There’s a creek right behind the tents on the “lower level” of our tent site. Luckily, we didn’t have any heavy rains.
We elected to camp in Moab, which might not have been the best idea. We didn’t think about Moab being at a lower elevation than the previous places we visited (Durango and the Grand Canyon), it being the month of July, or the noise we’d experience in a state that allows all sorts of personal use fireworks. More »
Our June/July 2014 summer vacation to the American southwest was fun and filled with National Park goodness.
We are grateful for the National Park Service’s “Military Annual Pass” program which saved us nearly $80 in entrance fees on this trip.
Here’s the summary of everything we did:
The next big “see America” trip I have up my sleeves will take us northward towards Yellowstone National Park, but I don’t know when that will be.
Canyonlands National Park is incredibly underrated. Much of the park is accessible only via hiking, biking, rafting/kayaking, or 4-wheel drive.
Just a few miles up the road from Arches National Park is a turnoff that takes you about 25 miles to the northern entrance of Canyonlands National Park (the Island in the Sky District). This park offers a completely different look at Utah’s wilderness, with the Green and Colorado Rivers traversing throughout. More »
My awesome boys!
There’s much more to see at Arches NP. This is near the “Devil’s Playground” part of the park. Another popular hiking spot.
After our morning hike to Delicate Arch, we elected to drive through the rest of the park because it got very warm in a hurry. It took us about two hours to drive through the park enjoying the additional arches and geology. More »
My boys got annoyed in a hurry with my attempts for the perfect Delicate Arch photo. I was doing everything in my power to keep other people out of the shot, which was quite difficult.
The ultimate goal in our visit to Moab was a visit to Arches National Park. The geology of the region is incredibly unique, with soft sandstone being unevenly worn away due to wind erosion. The terrain doesn’t even look like it belongs on this earth! Delicate Arch, towering over six-stories high, is the most famous of these arches (even appearing on the current Utah license plate, and getting there isn’t easy. More »
This is a VERY famous view. Read on about Monument Valley.
After leaving the Grand Canyon on the morning of July 4th, we set forth on an approximately 8-hour drive to Moab, Utah. We chose the route that took us through Monument Valley, which is just north of the Utah/Arizona border near U.S. Highway 163. The drive is gorgeous, taking us through numerous ecosystems and significant terrain changes. More »
My backyard garden. It isn’t big, but it’s been a great time seeing what can (and what cannot) grow in Colorado. See the sprinkler in the lower right? That’s on a timer to run for 15 minutes every night. In this climate, you will never have too much water for your garden. A far departure from Florida.
This may sound strange, but now that we’re done with all of our June/early July travel, our lives will be calming down. We will still be busy, but things will be less chaotic.
I have so much to write about, I’m thinking, where to begin???
The boys’ never-ending baseball season?
The Denver Mint?
Our trip to Pennsylvania and West Virginia (with a little side trip to Penn State in there)?
My returning to work full time?
How about our travels to Durango, the Grand Canyon, and Moab?
I’m going to start with my garden, because that’s been quite the adventure in itself.
We need to go WAY back in time, to late March/early April. That’s when I started working on a seedling plan. The growing season is so short here, one has to start seeds indoors, particularly those plants that aren’t frost tolerant: tomatoes, peppers, squash. More »
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