We just got back from our big adventure out west! Here's the recap for future reference:
Our flight on Sunday, August 1st, left out of Raleigh on time at 6am to Denver. We left our house around 4:15am! Whew! We had a long layover in Denver because we were switching from Southwest to United to fly to St. George, Utah. So, we just hung out and got sandwiches for lunch at the airport before the short flight on a small plane to St. George. We liked the "retro" airport in St. George that only has one gate! After getting our Nissan Maxima rental car, we drove about 20 minutes to the Walmart in Hurricane, Utah, and picked up our groceries that we had pre-ordered. We then continued the remaining 20 or so minutes to our Springhill Suites in Springdale. We got there around 3:00pm MST and our room was ready, so we unloaded and set everything up and rested for a little while before walking to our 5:15pm dinner reservation across the street at Bit and Spur (Tex-Mex), which came highly recommended.
It was the fastest sit-down dinner we have had in a long time, and it was really good! After dinner, we swam in the hotel pool after a short delay due to thunder (during which we checked out the lobby and played pool). We then showered and went to bed. That was a long day, considering that we were up before 2am MST.
Monday, we were all wide awake around 5am or so (7am EST), so we got ready and packed our lunch for Zion day! We had breakfast at the hotel when it opened at 6am and then were able to drive in to the park since we were so early. We had heard that the one parking area in Zion fills up before 7am most days, but we were there before 6:45am. Thanks to Anna, we got free park admission since they extended the 4th grader program to 5th grade due to Covid. We took a quick peek in the visitor center and then hopped on the park shuttle to the other end of the shuttle line, Temple of Sinawava, during which we enjoyed a little guided tour from the shuttle driver and a peek at the hikers at Angels Landing.
After getting off the shuttle, we started hiking on the Riverside Walk, an easy paved path about 1.1 miles long to the Virgin River. At the river, many people hike across and continue on to The Narrows trail, but we did not have proper equipment for that (we learned there that the park rents out waterproof boots and hiking sticks). So, we watched people cross until Anna decided that she wanted to cross. We didn't want her to get her shoes and socks all wet, so she crossed the river barefoot! Bob went as far as his boots would take him without getting water inside them.
After that, we hiked the 1.1 miles back to the shuttle stop, hopped on the shuttle, and rode it to The Grotto stop, had a bathroom break, and then hiked a combination loop of about 4 miles including the Kayenta Trail, Upper, Lower, and Middle Emerald pools trails and ended up at the Zion Lodge area.
From there, we took the shuttle back to the visitor center, got our lunch out of the car (much to the chagrin of all the cars circling the lot looking for a spot), and had a picnic at a table there.
The 3 girls were all pretty tired after our early morning hiking and the heat, so we convinced poor Bob to head back to the hotel for a short rest and then spent 2 hours or so at the hotel pool, which was wonderful! After showers, we walked to Zion Pizza and Noodle in town and had a really yummy pizza (plus chicken parm for Erin) dinner. We also enjoyed shopping at a gift shop next door after dinner before walking back to the hotel.
Tuesday we were up early again, packed up, and to breakfast just after 6am. After another yummy breakfast, we hit the road to Bryce Canyon. It was about an hour and 45 minutes away, including a really pretty drive through the eastern part of Zion and the really cool (very dark) Zion-Mount Carmel tunnel that was built in the 1920s! Vehicles over a certain size can only pass through the tunnel during certain times when traffic can be stopped by a ranger, which we witnessed coming back that afternoon. We stopped for a photo op at the Zion sign at the park boundary.
We then arrived at Bryce Canyon and got right in to the park.
After a quick visit to the Visitor Center, we hopped back in the car and drove a short distance to Bryce Point. What a view! We could see why this was Logan and Ben's favorite spot in Bryce Canyon during their visit 2 years ago. The cooler weather at this higher elevation was also much appreciated. From there, we drove to Inspiration Point, another lookout spot and admired the view from above. Bryce Canyon is incredible. It is unlike anything we had ever seen before...the hoodoos (rock formations carved out by the river over millions of years) are just amazing, coupled with the vivid colors, wildlife, and mountains. It is truly gorgeous, and we loved it!
From Inspiration Point, we drove to Sunset Point (had no issues parking at any of the 4 places) and prepared to hike down into the canyon. We followed the Navajo/Queen's Garden combination loop which was a total of about 3 miles. The descent into the canyon took us by an area known as "Wall Street" where huge rocks nearly touch each other. It was amazing! We then continued the rest of the way down the canyon, and then had a nice flat hike along the bottom where we saw more plants and animals (birds and squirrels mostly). We saw a rock that was named after Queen Victoria because it looks like her! After enjoying this hike, we began the trek back up the canyon, which seemed more gradual than the way down (but longer). We made it back up (really, we had no choice) and walked the path along the top of the canyon from Sunrise Point back to Sunset Point, where we had lunch and admired the views.
After lunch, we felt like we had seen most of the main areas of the park, so we hopped in the car and headed back to Springdale in the same way that we entered. After getting back around 3:30pm, we hit the pool one last time and then walked to Oscar's Cafe (Mexican) for dinner. It was really good, but we sat outside to have a shorter wait and it was hot. From there, we walked back to the hotel and packed for the next day's road trip!
