For Spring Break this year we relocated an RV once again. Instead of taking one of the new factory vehicles from Indiana or Iowa, we found a shorter relocation from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. That meant the perfect route to see Utah's Big Five National Parks.
As much as I like picking up new vehicles I thought it would be nice to have a shorter drive so we didn't feel as rushed.
Day 1 - Las Vegas
We started off our spring break trip in Las Vegas. When looking at hotels, I thought the kids would be blown away by Caesars Palace.
Scott wasn't sure about going out onto the strip at night with kids. Being that its spring break season there were other families out.
And scantily clad women with their boobs hanging out.
We'd only briefly stopped by here during the day a couple years back. It was a short stop on our way from the Grand Canyon to Death Valley.
Brooke came back and raved about its absurdity after coming here on a work trip. This time we all got to see it in it's bombastically lit glory.
We couldn't convince Meadow that this was just like Shibuya.
She was very adamant that it wasn't as cool, because nothings in Japanese. And I have to admit for some reason it's actually not as cool.
To be honest this would be more fun without the kids, but we had to start here for our road trip anyhow.
Why does the bathroom need to be so large?
I was a little disappointed that our room was modern and not super cheesy like the lobby.
Day 2 - Las Vegas
We didn't realize until looking out the window in the morning that they were building a guitar shaped building.
Future Hard Rock Hotel.
We tried to do a late checkout so we could swim for a bit. But alas we are not part of the Ceasars Palace club.
There were just way too many high rollers more important than us.
We originally planned on eating at the Caesars Bacchanal Buffet for brunch, but it was closed. Whoops.
After about a 40 minute wait, we were in.
Brooke swore it was going to be a 2 hour wait...
There were three lines. People who had a reservation, guests of the hotel and walkups. You can guess who was to be seated last.
Hands down, the best brunch buffet we've ever had. It seemed we couldn't find anything as good as Black Bear Casino until the Wynn.
It was indeed the best buffet we've ever been to. It was also incredibly expensive. North of $200 for the four of us.
Meadow got all of the pastries and donuts. And possibly made a face out of them?
Even a whole room dedicated to desserts.
Which would've been great at dinner, but was a bit redundant at brunch.
We can check Las Vegas buffet off our bucket list.
Excalibur the last time we came doesn't count.
I really wanted to see the Wizard of Oz at the Sphere. It would have been so cool. If we didn't have to pick up an RV and continue with our trip.
It was also really expensive. While the hotels are reasonable enough, nothing is cheap here these days. It seems like they're making more money from the over-the-top experiences than gamblers.
We debated on taking an Uber over to downtown Vegas. But since we'd have to come back for our luggage we decided it made more sense to stay on the Strip. So we toured Italy.
Gordon Ramsey must have like 100 different restaurants along the strip. Hope he's raking in the cash, because it's kind of embarrassing. But it's really every big name TV chef you've ever heard of. Guy Fieri, David Chang, etc. They all have way too many restaurants.
We were in Paris when we saw there was an arcade in the basement.
Well technically in the neighboring Horseshoe.
Brooke was bored like usual, but the kids and I had fun.
We got our RV and thought everything was working. They have you go through a check list before you can even take it off the lot.
Our first campsite for the night at Virgin River Recreational Area didn't have potable water. We stopped at a Flying J for water.
And then got yelled at by an employee for being parked here. I told the guy, I quite literally paid to get this water. Maybe ask your boss, bro.
Day 3 - Back to Las Vegas to Zion to Bryce Canyon
When we were getting ready for bed, I prepped the toilet for use. Only to find out our water pump wasn't working.
The water pump was extremely hot, which freaked us both out.
Scott made the comment about how hot it was that it could start a fire. Needless to say, I did not sleep much.
We tried calling customer service and were put on hold.
We got back to Las Vegas before we could get a hold of anyone. Once there they replaced the pump and checked the battery. The battery ended up being a problem the whole trip unless we were connected to shore power, but at least we fixed the water issue.
I had originally planned to get to Zion pretty early, knowing that parking fills up fast. By the time we arrived around 2pm there was no chance of us finding a parking spot and taking the shuttle.
That picture above is actually near our first campsite in Arizona. It's a cool corner of the state along the interstate.
If we weren't staying in Bryce Canyon for the night we could have done more exploring in the park. Unless you take a long detour around Zion, the best route to Bryce Canyon is on the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. This road includes a narrow tunnel. Because of our big vehicle we were only permitted to drive through the tunnel until 4:30pm when traffic is directed by a ranger.
