traveling with kids – Car Full of Harmony

Laura Ingalls Wilder Road Trip!

While my husband was off on a Guys Weekend, the girls and I decided to have an adventure of our own. We chose to do a Laura Ingalls Wilder road trip, hitting up 8 states and covering thousands of miles!

We started off in our very own state first – kicking it to Pepin, WI for the Little House on the Big Woods. This site is a wayside off of the highway, so you really don’t ever have to worry about the hours of the house. We’ve visited before, but it was a great spot to kick off the trip! We had not been to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in town, though, and that was the perfect place to buy some bonnets to carry us through our trip, and look at some artifacts from Laura and her family.

Reading “Little House on the Big Woods” at the Little House on the Big Woods!

Playing a game at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum

Our next stop was all the way in Deborah, IA, but it was a pretty drive along the Mississippi into Minnesota and down to Iowa. It also didn’t feel like a long drive, as it was a little less than 2 hours from Pepin. We got to see Laura Ingalls Wilder’s real height and try hard tack. You can see it was a real hit….

My fourth grader is almost as tall as Laura Ingalls Wilder was

Next it was off to Almanzo’s church in Spring Valley, MN, where we just made the last tour of the day.

There was a museum inside the church, and through the tour, we got to take part in a bucket brigade. Seems like a crazy way to have to put out a fire!

We drove past the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, MN and then off to Sanborn, MN for the Sod House on the Prairie. This was really interesting to see, as you could see the layers and layers of sod. We definitely got the prairie vibes at this stop, which was actually at a farm. When we pulled in, we felt like we were visiting someone’s house!

Our final spot of the day was in Walnut Grove, MN, where we stopped at the Laura Ingalls Dugout Spot. This stop was beautiful! It also is Plum Creek, from the book “On the Banks of Plum Creek.”

Reading “On the Banks of Plum Creek” while actually on the banks of Plum Creek!

The next morning, we got up and hit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, MN. This museum was really fun, as it was set up like a town, with a lot of areas for the girls to explore their imaginations. We went for lunch in Nellie’s Cafe, which was across the street.

Playing in the kitchen, while wearing the dress up clothes

They were excited to play the pump organ!

Then we drove to De Smet, SD for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Homes Tour. We also visited the DeSmet Cemetery to pay our respects to the Wilder family. We then visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead also in DeSmet, which was a very fun place to visit, as well, as you could learn to do laundry the way people did during this time period, go to school to see what that was like, and make your own corn dolls and jump ropes. We stayed overnight at the Homestead, getting a covered a wagon as our lodging for the night.We even got an intense prairie storm featuring hail and hefty winds. We took shelter in the bathroom because we weren’t sure how the canvas of a covered wagon holds up to hail, but it turns out we were the only ones concerned!

Someone didn’t like her pretend teacher (me)!

At the school in the Historic Homes Tour

Grinding the wheat on the Historic Homes Tour

Playing a fiddle similar to Pa’s on the Historic Homes Tour

Cart ride! At the Laura Ingalls Homestead

Driving the horses and cart for our ride to the schoolhouse!

Now it’s her turn to tell the horses where to go!

Our next day did not feature any Laura Ingalls Wilder sites, as we had to drive all the way down to Independence, Kansas. However, we did stop to see things because I don’t like driving that long without some fun stops. We went to the Oz Museum in Wamego, as both of my girls are fans. We also stopped at the Tallgrass National Prairie Reserve to imagine what the prairie looked like during Laura’s life. We saw the biggest grasshoppers, and felt the intense summer heat.

We followed the Yellow Brick Road in Wamego, KS

The next morning, we were back at it, checking out the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites in Independence, KS. We also jumped over the state line into Oklahoma to visit the Mickey Mantle childhood home. This whole day was an interesting collection of dirt road driving. Good thing I got a rental car!!! We then went on to Mansfield, MO, where we visited Laura Ingalls Wilder Home. After that, we drove to the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis to view the special nighttime showing of the Chihuahua sculptures.

Little House on the Prairie in Independence, KS

More spots to explore at the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites in Independence, KS

Petting the donkeys at Laura’s sites in Kansas

Standing next to a full-size replica of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Laura’s favorite house in Mansfield, MO.

