Making Circles

With this pandemic craze we’ve been at a loss of where to go and what to do. It even made us question if we should’ve settled down last year rather than continue traveling. While it was much harder to continue traveling with EVERYTHING getting closed down, we didn’t just roll over and die. We had been in Louisiana for nearly two months and were ready to get out, but we needed to figure out where to be stuck for the “stay at home” time period! So when our reservation was up, we crammed ourselves in the truck and high tailed it out of there.

Utah was starting to lift the campground restrictions slightly mid-April, so we got a month long reservation in one of our favorite campgrounds outside of Zion NP (Zion River Resort). Along the way, we stopped by some cool landmarks like Cadillac Ranch and picked up some of our favorite BBQ at good ‘ole Rudy’s.

Make sure you’re clicking on the photos – as they have special descriptions on where they were taken!

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After a few long hauls, we finally made it Zion! We were so excited to be back out west! Although it was probably the best place we could’ve been for quarantine, staying in the Zion area and it not being open was extremely hard. We drove on the scenic road through the park dreaming about when it would be open again. We wanted to hike so bad, but we managed to cause a little mischief and make our own fun. After all, we were going to be there for a month. The RV park had trails that lead to the Virgin River right behind the park, so us kids took water shoes and hiked up the river while the parents pondered where the heck we were moving after that. We were just starting to get the gist of how hot it gets in Utah, so the river was very refreshing to splash in! We also found a shooting range about five minutes away that was literally an open patch of dirt with a few stands, so we had lots of fun blowing things up there:) One Saturday morning we had been driving around and spotted a lake at Quail Creek State Park and decided to go swim for the afternoon. May I just say, while it starts warming up in April, the water doesn’t quite get with the program until much later – I’m surprised we didn’t suffer hypothermia. We were glad to get out of the house though!

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A month flew by and it was almost time for us to leave, so we had to figure out our next move quick. We felt comfortable in Utah, as they didn’t seem as worried about the pandemic as other states were. Just deciding on a general direction we headed north to Capital Reef (which was still pretty closed) then Provo, UT and stayed at Deer Creek State Park for a week. Of course, almost as soon as we leave Zion, it starts opening back up! Admittedly, we were salty about that for a few days. We did get to explore the lake area a little though, so that was good 🙂

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Needing to move on, we crept inside Colorado and stayed at a beautiful state park in Rifle. We did some shooting there as well (seriously, there was a range in Rifle), and took Mom’s blow up kayak on her maiden voyage. We still tried to be conscious of other state’s rules towards the virus, but we desperately needed food. The grocery store Mom and Dad shopped at was nice enough, but with our out-of-state tags we were looked upon as tourists that should be staying home. Not feeling very welcome – we did a full circle and came right back to Utah!

Ahem, Zion River Resort, to be specific. And this time, we could hike!!

Next post: ZION NATIONAL PARK! See you there!