3 National Parks in 10 Days

 01 Oct     Las Vegas - Grand Canyon South Rim     69 miles     7 hours 30  mins

We had a long drive today from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon South Rim. We made a stop in Kingman, AZ to fill gas and have a meal at Big Bear Diner. We love this diner, always good home cooked food and big servings. 

We finally arrived at Trailer Village RV Park at 3:30pm where we have reservations for 3 nights. Kind of pricey here, $65-75 per night. Nothing really special but it's full hook ups in a national park so we pay for the convenience of staying right in the park. There's a lot of elk cruising through the park at all hours so that's fun to watch. 

We're watching this elk drink water at our neighbors

We took the shuttle to Hermits Rest on the west side of the park then on the way back we got off and hiked along the rim to Grand Canyon Village. It's so beautiful here, everywhere you look the views are incredible. No matter how many times we've come here, its always spectacular. 

The five of us at Hermits Rest

         

Michael & Dana enjoying the views

Sunset at the South Rim with sis

04 Oct     Grand Canyon - Page, AZ     148 miles     4 hours 40 mins

On our drive to Page, Arizona we drove along Desert View Drive on the eastern side of Grand Canyon. It's a scenic 23 miles, less crowded with breathtaking overlooks and pullouts that gave us panoramic views of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. 

We stopped to check out the Watchtower but we couldn't go to the top because of covid. 

Next stop, Lone Rock Beach campground which is actually located in Utah but we're here to visit some sites in Page, Arizona. Lone Rock Beach is dry camping and we'll be here for 2 nights. We used our national park pass to enter and its $14 per night to dry camp. 

The main attraction here is the Antelope Slot Canyon Tour which we had reservations for on Tuesday, Oct 5th. Tour got cancelled due to the weather. Heavy rain was predicted for the day so there was a possibility of flash floods in the canyon. So bummed!!! This was the reason for coming to Page. 

But we made the best of it. We took a drive to the Glen Powell Dam overlook and did a short hike to the scenic view. 

Then we drove out to Horseshoe Bend. Horseshoe Bend is a horseshoe-shaped incised meander of the Colorado river and has become one of the most recognized and visited places in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The hike to the overlook is a little over 1/2 mile on a paved path. A breathtaking 1000' drop into the canyon lends a beautiful view of the Colorado river .

Storm coming in

In the late afternoon, it stormed. The winds picked up and it stormed pretty much all night. 

  

When we woke up the next day, it was nice and sunny. Just right for our drive to Bryce.

06 Oct     Page, AZ - Bryce, UT      142 miles     3 hours

Our drive to Bryce, Utah was so nice. The views were really something to see. We're spending 3 nights at Ruby's Inn & RV Campground, $56 per night. Our visit here was nice but it was very cold and rainy. 

At Bryce Canyon we drove out to Rainbow Point and on our way back, we made stops at several scenic points. 

      

    

When we got to Sunset Point, Joe, David, and I hiked the Navajo Loop Trail. It's a hard hike for us because you go down into the canyon. And we all know, if you go down, you gotta come up!!  We just take a lot of breaks on the switchbacks going up. But it's so worth it...the views are amazing!

         

               

 

We spent a whole day inside...the weather was terrible....cold and windy. This happens and you just need to be flexible. 

On our way to our next stop.....Zion!

09 Oct     Bryce Canyon - Zion National Park     146 miles     4 hours

Nothing fancy

We're at Zion Canyon Campground for 2 nights, $78 per night for full hook ups. They really cram you in but we got decent sites and its very close to the entrance of Zion National Park. 

River walk hike

Entrance to Narrows

We did some hiking. First was the River Walk. The trail follows the Virgin River at the bottom of a narrow canyon for a little over a mile. We all enjoyed this hike, very scenic . At the end of this hike, the Narrows hike starts. We already decided not to do this hike because of the weather. It was very cold and most of the Narrows hike is done in the water. 

     

After lunch we did the Lower Emerald Pools hike. Short hike, less than a mile each way. A little elevation so minor drop-offs. 

We enjoyed our time at Zion, I wish we could a few more days to do more hikes here. Dana said this was her favorite park. The weather was a little chilly but not as cold and windy as Bryce. At least we could sit and have dinner outside. 

