Our seven-day Scandinavian adventure: fly to Copenhagen, train to Malmo, overnight train to Stockholm, overnight ferry to Tallinn, ferry to Helsinki, fly back to London just an hour before our flight leaves for San Francisco. Whew!
Our trip came to an end with a short hike in Monument Valley, a movie in Flagstaff, and a reminder of why Pheonix is a burning 120F hell-hole that should be avoided at all costs. What a wild ride!
Mesa Verde National Park is a collection of cliff dwellings from native americans who lives here thousands of years ago. We sniped tour spots two weeks earlier and Thursday we toured both the Cliff Palace and Balcony House. Friday we hiked another section of the rim trail to see petroglyphs carved into the rock walls, then drove into Monument Valley, a Navajo tribal park, for our last park outing of the trip!
We knew that two full weeks in an RV would be stressful, it's not a big space. Plus two full weeks of hiking would wear down the kids, and two full weeks of 100F heat would make anyone cranky. So we planned a vacation from our vacation - we got an AirBnB condo in Moab with seven beds, three showers, lots of air conditioning, a washer/dryer, and a pool!
Bryce Canyon National Park is not as well known as Zion or the Grand Canyon, but the red and orange canyons and the hoodoos are really unique! Sara liked Bryce best of all. Sara and Harriet went horseback riding on the second day (to make up for missing the mules), plus we hiked Cassidy Arch Trail at Capitol Reef National Park on the long drive to Moab.
Zion National Park was our hands-down favourite! Zion Canyon is 15 miles long with reddish walls that rise dramatically 2500' above the valley floor, it's breathtaking. We stayed just south of the park and came in Friday to hike Angel's Landing and Saturday to hike The Narrows. Sara's parents Sue and Rex drove out to join us and were staying at the Zion NP Lodge, so we got some good hang-out time with them too.
Lake Powell is a Colorado River reservoir held back by the Glen Canyon Dam. It's a figurative sea of cool water in a very hot desert, and we needed a break from all the heat! Wednesday we rented a 44' pontoon boat and spent the day exploring the bays and canyons, plus jumping off the boat and swimming of course. Thursday we hiked to see some dinosaur tracks and a set of amazing sandstone caves before driving into Zion.
The Grand Canyon is one of the most iconic National Parks in America. Photos don't work, it's too big, too colourful, too stunning. Monday we hiked a short section of Bright Angel trail and some of the South Rim Trail, but the kids got hot and upset so we ended up chilling out at the RV park. Tuesday we rode mules along another section of the Rim Trail, then drove to Lake Powell.
Days 1-2 were all about getting started: we flew into Pheonix, met up with the Sheffields, picked up our RVs, provisioned, and drove to Sedona AZ for our first night. The next day we hiked the Devil's Bridge Trail, visited Flagstaff, and drove to our next stop at the Grand Canyon.
Harriet just graduated 4th grade, which means we can see "America's natural wonders and historic sites" for free with the Every Kid Outdoors pass!
We rented a 30' RV and spent two wonderful weeks driving the Grand Circle loop and hiking national parks with our family friends the Sheffields. Couldn't have done it with anyone else.
Travel
Hiking
Mountaineering
Motorcycling
Hunting
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