Our final day of our trip was spent in the City Museum in St. Louis – a favorite of our family’s. It was fun to climb and jump and frolic after so many days in the car. We then drove all the way home to WI again. It was a great car trip, and the girls read the Laura Ingalls books in the car throughout the trip. It was a very fun road trip that was fun to do just as us girls! ❤

These fish tickle! (At the City Museum in St. Louis)

Lots of fun to be had at the City Museum

Climbing on the roof at the City Museum!

These bugs made it all the way from Kansas to WI on the front of our rental car, surviving a rainstorm between St. Louis and WI!

August 16, 2023November 16, 2024

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

American Sign Museum in Ohio

The final days of our trip to Tennessee were very enjoyable. Because we were staying in the mountains, it was a little rough to get to and from our cabin, particularly in the rental minivan we had. The 3rd day of our adventure it was supposed to rain ALL day. Since we weren’t sure we would make it back up the mountain to our cabin as the path was very steep and only made of gravel and sand, we decided to stay put. We had plenty of things we could do, as watching the storms from on top of a mountain is pretty fun. We also had an air hockey table and a hot tub in our cabin, so no need to feel bad for us at all!

This is the tiniest bit of pavement we had once we were more than 3/4 of the way up the mountain to our cabin….however, you can see the incline and the curves that would make this stretch treacherous in heavy rain!

My bro and I LOVED watching the storms from our back porch – nice and covered, full of rocking chairs, and a FANTASTIC view!

The next morning was time for us to start heading home. It’s roughly an 11 hour drive, so we started packing up right after we woke that morning. We did stop to take in the view one last time. It was hard to say goodbye to our cabin!

Luckily, starting out early helped get us through the traffic of Pigeon Forge relatively easily, as well. Both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have so many attractions that are open until at least 9 pm so not many people get up early the next day! Our drive was pretty uneventful, though we decided to take a brief leg stretch/road break in Cincinnati, Ohio for the American Sign Museum. My bro & his wife had been there before, and I had always wanted to go.

This museum is filled with beautiful neon signs that were used at some point in the last few decades. They are all lit up, and it is so much fun to just walk around and appreciate the artwork.

There was even an area where they repair old neon signs while you watch, and a video on how neon signs are made. We all found it fascinating, and the signs are just so beautiful.

The museum doesn’t take overly long to visit – I think we might have been there for an hour or so. It is a fantastic leg stretch, and a great way to break up a long drive in dreary weather!

March 27, 2022March 29, 2022

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Las Vegas With Kids

For our Southwest National Parks tour, we flew in and out of Las Vegas. Because of this, we thought we would show the girls some of the fun things in this crazy city! The city was having record-breaking temps, and we were a little tired of the heat already, but we managed to find some fun things for the girls to experience without TOO much craziness being seen.

Little blurry, but that’s because we were driving past it!

By the time we landed, got the various rental car shuttles, and got on our way, it was already dark. Hubby and I decided we should cruise down the strip to give the girls their first taste of Vegas.

Needless to say, the girls were in awe of all of the lights!

We were lucking enough to be going past the Mirage at the same time that the volcano was going off, so the girls loved seeing that, too.

We stayed at the Plaza, right across the street from Fremont, so after we checked in (our room had an epic view of Fremont Street), we went over to hit up the ABC store and buy water and sunscreen.

Fremont Street was hoppin’, and aside from the bartenders dancing on the bar, there wasn’t actually anything too much beyond PG for behaviors.

The next day we left the area for Valley of Fire Park and Zion, so we were done with Vegas for a week. When we returned, we stayed at the Rio, off of the strip, and resumed our Vegas adventures.

We had fun watching the zipline that connected the lit up tower to our tower. Hubby said NO WAY to that! Haha

The first morning back in town, we got up and ate breakfast at the delicious Polaris Diner. Sooooo good! Then it was off to the strip to explore. The Venetian has free parking, and I love checking out the gondolas, so we started there.

Hubby bought us a gondola ride, and the girls were so excited…until our gondolier told Hubby and I that it’s good luck to kiss underneath the bridges. That caused a bit of embarrassment for Wormy and Squid, making it a fun adventure for Hubby and I!

Hahahahahaha – their reaction to our kissing under the bridge.

We also visited the Wishing Tree in the Venetian, which had a QR code setup to make your wish. It wasn’t working on my phone on the first few tries, and I wasn’t about to spend a whole lot of time trying to make it work. We just appreciated the prettiness of the tree, and moved on.