11 Oct     Zion National Park, UT - Las Vegas, NV     173 miles     3 hours 15 mins

We were up in the air about the last few days of the trip. Do we go to Valley of Fire? or St George? or Mesquite? or even Pahrump? All good choices but in the end, we decided to head back to Las Vegas a couple of days early. The weather forecast is not good, lots of wind. It's going to be pretty bad for the next few days so its just safer to go back to Vegas and stay put. 

Pool time with Dave & Joe

We're back at Las Vegas RV Resort for a few days. Dana and Michael will be getting their RV ready to be put back in storage. Then David, Dana, and Michael will be at Orleans for a couple of nights before flying back to Honolulu. 

We had a very nice trip with the family. Dana and Michael seems to like RVing and we hope that we'll be taking more trips in the future. 

Fall 2021

 We're excited to start our Fall trip. This trip is a little different. Normally it's just the two of us doing our thing. On the first part of the trip we have my sister Dana and her boyfriend Michael joining us. They bought our old RV so this is their first trip in the rig. My brother David will also be joining us. We plan to spend a couple of weeks visiting some national parks. 

Then on the second part of the trip we're going to Casa Grande, Arizona for our first Tiffin Rally. We're meeting friends there so pretty excited to have people traveling with us.

We flew from Honolulu - Las Vegas on September 16 and stayed at New York, New York for 1 night. Upon arrival in Las Vegas, at 4:50 pm, we got a Lyft to the hotel. This ride cost us over $50 for only 2.5 miles!!! What a rip off! Next time, we're taking a cab.

We're spending a few days at Las Vegas RV Resort. We always stay here. Not the best part of town, off  Boulder on Nellis Boulevard but its adults only, with security and a nice pool. The price here is about $35 a night with a Good Sam discount. 

First things first, Joe is always making sure our rv looks nice and polished.

20 Sep          Las Vegas RV Resort - Pahrump, NV     74 miles     1 hour 45 mins

We're trying out a new RV park in Pahrump. Wine Ridge RV Park is really nice. For 4 nights we paid $180.50, that's including a Good Sam discount. There are 2 pools on property, 2 pickleball courts, a fitness room, and very nice bathrooms with showers. 

 

We played pickleball every morning. Only 2 courts, very nice pickleball crowd. We met a couple, Danni and Robert who lives in Casa Grande, Arizona. That's where we're headed in a few weeks. 

There's a winery right next door with a nice restaurant. We didn't have a chance to try it but it has pretty good reviews. We enjoyed our stay here. We will definitely be back. 

24 Sep      Pahrump - Las Vegas RV Resort     69 miles     1 hour 45 mins

       

We're back in Las Vegas for a week. Sister Dana and Michael comes in and will spend some time getting their RV ready for their first road trip. 

New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada

01 Jun    Fort Supply, OK - Angel Fire, NM      371 miles     8 hours

We covered a lot of miles today. For most of the trip we were on highway 412, not a busy interstate, mostly one or two lanes and the roads were pretty smooth. There was a couple of tolls through Oklahoma, something we're not used to but totally worth it. 

It's a beautiful natural area where the road follows the Cimarron River through a narrow canyon with rocky pinnacles. The views are awesome. We didn't have time to stop but this is one area that I want to come back to and explore. 

View from Angel Fire Resort

Angel Fire RV Resort is nestled among the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Northern New Mexico and is part of the Enchanted Circle at an elevation of 8600 ft. Its a luxury RV resort and I'm so glad we decided to spend a week here. A little pricey at $539 for one week but this resort offers a lot. The site are spacious and clean, and there's rubbish pick up every morning. There were waffles delivered to our rv on the weekend, and a lot of planned activities. Pickleball lessons, yoga, line dancing, wine tasting, ice cream socials, painting, karaoke, smores, and live music. There's a walking trail that circles the property lined with beautiful flowers. We love it here.

Our site    

    

Beautiful views on our morning walk

Made a new friend    

01 - 7 June    Angel Fire, NM

 We spent our week here relaxing and enjoying the cool weather before heading back to Las Vegas. We even got hail one afternoon. We didn't leave the resort too much because we were so busy enjoying the activities here. 

