This Isn't Iceland: Why Go Home?

Today marked the last day of our vacation.  We woke to heavy frost, zoomed into town for chai and breakfast and hoped the rising sun would dry off our awning.  Thankfully it did.  But sadly, that meant we were starting our journey back south.  

It's always bittersweet to end a vacation.  We desperately needed this vacation.  Not only were our bucket list international plans dashed, but we worked our tails off to finish two Ford F100 projects this year, on top of our day jobs.  

Not wanting it to end, we stopped for the night back along the river in Mexican Hat.  This time we were early enough to enjoy a soak in the river in the full sun.  And were greeted by a mountain goat dining along the shore.  

We stayed up late into the evening, enjoying the solitude and watching the moon set and stars rise.  

One last sunrise along the river - then home.

Obligatory Monument Valley shot:

This Isn't Iceland: Utah

 Just like everyone else, 2020 royally ruined loads of plans for us.  One of those was to spend our 10 year anniversary in Iceland.  We had tickets purchased, a 4x4 camper truck rented and were ready to go when the pandemic hit hardest in early May.  With everything refunded, we held out hope that maybe the world would "normalize" later in the year.  With that not happening, and in desperate need of a vacation, we opted to go camping.

We left mid-morning on a Friday to miss the weekend-escape-the-heat traffic and landed in Mexican Hat, Utah just before dinner.  We scored a sweet camp spot along the banks of the San Juan River, just behind the famous Hat.  With rafting campers flanking us, we all settled in to listen to the river and watch the bats hunt after the sun set.  

The next morning, we sipped coffee while the sun crept into the gorge.  Packed up, waved at the rafters on the opposite bank and slogged our way towards Valley of the Gods.  We do not miss an opportunity to drive through the Valley if we're up here.  It is my favorite place on the planet.  Since we purchased a DJI Mavic drone specifically for Iceland, we got it up and going to hone our piloting and post-editing skills.  

After a leisurely drive through the Valley, we hit slab and pushed north.  While the desert temperatures are icy compared to southern Arizona this time of year, we had better plans: cool fall temps of Colorado.  

The Summer of No Camping

We have taken a long camping trip up north (Utah/Colorado/California) since 2010.  This is the first year in 8 that we will not.  It feels odd.  Why, you ask? Well life happened and priorities shifted.  Mike started competing with his Chevelle and we've been busy at race tracks.

But a good friend went and built herself a log cabin in Utah.  And she was so generous to invite us up over the 4th of July.  Life has been busy and sometimes stressful and we desperately needed to recharge.  We left Rommel with a good friend to be pampered (getting old sucks), packed up our girls and headed north.

Hope has never travelled before, outside of her journey from Texas to Arizona from the rescue to our home.  We were nervous on how'd she do.  She panted for six solid hours until she finally gave in and napped with Elly.  

We crossed the Arizona/Utah border and stopped to explore Mexican Hat.  We've been through here many times but never really poked around the area.  We went down to the river and let the girls explore and were shocked when Hope, who refuses to walk on a wet patio, willingly followed Elly into the river.

With a breeze, it didn't seem as hot as it was.  We found a good couple of spots that would be perfect to spend an afternoon in the water and would fit our teardrop.  Next time...

We kept motoring through the area, just happy to explore and decompress.

It was really cool to watch Hope explore.  Elly has been everywhere with us and has always been my adventure buddy.  She'll even boulder with me.  But to Hope, this is all new.  And she loved it.

Exploration completed we drove north and finally landed at our home for the week:

We could get used to this.....

Vacation or BUST!

It's that time of year again: mountain time.  I feel like our trip to California was eons ago.  This past year has been busy, at times stressful and without enough adventure.  Work invaded personal time, project cars ate up valuable adventure time and we were beyond ready to escape.

We opted for Colorado again.  Why? Because it always provides ample dirt roads, cool mountain air and the ever necessary flowing water.  But before lush Colorado mountains, we needed to push through hours and hours of barren desert.  So of course, we stopped in Mexican Hat for our first night of camping.

Valley of the Gods called to us.  This place is very special to Mike and I.  It was our first bit of dirt we hit on our honeymoon and we've been enamored with this place since.  We had our hearts set on a specific spot with slight elevation over the valley and most importantly afternoon shade.  While we escaped record temperatures in southern Arizona (it hit 118 at home), it was still in the high 90's in Valley of the Gods.  Shade was crucial. We lucked out!

Mike and I set up camp pretty quickly.  We parked.  HA! We wandered around while our camping companions set up their roof top tents.

We settled in, the boys conversed over frosty beverages and Mandy and I started on dinner.  We discovered freeze dried food at the Overland Expo (West).  We ordered a bunch from Thrive Life and were thoroughly impressed with how tasty and easy it was.  I'm still not convinced its cost effective, but it saved space (both fridge and dry food), weight and mess.  Mandy made a log of which meals we ate.  If she actually blogs this year I will link to it at some point.  

The sun set.  The (almost) full moon rose.  The night remained warm and we left the doors to the teardrop open.  Elly was dramatically hot all night and kept us both unfortunately conscious.  But it was a good first day on the road and the week had just begun.

Monument Valley

This morning, we had breakfast at the cafe and walked to the San Juan river. 

A quick jaunt down the highway brought us to Monument Valley. 

It is a Navajo Nation park and only $20 a car.  With the exception of the 3 iconic spires, you can drive all through the park.  It was $20 well spent.  We spent hours there and it was needed.  With as spacious as the park is, I never felt over crowded.  I did marvel at how rushed the international tourists were.  Why would you speed through something as magnificent as Monument Valley? 

Yesterday my mom fussed at me for standing at the edge.  Today, a little old French man fussed at me.  I didn't understand a word he was saying, but panic is international.  

Look closely, horseback riders.

Mike was telling my dad about a plane crash site he found.

I handed Mike the camera.  He asked why.  I said because I'm about to piss you off and proceeded to jump on a boulder.

We loaded back into the truck and made our way back to the visitors center.

It was a wonderful short trip.  The painted desert will always be my favorite.  Can't wait to go back. Next time, I think we'll drag Mike's parents along.