We walked through a few casinos to get to the Flamingo, because Wormy is a big flamingo fan. She enjoyed seeing the flamingos getting a shower to cool down.

We went farther down the strip to the Eiffel Tower (still walking through all of the indoor casinos we could). We paid for admission up to the observation area, and watched the Bellagio fountain show from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The girls really enjoyed the views of all of Vegas and the water show.

Pretty sweet view of the fountains! And you could definitely hear the music clearly as well (“Viva Las Vegas”)

We continued farther down the strip to the M&M’s store. It had a bit of a wait outside to get in due to Covid capacity restrictions, but the line moved quickly. The movie inside wasn’t playing (again, due to Covid), but the girls liked the giant wall of M&M flavors and seeing the NASCAR car.

The girls wanted to know if all of the chocolate would be melted due to the heat!

We also visited the Coke store, but they weren’t doing the samples due to Covid. We kicked it back to the Monorail so we could get back to where we parked (and grab some food!)

After eating at Virgil’s BBQ restaurant (where Wormy just about exploded with excitement due to the fact that they had ribs AND mac & cheese together as a meal on the kids’ menu), we headed over to Caesar’s Palace, because I thought the ceiling still changed from day to night and back. Helpful hint – it doesn’t do this anymore. However, since Squid just got done reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, she was ecstatic to look at all of the Greek God statues.

Even though the sky doesn’t change color anymore, Ceasars Palace is still beautiful

We pointed out to the girls and pretended we were in each ‘country’ represented by our visits – we went to Italy by visiting the Venetian, France by seeing the Paris, and Greece by hanging out into Caesars Palace. They seemed to really get a kick out of that.

By this time, it was sunset, so we went to watch the Bellagio fountain show, hoping to see it lit up this time. It did not disappoint, and the girls were very curious as to how different it would look from the ground level this time (and it was a different song – Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” this time).

This was my favorite viewing – the sunset show is definitely the best of both worlds!

Wormy had to go to the bathroom after this (something about watching water flying in the air that really did it for her, I guess), so we went into the Bellagio. The security guard at the Eiffel Tower told us we HAD to check out the gardens in the Bellagio, so we were headed inside anyway. The gardens and hotel lobby were GORGEOUS! I didn’t want to leave, but it was starting to get late and we had a long walk to get back to our car yet.

Just a small taste of the beauty of the Bellagio!

When we left the Bellagio, the fountain show was going again, so we watched this show as well (I couldn’t name the song this time). It was beautiful in the dark, as well, but much busier. Afterwards, we did see some more ‘adult’ behavior/clothing, so Hubby and I kept joking about pointing out stores along the other direction from whatever we were steering the girls’ attention from. Squid caught on pretty quick, however, and soon started pointing out stores of her own! Wormy was a little disappointed because she wanted her picture taken with Mickey Mouse, and I said we would save that for Disney World. One very nice showgirl offered to take a picture with my husband and promised to keep it ‘family friendly,’ but he was not convinced, as her outfit (or what apparently passed as an outfit) wasn’t ‘family friendly.’ Hahaha. It was entertaining to walk down the strip as a parent for certain!

Different viewpoint, different time of day, and different show!

The next morning was our last day in Vegas, but our flight didn’t leave until 7:30 or so. We hung out in the hotel pool in the morning, as the girls were definitely in need of some less busy activities. We went off to lunch, and then did some glow mini golf at Bally’s. This was hands down everyone’s favorite activity we did in Vegas. It was not busy at all, and we all got free friendship bracelets that glowed as well. The price was really inexpensive, as far as Vegas activities went. The mini golf was Twilight Zone-themed, not that the girls knew anything about that, but they had a blast regardless.

For awhile we had the place to ourselves. They even had a live dj encouraging everyone to ‘make their next shot by putting behind their backs’ and other fun things like that while spinning the tunes. Totally recommended!!!

We had a long list of other things we wanted to do – ride the High Roller Ferris wheel, visit the downtown container park, or do the slotzilla zipline. I wanted to do the Neon Museum and the Atomic Testing Museum, but it’s important to note that in Las Vegas, everything will take longer than you expect – travel to a location, getting in, the activity itself…so it’s not as possible to really cram in the sights and experiences like I usually tend to do. However, there is definitely fun to be had in Vegas with kids!

July 23, 2021July 23, 2021

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Fun Sights Along Route 66 – Getting Our Kicks and Takin’ It Easy!