Pea size hail    

Then the sun came out    

We did take a drive around the Enchanted Circle one day. A beautiful drive with 84 miles of incredible scenery. We made a stop and hiked Columbine Canyon. We crossed 4 well maintained bridges as the trail followed the creek through scenic forests and meadows with many waterfalls and direct access to the creek. Awesome hike!

We also drove to Taos one day to go to the farmers market. Still early in the season so not too many vendors but still nice to walk around downtown Taos. We had lunch at Michaels Kitchen, a family run restaurant and bakery. The line was out the door and it took about 30 minutes to get seated but it was well worth it. I had the huevos rancheros and Joe had the stuffed sopapillas. Everything was so fresh and the servings were huge. We also bought some pastries to go. Everything was sooo good!

8 Jun    Angel Fire - Grants, NM       230 miles      6 hours

We made several stops on our way to our Harvest Host location. I did some shopping in Santa Fe while Joe picked up his medication at CVS. That was my first Home Goods store and I went a little crazy. 

Junkyard parking

We're staying at Route 66 Junkyard Brewery in Grants, New Mexico. This is another Harvest Host location with excellent reviews. It's an actual junkyard and also a brewery. When we pulled up, Joe didn't want to stay here because we were in a dirt lot surrounded by junk. I talked him into going into the brewery and having a drink. After a few, he didn't care where we spent the night!

There were two other Harvest Host campers that came in a little later so we felt safe spending the night in a junkyard. The beer was actually pretty good. 

Inside the bar    

     

9 Jun        Grants, NM - Williams AZ      283 miles       7 hours 40 minutes

We have reservations at Kaibab Lake Campground in Williams, Arizona. On the way we stopped at Petrified Forest National Park. We've passed this park numerous times in our travels but never made the stop. I'm so glad we did. We ended up spending over 4 hours here. 

Petrified Forest National Park is one of the largest concentrations of petrified wood in the world. Scientific studies show that the petrified trees found in the park date back 211 to 218 million years.

We did a short hike around Crystal Forest Loop. The Crystal Forest Trail provides one of the best opportunities to see a huge collection of stunning petrified wood deposits all in one place. Plus, the fossilized trees and crystalized wood in this area have an unusually high concentrate of additional quartz and amethyst crystals inside the trees.

Petrified wood    

 

I wanted to hike Blue Mesa but it was getting pretty hot. At the overlook we saw beautiful views overlooking multicolored hills and petrified wood. Bands of bluish Bentonite clay are layered with shades of pink, brown, red, and orange from minerals like manganese, carbon, iron, potassium, sodium, calcium, and aluminum. 

1932 Studebaker on Route 66

Painted Desert    

After exploring the park we had lunch in our RV that was parked at the Visitors Center then finished the drive to Williams, Arizona. 

Kaibab Lakes Campground sits among the diverse landscape of Kaibab National Forest in northern Arizona. We're spending 1 night here in Loop D, site #53. The rate for full hookups is $34 but I had to pay an additional $10 for a change I made. 

Kaibab Lake    

Our site #53    

10 Jun   Williams, AZ - Las Vegas, NV    

 215 miles   4 hours 15 minutes

We are back in Vegas and its freakin HOT! Well over 100 degrees for the next few days that we're here. 

We're staying at Las Vegas RV Resort, the place we always stay off  Boulder Highway, past Sam's Town. We'll be here for four nights, $147.00.

10 -13 June   Las Vegas

We spent the last few days cleaning and getting the RV ready to put into storage. We caught up with friends, went out to eat, and gambled a little. It's very hot so every night we end up in the pool. One night we got kicked out at 10pm because they were closing. 

14 Jun      Las Vegas RV Resort - Henderson, NV       6 miles

Our trip is winding down. Everythings cleaned up and RV and Kia is put back in storage until our next trip in September. This trip has lasted 4 months. We put 6,448 miles on our new RV and added a few more states to our map.

 

14 - 16 Jun  New York, New York

We spent the last couple of nights in Las Vegas at New York, New York. Comp rooms but still had to pay the resort fee. First time staying at this hotel, we had a pretty nice room. 

Back to Hawaii and start planning our next adventure........