Shatearing Up the Road

What a difference a good bed and plumbing can make! Our camper bed is pretty comfortable, but it's not quite the same. This morning we got up, had breakfast, thanked the Casagrande's for their gracious hospitality and got back on the road, headed east! Our goal was to hit the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, and if we were lucky, the Badlands. On our drive through Montana, we saw a sign for Little Bighorn Battlefield National Park and decided since we were passing by it, we might as well stop. It ended up being a good stop. It was a historically somber experience when you think about all that happened there. The overall message of the park was the power of peace through unity- a strong message that is just as relevant in the world today. We ... read more

Today, we start our Yellowstone adventure. We allowed ourselves to sleep in a little because we were not able to get to bed until late. We got ourselves around and headed into the park. It was about 10AM and the line to get into the park from the west entrance was ridiculous. Once we entered, we saw that there were a 2-3 campsites that were still open. We had reservations at an Idaho state park for the night, but if we could stay in the park and unhitch, that would be ideal. So we made a beeline to the northwest corner of the park to try for a site at either Indian Creek or Mammoth campgrounds. The route that took us up there was under construction, which made the road rough and slowed us down. When ... read more

Today is my 30th birthday! This trip has been the greatest present I could ever want and I am feeling extremely blessed at this point in my life! This morning we said goodbye to our friend Steve. He was headed back up to Salt Lake City to return home. We packed up the camper and headed up to SLC ourselves. The drive was relatively straightforward north. We stopped in a small town on the way, Nevo, to have lunch. Lunch was at J.C. Mickelsons. It was a cute little restaurant with model trains set up all over it. Lunch was fresh and delicious. Afterwards, we headed back on the road. Our original plan was to get a hotel in SLC to have a place to get ready and relax for my birthday dinner. However, after some ... read more

Brad and I started today by waking up at sunrise to walk to the end of Dead Horse Point to see the canyon colors. I thought the campsite was pretty close, so we both just had our flip flops on for the stroll. Turns out it was about a mile and a half each way and we probably should have had sneakers at the canyon edge, but we made it work. The view was gorgeous. You could see across the canyon and down to the Colorado River with its green banks in the middle of the desert below. We also saw the CUTEST little desert fox that looked like he was just waking up, a deer, and some desert rabbits. We then took the short walk back to camp, got some breakfast, and packed up to ... read more

This morning we got up bright and early to see the sunrise over the canyon. It was surprisingly busy at this hour, but I could see why. It was gorgeous. We then headed back to pack up the campsite and head north to Utah! As we headed east to get around the canyon, there were still 22 miles of incredible vistas, which was lucky for us because we were not quite ready to let this place go. We ended up seeing a huge buck, a coyote, and a snake on this part of the drive. We spent some time at a few more of the vistas, including the Watchtower. Then it was time to leave the park. Next, we were heading up to Utah to check out the many parks up there. We made a quick ... read more