I’ve been a big fan of the song “Route 66,” and since we were in the area, we drove some of the stretched of Route 66 from the Petrified Forest National Park around the Meteor Crater area.

I really badly wanted to stay at the Wigwam Motel, but they didn’t have any availability the days we were in the area. Instead, we drove past it. The girls were so excited, as it looks a lot like the Traffic Cone Hotel in the movie Cars.

Love the old cars outside of the Motel, too!

I really wanted to sleep in one of those air-conditioned wigwams!!!

After leaving Holbrook, we went in search of dinner in Winslow (another Route 66 town). We had fun “standin’ on the corner in Winslow, Arizona” like in the Eagles song “Take It Easy.” They even had a corner set up to take pictures on.

Winslow has a huge Route 66 in the middle of the road

We stayed in Winslow for the night, but the following day, after Meteor Crater, we went in search of lunch and found ourselves in Williams, AZ. This was a cute town that had a lot of restaurants and shops, along with plenty of Route 66 charm. This is also the town that the Grand Canyon train leaves from (which is definitely on my list now!).

And the last town we visited off of the Route 66 path, as well!

Route 66 was a fun area to travel. We even met a couple who was traveling all of Route 66. Sounded like a fun vacation! Now I can’t decide which song I have stuck in my head – “Route 66” or “Take It Easy.”

July 22, 2021

Lisa Werner1 Comment

Hoover Dam – 2008 vs today!

We HAD to stop at the Hoover Dam on the way back to Vegas from our Arizona adventures. Squid had just read the Percy Jackson series, and had remembered a scene that took place in the Hoover Dam, so she was looking forward to seeing it. Unfortunately, due to Covid, there weren’t any tours for us to take, but we definitely enjoyed the views!

Hubby and I had been there in March of 2008, and we were surprised by how much it had changed! Before, you used to have to drive straight through the Hoover Dam to get to Nevada from the Grand Canyon. Now, it was an exit off of the highway. And speaking of that highway, there was a fantastic pedestrian portion of the bridge over the dam so that you could get this amazing view:

It was crazy to see the new parking garages and gift shop. We were bummed we couldn’t take a tour, but we knew that going into the visit. The girls were not thrilled about the heat….

This sign looks awfully permanent…is every day an excessive heat warning???

Hubby and I had a great time comparing the dam with last time’s visit. We felt bad for the guards standing in their black uniforms and masks performing the vehicle checks of every car, truck, etc that went through their checkpoint!

Here’s what the bridge looked like as they were working on it in 2008 vs what it looked like finished and running on our trip:

June 2021…all done and functioning! This bridge is the freeway and holds the pedestrian walkway to take pictures of the dam from as well.

The water levels were interesting to compare, too, as this area is in a dangerous drought.

Overall, it was a fun stop, though the girls were less than thrilled about the heat and the stairs/walk to the pedestrian portion of the bridge. However, they loved getting their picture taken with half of their bodies in Arizona and the other half in Nevada!

July 21, 2021

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Walnut Canyon

On the way back to Las Vegas from Meteor Crater, we passed the Walnut Canyon National Monument exit. Hubby and I had been there the last time we were in Arizona before we had kids and enjoyed the stop. We took a short detour to visit the park and show the girls.

Walnut Canyon is only 3 miles off of I-40, so it is also a quick and easy stop. Walnut Canyon is most known for the cave dwellings from the early people who used to live in the sides of the cliffs. You can view the dwellings from the giant glass windows in the Visitors Center, the outdoor overlook, or by hiking around them. We went into the visitors center, and checked out the overlook. Last time Hubby and I were at this park, there had been a giant landslide that had damaged the hiking trails, so it was good to see it all repaired this time.

You can see the dwellings in the lower part of this picture.

Because we hadn’t planned on stopping here, we didn’t spend very long at Walnut Canyon. It was maybe a half hour stop, but we didn’t do any of the hikes. Eventually, we would like to take the girls back here. For now, though, they were pretty impressed by the idea of living in the side of a mountain!

Doesn’t look like the most hospitable area I’ve seen, but it worked for the early people in this area!

July 20, 2021

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Meteor Crater

As our trip is starting to wind down, we left the whirlwind of National Parks behind us, and visited Meteor Crater in Arizona. I kept joking with everyone that I was going to see a hole in the ground, and I was not expecting to be as impressed with this stop as I was.

