Category: National Parks & Monuments

Exploring the ancient Aztec Ruins of the ancestral Pueblo people was so interesting.  Ir really put how our life now is into perspective.  Lucky for the girls, the doors of the ruins were just their size making exploring that much more fun. 

At Canyonlands we had a little preview of the kind of structures that the Ancestral Pueblo people built to store their food, but at Hovenweep we had the opportunity to see many different Pueblo houses and structures.  The skill of these ancient builders was apparent in their handiwork, and being in the presence of their ruins made us ponder what life must have been like for the people that lived here 800 years ago. 

Canyonlands was another park that Justin and I visited on our honeymoon but didn’t get to explore for long, so we were excited to see what was in store for us.  The girls got to enjoy a beautiful campsite full of things to keep their imaginations flowing and we were able to hike/climb some pretty impressive rock buttes.

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!