so went into the town of Williams, AZ. There was a mountain rollercoaster that really intrigued Evie and I and we took a ride down the mountain. We walked though the town and looked in the stores and found a place to eat. Then we returned to the caboose. It is said to be haunted, but I do not recall hearing or seeing anything to dramatic. It was nice to sleep on a thicker mattress for the night.
Our last full day we planned to make it to a campground in Lake Mead which would be just a short distance to the RV drop off the next morning, were we would then Uber to the airport from. I had been suffering from a migraine on and off and laid in the bed while we drove. It relieved it enough to make the one final stop I had hoped for, the Hoover Dam. What a huge piece of work. We thought we would just drive over and walk across it and experience it from the outside. I had not really looked into the whole experience. We learned that we could go on a tour inside, so sure enough, I signed right up.
The tour starts with a short history video, which taught us new things. Then you are taken in an elevator, down into the heart of the Dam. You walk though tunnels where water dripped and see the machines hard at work. Mildly terrifying, but outweighed with how cool it all looked to be inside. I highly recommend this tour. It shares a lot about a vital time in America’s history and the jobs it created during the Great Depression. Also the work that went into moving the water and why they built it.
We had our final camp night at Lake Mead and packed up our camper and bags for the flight home.
The next morning we dropped out the camper, which was an easy process. Anything we no longer wanted or needed was but on a donation shelf and the people who picked up the campers that day where able to pick off the shelf.
We Ubered to the airport and started the journey home. It is always lovely to make it back to the house and see our cats, but this was a trip for the books! Or the blog!