Meteor Crater is not very far off of the major freeway that you have to take to get back to Las Vegas or the Grand Canyon areas from Petrified Forest National Park, so it made sense to stop. It is the best preserved meteor crater in the world, and it is HUGE!

You can countdown the miles from the highway as you get closer to the crater

When you enter the crater area, there is a visitors center where you show the tickets you bought online (they are cheaper), or you can purchase tickets in person. We bought mine and the girls’ online, so we just had to show our phone to enter. Hubby had to buy his onsite because he has a military I.D. Once you get past the entrance, you have your choice of watching a short video that was show on the hour, going out to look at the crater, wandering around to look at exhibits, or watching a 4-D adventure space mission. It wasn’t time for the video, so we decided to check out the exhibits. I got to touch the biggest remaining meteorite fragment from the meteor impact.

We learned a lot about how incredibly fast meteors enter our atmosphere and what the force of a crash landing can have! We also got to see examples of other meteors that have fallen into earth in much more recent times.

We finished up in the exhibits and then it was time to see the video. We wanted to make sure we saw that before going out to the crater. Then it was off to see the crater in person. There was a very nice big glass wall that faced the meteor crater, as well, so if you weren’t sure you wanted to leave the building, you wouldn’t have to go outside. We chose to go in as many spots as we were allowed – there was a high observation area to get the most zoomed out view, another viewing platform with memorial plaques and some seats, and a final area that had binoculars to look at some of the features that scientists have created in the crater – drilling shafts, exploratory holes, a 6’ astronaut, etc.

Checking out the binocular views of the crater

After we had been thoroughly awed by the actual crater, we went back inside to do the 4-D experience. It was pretty fun. In the waiting area for the experience, there is a hand scan area. Poor Squid got the ‘Denied Entry’ alert when she put her hand up. That caused us all to laugh. Don’t worry; it’s all for fun – they let her in anyways.

Little did she know that she would get “Access Denied”! Hahaha

All 4 of us really liked this stop – it was so crazy to think about how long ago the meteor hit the earth here, and how huge it was. The whole experience was interesting for all of us – from 7-year old Wormy to 11-year old Squid to my husband and I. I think we were here for 2 hours or so, and that includes seeing everything AND shopping at the gift shop onsite, as well.

July 20, 2021

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Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona was our last planned national park on our Southwest trip, and the one I knew the least about. This park is laid out really nicely – if you were short on time, or not into hiking, you can see the majority of it from your car. We like to get right up in each park, though, so I’ll share what we did in case it helps.

We stopped at the Painted Desert Visitors Center first, and this was the first visitors center that we actually were permitted to enter! There was a ranger that greeted everyone and kind of gave us the rundown of the whole park – highlights and spots to definitely stop at. After we got our Junior Ranger stuff, we were off to explore.

Our first stop was to view the Painted Desert Inn Historic Landmark, along with a great view of the Painted Desert. This stop is really nice for parking the car, hopping out, getting some pictures, and hopping back in.

The Painted Desert View off of a short path from the parking lot at Painted Desert Inn

Painted Desert Inn – now a museum. We did not go in to explore, as we wanted to do a few hikes in the park instead.

We continued driving the loop to more views of the Painted Desert, stopping at some of the many pull offs and exploring the views.

As we left the Painted Desert area, we crossed where the Route 66 used to travel. It was marked with an old 1932 Studebaker sits, and you can see the freeway that replaced Route 66 right behind it.

You then cross underneath I-40 and enter a different feel to the park. There are roughly 26 more miles to travel on the road that goes through the whole park, and the view gets very different. The first stop to see in this section is Puerco Pueblo, which shows an example of an old Pueblo home. We just drove by this one to see it from the outside.

The next stop we made was to Newspaper Rock, which is a collection of petroglyphs. This was the biggest collection of petroglyphs (the brochure boasts over 650 from over 2000 years ago!) I had seen on our trip so far, and the park had many binoculars present for people to look through to view the petroglyphs closer. My camera has a nice zoom, so we used that to look at, as well.

There is a lot going on at this stop…this isn’t the half of it!

Next up in the park was a section called the Teepees, because the rock formations look like teepees. There are several pull offs along the road to view them, or you can see them as you drive.

