On our first trip, we went up to Bear Lake and stayed in a big house with Joe’s family. We mostly hung out in the house (that was cool) and visited North Beach at Bear Lake. My children loved it, I think because they got to spend hours playing video games.

We also stopped by Bridgerland Adventures for tubing, Hobbit Falls where Joe was adjusting a rope that sent me into the stream while holding Evie (we were wet, but not harmed in the slightest), and Limber Pine Trail. There were beautiful wildflowers everywhere, and it was a great trip.

The second trip was four nights of camping. It was not without misadventure, including some physical challenges, and arguing, but tempered with beautiful scenery, and a good time with the family. One method I used to plan the trip was just looking around the driving route on Google Maps for places that sounded interesting. I found two waterfalls that way that were amazing, Faux Falls and Adrelanine Falls.

On our first day we stopped by Arches and hiked Sand Dune Arch. That’s all we did there because it was hot. We next stopped by Faux Falls and climbed around the waterfalls. We ended the day camping at Warner Lake.

The next day, our car started to misfire and the check engine light went on. In that circumstance, we were really blessed. We just kept traveling and pulled up to the small town of Monticello. There was a small repair shop that was able to get our car right in, the parts were in stock, and we were back on the road in a couple hours for a reasonable price. While the car was being fixed, we went to a small museum and mostly hung out at the library playing on the computers. The kids had a grand time. The rest of the day was just too hot. We stopped by Fort Bluff, which was cool but hot, and Hovenweep, which was too hot (in the 100’s) to do anything. The best part of the day was waiting in the library for the car to be fixed.

We camped a couple of nights in Mesa Verde. We did the Cliff Palace Tour first at 9:00. It was awesome to be the first group through the site, and I would recommend it. We explored the area around until 3 where we ended the day with a tour through Balcony House.

The next day we drove to Ouray, and on the way stopped by Adrelanie Falls where the majority of us jumped in the water. It was great. We visited Box Falls and Cascade Fall in Ouray and camped at the Ridgway State Park. Where we ran out of bug spray and everyone got covered in mosquito bites.

Home, with a quick stop at the Black Canyon National Park.