While we didn't get deep into the park, we did get to drive through a portion of Zion.
It would have been cool to see more of the park. What we did see was still pretty cool.
We lucked into our own private slot canyon.
Since we didn't get to do much hiking at Zion we stopped at the Pink Ledges Trail in the Dixie National Forest.
We lucked out on a last minute campsite in Bryce Canyon.
I kept on checking Recreation.gov for campsites at a few of the national parks. This spot popped up and I snagged it as soon as I could.
We had spaghetti with meat sauce for dinner.
Our power died again at some point during the night, which meant no heat.
It could've been worse, but we stuck to shore power for the rest of the trip. We couldn't risk no heat. It's pretty chilly in Utah during early spring.
We started our hike at Sunrise Point just as it started snowing. I originally had planned to do two hikes separately and figured it would be easier to just combine them. We started with Queens Garden and connected to Navajo Loop ending at Sunset Point.
We don't usually go to the more popular parks and this definitely explains why.
We experienced just about every season on this hike.
I had not adjusted to the elevation change yet. Going back up with the switchbacks was rough for me and Theo.
Meadow was pretty quick, but somehow I raced up Wall Street, as this ascent is called, before everyone else. I don't think elevation change really effects me.
After lunch in the RV we drove up to the much snowier Bryce Canyon Road to Natural Bridge.
On the way out, the kids earned their junior ranger badges.
We stopped to let Theo play in the almost dried up river bed.
And just like that we had to head on out to our spot for the night between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef.
Our campsite for the night was Escalante Petrified Forest State Park. We booked everything pretty late, so most of our campsites were outside of the national parks besides Bryce Canyon.
Near the campground was the main Petrified Forest Trail. The kids had, had enough hiking for day and stayed behind.
And there it was, the petrified wood.
It's cool, but maybe more so if you're really into rocks. I mean, I love trees, but petrified trees seem kind of meh.
I raced back as I needed to use the bathroom.
I was wondering if I was just slow, but she was booking it. Ha. The lake was just a reservoir (we were in the high desert after all), but the hike up and down was the highlight of this trail, IMO.
Full hookups meant we would have enough electricity to make pizza and have heat and TV.
We tethered to my phone, reset the region to US (it was set to Canada) and soon the kids were streaming Disney+.
Day 5 - Capital Reef National Park
I was up and ready to go while these sleepy heads were still snoozin.
Well, I took this picture, so I must've been up too.
This year we tried frozen waffles as a breakfast idea. I think next time I'll get a stovetop toaster.
We had to use the convection setting on the microwave, which isn't exactly quick. Good for pizza or something you need to bake for a while. Not great for toaster waffles.
Our drive today took us through the northern edge of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. At one of the national parks we learned that it's called Grand Staircase because the landscape descends from southern Utah down to the Grand Canyon.
When Scott got out to take a photo the kids and I couldn't stop laughing that he was wearing the exact same outfit as another guy who stopped for the view.
I mean, sort of. We both look pretty cool.
UT-12 veers north from Grand Staircase and up to Steep Creek Overlook along the ascent to Boulder Mountain.
Higher up Boulder Mountain I had to stop again to take in the view of the Waterpocket Fold and the Henry Mountains.
One more stop for the Larb Hollow Overlook. We lucked out that we were going to be dropping elevation as a high wind warning was just about to start.
Our first stop in Capital Reef National Park was the Hickman Bridge Trail.
It was 60 degrees today and so hot. I couldn't imagine coming here in the summer.
I soon passed them up.
Meadow kept spotting lizards.
Don't be fooled by the photos. This trail was just as busy as everywhere we have been this week.
I was trying to get a new photo to print for our house, but I'm not sure I succeeded.
The kids found the perfect sleeping spot.
Theo found a little hole in a rock he wanted to climb into. In doing so he slipped and landed on his back, also hitting his head. After hearing the sound of his head hit the ground, I thought for sure I was going to pick him up and see blood.
It seemed like in the moment his head took all the weight of the fall, but somehow he was OK.
People around us were watching too and someone said to check his eyes for a concussion. I held him for a bit until he calmed down. Thankfully he just scraped up his back.
We next drove over to the Gifford Homestead as I read they serve pie and other baked goods. Thanks to my take-our-time family, everything was sold out for the day except for little cups of homemade ice cream.