The next part of our trip was my favorite – the ranger at the visitors center recommended the Blue Mesa Trail, and I had read about this before coming as well. It is a 1.0 mile loop trail that takes you down into these beautiful blue-ish rock formations. To get to this trail, you have to take one of the only roads off of the main park road to get to the parking lot, and it is a 3.5 mile loop road to get there, but it does not take long before you have arrived. When you get out of your car, you can tell from the view that it is going to be pretty epic. You have to hike down into the formations (while reminding yourself that each time you go down, you must come up at some point….), but it wasn’t a horrible descent (or ascent later). The views were definitely worth it! All four of us loved this hike, and highly recommend it!

Even if you don’t hike the Blue Mesa Trail, the view from the parking lot and overlook are fantastic!

We loved the park’s sense of humor (read the small print under the cloud)!

This is as I was hiking down into the formations. They were so pretty! You felt like you were in a different world!

There are many samples of petrified logs along the trail, and even a really big one that Wormy and Squid had fun looking at. However, the best petrified log viewing was still to come.

Wormy and I hopped out at the Agate Bridge stop farther down the main park road, and this was definitely another hop out and back in stop. There’s a petrified log serving as a bridge, along with some nice views of the area.

110 foot long petrified log serving as a bridge

Our next stop was the Crystal Forest – this was another really neat hike. There are so many pieces of petrified wood hanging out with no trees in sight – it really makes you wonder what life was like in this exact location thousands of years ago. Luckily, there are plenty of signs to tell you the answer to that question! Crystal Forest is a paved 3/4 mile trail. I don’t think we did all of it – we kind of looked at logs that interested us, checked out a nice overlook of the whole area, and wandered around as much as we wanted.

Our final fun stop in the park was all the way at the end of the park road near the Rainbow Visitors Center. It was the Giant Logs Trail – this 0.4 mile loop trail is filled with the park’s biggest petrified log (named “Old Faithful”), along with the most colorful logs of the park. They were so gorgeous to look at. When I planned this trip, I have to be honest – I did not know very much at all about petrified logs. I imagined moldy chunks of wood littering a forest area. I had no idea how pretty petrified logs are or how they formed.

This one was my favorite! Old Faithful was nice to see, but I preferred looking at all of the colorful pieces of wood!

As you leave the park, there is a checkpoint to make sure no one is stealing the petrified wood. I am saddened to think people would be that self-centered, but glad that they check so that there are plenty of beautiful things for everyone to see!

Up close and personal with the stripes of this petrified log

July 15, 2021

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Grand Canyon South

After hanging out at the North Rim for awhile, it was time to visit the most popular spots of the Grand Canyon. We drove in from the East entrance, and stopped at Grandview Point for the girls’ first glimpse of the view from the South. Hubby had let us out to get the views while he circled for a parking spot, as it was pretty busy. This spot has a nice lookout, and then stairs going down to a trail with a rock ledge to stand out on. It was the perfect first stop for the girls!

View from our spot sitting on the ledge off of the trail at Grandview Point

Next, we drove in to the Visitors Center area, which had changed A LOT from when I was here last – it looked like the park entrance of Disney World with all of the multiple lots and shuttle buses stops! I realize it’s been since 2008 since Hubby and I went, but whoa! Like all of the other parks we had been to on this trip, they had the Visitors Center stuff (maps, junior ranger badges, etc) all outside so no one had to enter a building due to Covid. After we picked up what we needed, we decided to go into Tusayan and check into our hotel/get dinner (some of us were getting hangry…).

After dinner, we went back into the park to check out Yaki Point. We were back to the Visitors Center area to walk out to Yaki Point. Surprisingly, there weren’t very many people around anymore. I think the fact that it was cloudy so there wasn’t going to be an epic sunset sent people packing early.

We continued around the rim for awhile, looking for even quieter spots to enjoy the canyon from. It was neat watching the light change, even without the sun being out. It was also nice having the canyon to ourselves from the spots we found.

A lovely spot we found to just sit on a rock and enjoy the blue hues coming out. I also found this little tree growing out of the rock very inspirational – if it can persevere and grow off the side of this rock, I can fight through anything, too!

After the lovely views, we walked back to the car to go back to the hotel for some swimming. While we were walking, we saw a deer super close to us. The funny thing was so many people were walking right by and didn’t even notice! They thought the only sights to see were the ones that happened at the viewpoints and overlooks!

The next morning, we got up and headed for some shopping first at the Market Plaza, as Wormy badly wanted a Night Sky book. We walked around the rim trail for a bit, and enjoyed watching the hikers down below in the canyon!

