nevada & utah
Sup friends and family, I haven't updated this in awhile. Let's jump right into it:
In February we left California to finally do some ~real~ traveling. Our (Chris's, really) main points of interest were Park City, Vail, and Breckenridge for snowboarding (the latter two in Colorado), with Zion and Moab as stops on the way - and wherever else we had to go to make that work.
Mojave Desert & Vegas
Our first evening was spent boondocking (camping on public land for free, without water, power or sewer hookups). That's the only time we've boondocked so far - not because it was a terrible experience, but as I've mentioned in previous posts, this was the day we discovered our generator doesn't seem to be putting out its rated wattage, and we haven't yet had a chance to troubleshoot it properly. Especially now that Chris's work is in full-swing, we can't really risk being without sufficient power. At time of writing, we're planning to boondock a bit more after our stay in Seattle.
having no neighbors is p good
Anyways - our boondocking experience was pretty dope. We stopped somewhere in the Mojave Desert, off a small dirt road near a gas station. It's BLM land, which means you can stay there free for up to two weeks (and at that point you just move to another spot some distance away). We drove down the road a bit and found a flat-ish portion of land and parked the trailer. We appreciated the solitude and quiet after spending weeks in RV parks right up against other neighbors, and the sunset was Very Good.
After our one night stop in the desert we made a short drive to Vegas. The RV park we chose was a couple miles off-strip, immaculate, and the folks there gave us a bunch of recommendations of nearby mountain bike trails (none of which we did, because we were lazy shits). We managed to go to Hoover Dam, the Strip... twice? for a couple hours each? and a huge Costco run in the three days we were there, but we're planning on hitting up Vegas again our way back down to California later this year. We would've stayed longer - we were still staying at parks for at least a week at a time - but they only had three nights available. I won a couple hundred bucks thanks to craps and a random slot machine, so it was pretty a successful stay.
we took the dam tour
The old exhibit building was honestly way more interesting than the short film (apparently shot in the 90s) they show before the tour. Features a huge diorama of the Colorado river basin with lighting and narration.
Zion National Park
From Nevada we shot up straight to Zion. We got lucky with our reservation: it was the first week RV sites were available for the season, and only one RV section was open. This place was heckin' amazing. Our site was nestled under the red rocks of Zion, and it was actually in the park. Chris and I have both been to Zion before when we were each younger, but neither of us retained memories of it, so we got to experience everything again for the first time. We did some small walks/hikes, one of which was dog-friendly (most national parks don't allow dogs on most trails) and rode our bikes a few times as well. The highlight of our week was hiking Angels Landing - a crazy, single file, VERY HIGH climb where you held onto chains during the main attraction portion. It was very early in the year, too, so it seems like we managed to evade a ton of crowds while we were there.
We managed to do a lot in our short stay in Zion. The only downside was Apollo escaped once, which quickly became a thirty minute run around the closed-down portions of the campsites until we cornered him. Huskies are not off-leash dogs. I guess Ava kind of is, but that's only because she fears abandonment (and is only part husky, probably).
Park City
Park City was our next stop for a week. We stayed somewhere else along the way but it was completely unremarkable. It was flat, a little icy (I made a mistake leaving the water hose outside overnight), and had everything we needed for power and water. When we reached Park City we were met with a hefty amount of snow, but leveling the trailer didn't end up anything like our previous snow adventure; all it took was me picking at the ground with a ski pole for about 20 minutes so I could get to the grippier dirt below and then we were set. Not even 4 wheel drive is enough, sometimes.
Chris got in some good snowboarding and I did absolutely nothing noteworthy (which was glorious). We went to Salt Lake City one day for brunch and sightseeing, but other than that we stayed pretty confined to the trailer.
Apollo also escaped here, but this was a short chase because he decided he needed to poop near the main office of the RV park.
(I didn't take any photos in Park City. If you can imagine snow, it's all you need to know.)
Moab
Following Park City, we made our way east to Moab. We technically stayed in Thompson Springs, which has, uh, 39 people living in it and didn't have a proper grocery store or anything like that and was 30 minutes out from actual Moab. It was, however, located just south of Sego, a super neat ghost town and a valley with Native American petroglyphs. Also, lots of cows. Apollo lost his shit.
dope petroglyphs ^
We went bike riding again, visited Arches for a morning (pro tip: go in the morning, it gets super crowded), and did some more hikes with the dogs. We visited Moab about three times as well in between outdoorsy things for meals and groceries. It also snowed here, once.
Arches was absolutely beautiful and next time we go we'd like to do the Fiery Furnace hike, which requires either a permit or a guided tour. With the dogs left at home though - and us being generally unprepared for something like that - we ended up pulling off at sightseeing spots and doing short walks to landmarks instead.
I wish I had more flavor to give to our stay in Moab, but I don't know what else to say other than "it's beautiful" and "go there."
After Moab, we made our way to Colorado. Spoiler alert: there was more snow. More on that in the next travel entry.