Wednesday, we got packed up, car loaded, breakfast eaten, and on the road just before 7am (MST). We had a quick trip through northwest Arizona, then into Nevada. We got to the Hoover Dam around 9am, and it was already almost 100 degrees! The museum was closed due to Covid, but we walked around and saw the main sites. It is definitely an engineering marvel.
Then, back in the car until lunch at a gas station Jersey Mike's in Baker, CA. The highest temp we saw on the car thermometer was 115F! Crazy! We admired the desert views and what we think are Joshua trees, as well as some mountains, before arriving at Dale and Maria's house around 2:30pm (PST).
We had so much fun checking out their house and neighborhood, jumped in the pool literally across the street from their house, and had a yummy dinner at their house. What a fun and busy day! After dinner and some playing outside, we drove the 15 minutes to our Airbnb house, unpacked there, and hit the grocery store (Ralph's). It was a really nice house with some interstate noise, but we got used to it. There was some excitement the first night when we had a partial (?) power outage due to a line being down across the street. Luckily, the a/c and lights still worked, so we were fine until it was restored around 4-5am.
Thursday was fun in the Rancho Mission Viejo area day! We all met up at the beach near the San Clemente pier/T-Street Beach and had a blast in the water (cold!) and on the sand. It was so nice to not be scorching hot on the beach in August! We also all took turns walking through the pedestrian tunnel across the street and getting coffee/drinks at Bear Roast Coffee. There is a train track right along the coast, but we only saw 2-3 trains pass during the time we were there.
The seaweed there is much different from here, with pods that were fun to pop, and larger leaves/vines than what we usually see here.
After the beach, we went all drove to Habit Burger nearby and had a yummy lunch. Then it was back to the respective houses for quiet time/showers/grocery run (I loved Ralph's) until dinner, which we had spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and bread at our house. After dinner was a visit to Dana Point, where we saw lots of boats/yachts, stores, restaurants, fish, and sea lions! We also had some ice cream, yum! Then it was back to the houses for bed.
Friday, Erin and Ansley made us some pancakes for breakfast. Then we all met up at the Ambrosini house before dispersing to the mission (all girls minus Aunt Maria) and the guys helped Ben and Cole set up their lemonade stand and then took a long walk around the neighborhood. We girls had a really great time seeing the San Juan Capistrano mission, founded in 1776 by St. Junipero Serra. It was beautiful and we learned a lot!
After that visit, we went back to the house for leftovers for lunch, then for a visit to the dog park and a playground in their neighborhood. Then we went to the Hilltop pool in their neighborhood, which was beautiful!
After the pool, we all went to In-N-Out burger near their house for dinner, which was a huge hit.
Then it was back to the neighborhood to visit a really fun playground complete with an astroturf sledding hill, then had a fun family kickball game in an open field and s'mores for dessert!
What a great day! Cole's family has an electric bike that 2 people can ride, and the kids LOVED riding that...turns out that the electric assist really makes riding uphill easier ;) They also have a super cool Madsen bicycle that can hold up to 5 people, also with an electric assist. That one was more tricky to drive for us newbies, but Bob did get the hang of it.
Saturday after breakfast, we decided to try another beach and headed to Doheny State Beach in Dana Point. It was really pretty and had a lot of amenities like beach volleyball courts (which we used), restrooms, a path, and convenient parking. We spent a couple of hours there (the water was still cold), then went back to our house and had local pizza for lunch. Yum! After that was showers and then meeting back up at the cousins' house for the guys and kids over 4 to head to the Padres baseball game. We girls took a vote and the majority decided to bike/drive to Starbucks and then to a park nearby. That was a lot of fun!
After that, we went to 5:30pm mass at St. Edward's in Dana Point, which was a really pretty church with awesome views of the ocean.
Then it was on to El Torito for dinner, and that was really good! We had a quick photo op after dinner, then back to the house to finish packing before heading out.
Our flight out of John Wayne airport was delayed a little bit on Sunday from 7:45am to 8:15am, but we still had no issue making it to Denver and on to our connection to Raleigh. We even had time for a pizza/pasta/McDonalds lunch in Denver. Both flights went smoothly, and we stopped for a Moe's dinner on the way home. We were so happy to see Finley when we got home!
So, it was an action-packed trip, but everything went really smoothly and we had an absolute blast each day! It was so wonderful to see Dale and Maria and family and get to check out their beautiful neighborhood and surrounding area. We loved seeing the parks and had a taste of a road trip the one day. The Summer family had a bigger adventure beginning in Denver with 4 days of travel and 3 parks before we all met up in California on Wednesday. They logged about 2,000 miles!
We really didn't miss out on anything that we would have wanted to do due to Covid - we had to wear masks in all airports, planes, and park shuttles, but that was about it. Orange County is really beautiful...weather was perfect, the beaches were amazing, and the hills/mountains were so pretty. The traffic was not so pretty, but it isn't as bad where they live - near the beaches and the interstate were the most busy. We had the best time and would love to go back and do more (San Diego, Disney, Hollywood, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon...the list goes on and on)!!
