tales from a far-land

Leg three of our family road trip! After staying the night at a Best Western in northern Utah, we started the drive to our final destination - Bryce Canyon National Park. On our drive down the highway, we decided to stop for breakfast in Midway, Utah. What a cute and quaint little small town! The breakfast was amazing. Then, back on the road again. After about three hours on the road, we stopped at The Creamery in Beaver, Utah, for some ice cream. I mean, who can pass up ice cream. After driving for about an hour more, we made it to Bryce Canyon City. We checked into the hotel and headed back out to visit the park at sunset. Oh, how I had forgotten the uniqueness and majesty of this national park. The next morning, we headed out early to hike Queen's Garden to the Navajo Loop Trail with the kids.  Aiden was less than thrilled.  In fact, he was kind of a pain -- pouty and reluctant to complete the hike. Madilyn was happy as long as she could take photos with my phone....

Wyoming was our next road trip destination.  We rented a ranch house in Freedom, Wyoming, for five days.  We wanted a place that had enough space for us and the dogs, but was also relatively close to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park.  In hindsight, we would have preferred our home base to have been a little closer to town, but this home provided us with spectacular mountain views and a quaint small town feel. We arrived at our house rental on Sunday evening.  This gave us just enough time to run into Alpine to grab some groceries for dinner and the week.  Here is a snapshot of how we spent the rest of our time in Wyoming. Monday Drove through Grand Teton National Park to get to Yellowstone National Park Visited Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring Enjoyed a chilly picnic at one of the park's rest areas and the kids played in the snow before heading back down the mountain. Tuesday Explored the land around the rental house including the river that run...

Every October, our kids get a week long break in their school schedule.  We had planned to visit Costa Rica this year.  However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, we were unable to travel internationally.  Instead, we decided to take advantage of the U.S. National Park Service's program "Every Kid Outdoors".  This allows every fourth grader and their family to visit national parks for free.  We really enjoyed our time at Zion National Park in 2019, so we decided to discover more national parks in Utah and Wyoming. Our first destination was Arches National Park in Utah.  We arrived in Moab on Friday late afternoon.  We had been told the park is gorgeous at sunset, so we headed straight to the park before checking into our hotel.  The landscape was beautiful and awe inspiring.  We did a quick walk to see the Delicate Arch from a lower vantage point. On Saturday morning, we woke up early to get into the park before it started to get crowded.  W...