Next, it was off to take the shuttle to Hermits Rest. We had a driver who took her job very seriously – the girls still joke about her a little, as she would yell at people to get out of her way (so they would hear her…as I tried to explain to the girls), and she was very serious about everyone keeping their masks on while on the shuttle. She discouraged people from going all the way out to Hermits Rest because she said it would be hard to get a seat on the shuttle for the return trip and she always hated turning away families with small children in this heat. Hubby and I glanced nervously at each other, but decided to stick with our plan to go all the way out.

We got off at Hermits Rest and walked a distance past the building to get some beautiful views, while everyone who was on the shuttle with us stopped in the building. Once the crowd had passed, we went back into the building for some shopping and to buy the girls some fruit popsicles. They totally hit the spot, but the girls had to finish them before getting on the shuttle. The fruit popsicles were nice and thick, so it took them awhile!

When it was time to go, we did not have any problem getting a seat on the shuttle that was waiting, so we were relieved that the first bus driver’s prediction did not hold true for us. I think the girls really enjoyed the Grand Canyon, but really – what’s not to like???

View from Hermits Rest – the trail past the building

July 14, 2021

Lisa WernerLeave a comment

Arches National Park

We finally made it into Arches National Park! It was roughly 2:00 by the time we got in and parked at the Balanced Rock trailhead/viewpoint. It was really hot, but we were not new to this by now!

The trail that goes around Balanced Rock is super easy and only 0.3 miles long. It provides a 360 view of the rock formation itself, and a nice view of the area surrounding it.

Balanced Rock – kind of looks like a sculpture I did in art class once…

After enjoying Balanced Rock, we decided to head farther into the park to the Delicate Arch viewpoints and then come back to the arches you can sit/climb on. I thought the girls might enjoy that as a grand finale. We drove out to the shared parking for the Upper and Lower Delicate Arch viewpoints. Everyone was stopping at the lower viewpoint and calling it a day, but we went for the upper viewpoint. This was a longer hike and a bigger climb, but nothing compared to the 3 mile hike out to the actual arch itself (which there was no way my family was up for in this heat!). The hike itself was 1 mile round trip, though my watch had it as slightly longer than that from the actual parking lot. There is a lot of climbing of stairs, as it is called the UPPER viewpoint for a reason. However, I thought the view was better and worth the climb. Squid and Wormy weren’t in agreement.

This view of Delicate Arch is a super-zoomed in view from my camera phone – so sorry for the quality.

After climbing back down, we drove back through the park to get to the Windows Section of the park. I couldn’t seem to convince anyone in the car with me to explore the “Fiery Furnace” viewpoint (not the trail itself!)….they seemed to think everything so far had been a Fiery Furnace, so they had a hard time believing a stop there was necessary. I gave in, and guided us to the Windows and Turret Arches. When Hubby and I had been here last, this was our favorite section of the park. The arches are huge, and the trails take you into the arches. Some of my favorite photos of my husband and I from that trip came from this area. The girls were hesitant at first, but they loved it after we got going.

Coming up to North Window Arch from the trail.

We stopped at the North Window arch first and enjoyed the view from sitting on the arch itself. We had somehow managed to lose the crowd (I say that as though it was like Disney World or something…it was nowhere near that bad…just a clump of people to avoid). We had a lovely view looking out over the park.

Just sitting on the arch and looking out at the park.

Next, we decided to skip South Window Arch, as the clump of people had caught up to us and were headed that way. Instead, we hopped over to Turret Arch. The arches are all labeled on the path, so you can easily pick and choose which way to go. It’s also a bit of a loop, so you can also change your mind and jump back to an arch you skipped really easily as well. The whole trail is 1 mile, with a few stairs. If you choose to explore Turret Arch, there is a bit of climbing up some rocks to get into the arch, but the view (and the feeling of conquering an arch) is totally worth it. That arch is my favorite.

We sat and looked up at the arch above us and enjoyed the peace of the park. Even in the heat, it was a very reflective spot.

After the fun of these arches, it was back to the parking lot. You’re even treated to a beautiful view of the Garden of Eden section of the park on the way back to your car. My family was starving by this point, so we went into Moab for dinner, and head off to set ourselves up for our next adventure for tomorrow.

Hiking back to the parking lot and the Garden of Eden is in the background.

July 13, 2021

Lisa WernerLeave a comment