Spring Break was last week. About 4 days before Spring Break started, Thunder called me from work and asked, "so, hey, what do you think about renting an RV and visiting some national parks next week?" After I had a few minutes to wrap my mind around that, I figured that would be great fun!
This is our RV. Ahhhh, our lovely RV. We learned so much about fixing RV's on this trip. Some interesting "features" we discovered:
retractable stairs to get inside the RV- not functional... we used a stepping ladder
the door separating off the back bedroom, um, fell off the frame
the heater stopped working one night
the generator overcharged the accessory battery (to power onboard electronics), resulting in boiling battery acid that smelled like rotten eggs
we clipped a dear; we almost missed it.... almost
our kids absolutely LOVED the RV!! (Or SURV according to Sunshine) Great way to travel
We stopped here on our way through Zion National Park. Cloudburst felt like dancing when she saw the beautiful scenery.
After driving through Zion's, we decided to head to Bryce National Canyon for the night. And it snowed that night. Randall and Michelle's heat went off the whole night.
We spent the rest of the trip in Moab. We had wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but the north rim is closed until mid-May! Bummer. On Thursday we rented an off-roading Jeep and headed into the Canyonlands Park near Moab. We started on Potash Road and it was so BUMPY. I swear the baby dropped a few inches from this ride.
The kids loved the ride, but they held on for dear life in several sections.
After climbing several hundred feet, we stopped here for a breather. The expansive views were just breathtaking.
It was so fun to watch the kids' eyes open wide as they took it all in.
We caravanned everywhere with Randall and Michelle and kids. Cloudburst found a surrogate little sister.
And this is what it's like for an 8-months-preggers lady to climb repeatedly into a small Jeep. At the time of our trip I was 35 weeks along.
We then drove on another trail to Musselman Arch, which is one of the few arches that people are allowed to walk on. I thought Thunder was absolutely nuts to walk across with all 3 kids, but that's how brave dads are!
It was about 3-4 feet across. I had a brave guide on our Indiana Jones-like walk.
The kids all got along great! It was fun to travel with friends.
We then drove up, up, up the Shafer Trail. It kept climbing and climbing on a narrow road with sheer cliffs right out my window. We collected rocks from the side of the mountainside. I was getting a bit sore by this point and was never so happy to see asphalt at the end of our ride.
In the Canyonlands, we drove down to Mesa Arch. The hike in was only about 1/2 mile... just about my limit.
This is all of us in front of Mesa Arch. The air was so fresh and the view was humbling.
We took one more short off-roading trip back to Moab, along Long Canyon Road. Along the way, each car has to pass under a giant boulder that fell several years ago.
Too bad the kiddies missed the end of the ride!
On Wednesday, we had passed a park, and the kids made us promise that we would play at a real park. Zion National Park? No, mom, a real park.
See? All the kids enjoyed playing at the park.
Friday we went over to Arches. I knew we wouldn't be able to visit many of the arches, since they require long or strenuous hikes, but Sand Dune Arch sounded perfect for us and the kids. Too bad it was cold and blustery!
All of us had sand blown into our eyes, hair, and clothes, and we had to dump out our shoes before getting back in the RV. If you can see the small dot at the top of this pic, it is Thunder's head peaking over the top of this slickrock near Sand Dune Arch.
More fun at Sand Dune Arch.
Awww, what a handsome guy.
Here is the Parade of Elephants... one of the many arches we had to enjoy from the road due to lack of parking.
We all looked forward to taking a nice warm shower at the end of the day... one of the perks of finding a nice RV park!
That looks awesome! I would have been terrified to off-road with cliffs around, but the views look amazing. It's too bad it was cold. I would have thought southern Utah was warm in April. :)
I must say Chad and I have wanted to do that, too. Renting an RV just sounds so fun...but after hearing about the break downs I'm re-thinking it all. The trip does sound like fun even though the weather wasn't always perfect. When you described the steep cliffs I was reminded about our trip to one of Jaren's friends cabin in Heber. Remember that? His friend was driving like a crazy man. Which he could have been considering we really didn't know him very well. Then he drove off the road and we were hanging off a cliff. I still have that picture somewhere.
