Category: National Parks & Monuments

Thanks to the unexpected daylight savings time change (at least to us this year since we haven’t had cell service to remind us of these things), we were awake earlier than usual and had extra time to stop in Moab to purchase a couple needed items such as fresh veggies before heading to Arches later that afternoon.  Little did we know the daylight savings time would shape our visit so much!

Onto Capitol Reef where we had 5 days to explore.  Justin and I hadn’t really had time to explore this park in much depth during our honeymoon trip years ago, so we were excited to take advantage of what all the park had to offer.

We ended up staying in Bryce Canyon for 2 days in frigid temperatures. The rocks are just so spectacular they almost look like someone painted them orange! We hiked, we biked, we explored and our 2 girls became official Jr Rangers of the park.

The road trip to Zion from our last campsite was smooth sailing with some fun pit stops.  Once at Zion we explored trails and the local scene for 3 day and 2 nights.  What a spectacular place!

Prior to this trip, my memories from Crater Lake were from my honeymoon…exciting, magical, good strenuous hikes, amazing views, so much knowledge to soak in. I wondered what our experience would be like with two sweet little ones.

A campground right on the beach!  We arrived a little after noon on a Friday and weren’t sure what we would find left as far as scenic sites.  As you may have guessed, all the beach view sites were taken.  Something we noticed though was that the beach sites were pretty tiny.  Of course there were a couple that had a little more space but as a whole you paid a price for your view.  Not far away from the beach we found a lovely site with a hidden gem!

We stayed in a rainforest for 3 nights though our girls didn’t believe it was a rainforest (it didn’t rain once while we were there).  The campground was beautiful, and I think we got the best spot right next to the river.  We enjoyed some short hikes in the mossy forest, playing by the river, and riding bikes around the campground.

Sol Duc Campground was our first campsite in this trip where we didn’t have luxuries such as electricity and free dump and fill-up options for Wobbles (our camper). The draw to this particular campground was the Sol Duc Hot Springs close by.  The campground was in a wonderful tall growth forest which was beautiful!  This is what we had lacked thus far on this trip, the woods! 

I know!  We stayed at a KOA.  I can only half believe I am admitting this to the public.  Don’t get me wrong, KOA’s are not bad places to stay, however, I don’t really consider them “camping” spots either.  They are full of luxuries that do not go under my definition of camping.  At a KOA that Justin and I once stayed at we were forced to listen to a horrific Elvis impersonator painfully sing who-knows-what being blasted from loud speakers throughout the park.  It was enough to make someone’s ears bleed.  As you can guess, I was a bit skeptical having this on our list of stops but we were due for a clean load of laundry.  Truth be told, it was a great stay!