There were a lot of non-pie options. The kids and I were still excited about the homemade ice cream.
Capitol Reef is the perfect balance between nature and history. My favorite kind of state or national park.
Our final hike for the day was on the Grand Wash Trail. This used to be a river.
We had plans to stay at a first come first serve campsite. The drive there was brutal with the wind.
It was also going to be chilly tonight and I didn't want to deal with no heat again.
We passed Goblin Valley State Park, but there were no campsites available that were big enough for our RV. So we kept driving up Utah 24 to I-70. It was even worse on the interstate. We weren't going to make it to the first come-first served spots north of Canyonlands and Arches.
We settled on staying at Green River State Park instead. Utah is full of BLM land, if you can be off grid just find yourself a boondocking spot.
It was a bummer of a state park, but it would do. Somehow neither of us even bothered taking pictures there, but we had electricity and we slept soundly through the night.
Day 6 - Arches and Canyonlands
Arches can have really long lines to get in if you get there after 8am. We decided we'd do Canyonlands first and go to Arches later when it was less busy.
You can walk farther along the rim but we had more to see today.
I wasn't sure this stop was worth it, but I suppose the sunken salt dome was intriguing. Or was it a crater impact? Not even the experts know.
Next we did Grand View Point Trail. It felt very similar to Grand Canyon.
They call the area up here the Islands in the Sky.
I was getting so nervous watching some rando posing near the precipice. It was time to head back before I witnessed someone fall into the canyon.
The La Sal Mountains off in the distance somehow grounded the view from Buck Canyon Overlook. Nature sure can be amazing. If you look closely you'll see old mining roads. You can drive down there if you have a 4x4.
Then we took the drive over to Arches. Canyonlands' Islands in the Sky are a lot further from Arches than it seems on a map.
Delicate Arch looked so small from this vantage point. You might have seen this one on their alternate Utah license plates.
Utah was just showing off now.
Theo had to squeeze himself in after seeing a family with older kids trying to do it.
Of course, I was totally nervous again.
We did one last hike to the Landscape Arch. It was a good choice to come to this park later in the day as it was getting less busy.
Theo was over hiking and waited for us at the top of the hill while we quickly checked out Tunnel Arch.
Then Meadow left us while we went over to the Pine Tree Arch. If we were here more than one afternoon I would have liked to do the whole Devil's Garden Loop.
And just like that we drove north toward Salt Lake City. It was time to drop off our RV.
Day 7 - Salt Lake City
We spent the night at Huntington State Park. Another park saddled against a reservoir. This was another meh campground, but it served it's purpose.
After our drive up through the Wasatch Range we dropped off our RV at the local Roadsurfer location and took an Uber over to our hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. Theo was excited to wave a safety flag as we crossed the street.
We ended up at Squatters Pub Brewery for lunch and our second most expensive meal of the trip.
Great beer, good burgers and an amazing pretzel. The kids lemonades weren't bad either.
They had a Dog Lake beer that we had to get. Too bad you can't buy their beer outside of the brewery.
We debated on renting a car or just staying near our hotel. We stuck with staying within walking distance and decided to use our ASTC membership at the Clark Planetarium. On the way we passed a tiny Japantown.
These kids love any science museum and the Clark Planetarium would do.
The museum is actually free. They also have IMAX films for a fee, but that was covered by our membership.
The old Union Pacific Depot head house turned restaurant was a beaut.
I wanted to walk down to see Bringham Young's house. (Not this one)
I don't know much about Mormons (other than the fact that Low, whose main member were Mormon, is the greatest band of all time), but the Salt Lake Utah Temple was sure something.
Too bad we would have to leave in the morning. Would be interesting to see this place on Easter morning. Even the kids noticed that everyone was "dressed up."
The entire downtown was immaculate and packed with Mormon's in town for Easter. Surprisingly more than 50% of the city proper are not affiliated with the Latter Day Saints.
We went back to hotel, took a quick swim and then snacked before heading to bed early. It was swell, Utah.
Day 8 - Minneapolis
After a long morning of connecting flights (it's been a long time since we haven't done a direct flight), we made it home on Easter morning to find the Easter Bunny came.
The Easter Bunny did good this year.
Theo got a Link doll, chocolate bunny and chocolate eggs.
Meadow got knee socks, a kitty in ramen stuffy, chocolate bunny and chocolate eggs. They also had eggs filled with sour jelly beans and chocolate covered peanuts.
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