Wow, you got some really great pictures. We had so much fun, even with all the little things that went wrong (not having heat for a night, no hot water, etc.) We will definitely have to do another road trip someday!
This is our RV. Ahhhh, our lovely RV. We learned so much about fixing RV's on this trip. Some interesting "features" we discovered:
We stopped here on our way through Zion National Park. Cloudburst felt like dancing when she saw the beautiful scenery.
After driving through Zion's, we decided to head to Bryce National Canyon for the night. And it snowed that night. Randall and Michelle's heat went off the whole night.
We spent the rest of the trip in Moab. We had wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but the north rim is closed until mid-May! Bummer. On Thursday we rented an off-roading Jeep and headed into the Canyonlands Park near Moab. We started on Potash Road and it was so BUMPY. I swear the baby dropped a few inches from this ride.
The kids loved the ride, but they held on for dear life in several sections.
After climbing several hundred feet, we stopped here for a breather. The expansive views were just breathtaking.
It was so fun to watch the kids' eyes open wide as they took it all in.
We caravanned everywhere with Randall and Michelle and kids. Cloudburst found a surrogate little sister.
And this is what it's like for an 8-months-preggers lady to climb repeatedly into a small Jeep. At the time of our trip I was 35 weeks along.
We then drove on another trail to Musselman Arch, which is one of the few arches that people are allowed to walk on. I thought Thunder was absolutely nuts to walk across with all 3 kids, but that's how brave dads are!
It was about 3-4 feet across. I had a brave guide on our Indiana Jones-like walk.
The kids all got along great! It was fun to travel with friends.
We then drove up, up, up the Shafer Trail. It kept climbing and climbing on a narrow road with sheer cliffs right out my window. We collected rocks from the side of the mountainside. I was getting a bit sore by this point and was never so happy to see asphalt at the end of our ride.
In the Canyonlands, we drove down to Mesa Arch. The hike in was only about 1/2 mile... just about my limit.
This is all of us in front of Mesa Arch. The air was so fresh and the view was humbling.
We took one more short off-roading trip back to Moab, along Long Canyon Road. Along the way, each car has to pass under a giant boulder that fell several years ago.
Too bad the kiddies missed the end of the ride!
On Wednesday, we had passed a park, and the kids made us promise that we would play at a real park. Zion National Park? No, mom, a real park.
See? All the kids enjoyed playing at the park.
Friday we went over to Arches. I knew we wouldn't be able to visit many of the arches, since they require long or strenuous hikes, but Sand Dune Arch sounded perfect for us and the kids. Too bad it was cold and blustery!
All of us had sand blown into our eyes, hair, and clothes, and we had to dump out our shoes before getting back in the RV. If you can see the small dot at the top of this pic, it is Thunder's head peaking over the top of this slickrock near Sand Dune Arch.
More fun at Sand Dune Arch.
Awww, what a handsome guy.
Here is the Parade of Elephants... one of the many arches we had to enjoy from the road due to lack of parking.
We all looked forward to taking a nice warm shower at the end of the day... one of the perks of finding a nice RV park!
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4 comments:
That looks awesome! I would have been terrified to off-road with cliffs around, but the views look amazing. It's too bad it was cold. I would have thought southern Utah was warm in April. :)
I must say Chad and I have wanted to do that, too. Renting an RV just sounds so fun...but after hearing about the break downs I'm re-thinking it all. The trip does sound like fun even though the weather wasn't always perfect. When you described the steep cliffs I was reminded about our trip to one of Jaren's friends cabin in Heber. Remember that? His friend was driving like a crazy man. Which he could have been considering we really didn't know him very well. Then he drove off the road and we were hanging off a cliff. I still have that picture somewhere.
Wow, you got some really great pictures. We had so much fun, even with all the little things that went wrong (not having heat for a night, no hot water, etc.) We will definitely have to do another road trip someday!
Wow! That looks like a great trip. What a great idea, renting an RV! We may have to try it some time.
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