MY view

So Eric Was Focusing on the "fun aspect of the trip and matt on the "not so fun" aspect, me am just giving a over view

Day 1 left home at 6:15

Went to gas station with cool sign "HIDE YOUR BEAGLE VICK'S A EAGLE"
Ended up in Williamsport Iowa with outlet mall and Arbys

Day 2

Left Williamsport Iowa Headed to Denver!
Went to strategic air and space museum in Nebraska.
Ended up in Sterling Colorado
Ate at TJ Bummers
Day three
Did Hanging Lake hike
Stopped in Colorado Junction
Had Mexican food
Day 4
Missed Obama (landed in Colorado Junction that day)
Went to Colorado Nat'l Monument
Left for Moab
Did Delicate Arch Hike.

Ate sandwiches the Arch
Day 5

Went to Campground got #16!
Did Petroglyphs, Delicate arch overlook, Windows and Park Avenue Hikes Before Lunch

Went to Moab ate Sandwiches and walked around town for 2-3 hrs.

Left for Campground for dinner tube steak and salad

Did Landscape arch on Devils Garden Hike

Day 6

Left campground heading to Sand Dune Arch

Left For Canyonlands Nat'l Park (Island in the sky)

Went to the Grand View point and trail hikes a bit.

Went for picnic in the picnic area

Left for Upheaval Dome Hike.

Left Canyonland

Headed back to Moab For the night

....... To be continued (Have to go to bed)

My View On Our Trip

If Eric focused on the fun, positive aspects, then I'm going to point out the bad, negative aspects of the trip, and some of the good ones too for old times sake.

First of all, the days where we did nothing but drive for 10-12 hours. The only things you could really do were take naps and stare out the window while listening to Eric's playlist which contains almost nothing but Bon Jovi, Van Halen and stuff of his 70's rock CD's. And trust me, it is hard to try to sleep while listening to that. When you got to watch a movie, Sam would get sick, it would be turned off and it was back to staring out the window.

That was probably my least favorite part of the trip, but after that, that's when it became the trip I hoped it would be. Filled with visits to 12 nat'l parks and monuments, all with breathtaking scenery, interesting history, most with good hikes.

The other thing I wasn't the biggest fan of were the nights we camped. I'm don't mind canned food at all, but when you're trying to sleep, you roll over a bit to your left, and you're on top of somebody, that's when it gets a bit uncomfortable. Before, I never realized how great a bed to yourself was. So, when we were in a hotel and it was my turn to sleep on the rollaway cot, I was thrilled.

That's pretty much all I have to whine about so, 3 weeks, between 5-6 thousand pictures, and about 7200 km later, I can honestly say Zion was my favorite park, Angels Landing my favorite hike and I really enjoyed this trip.

Eric's Trip Notes

Our 2009 road trip to Utah and Arizona was lots of fun.

It had its ups and downs, but mostly ups. I liked seeing Delicate Arch in Arches, hiking up Angel's Landing and down in the Narrows in Zion. I also liked receiving 13 junior ranger badges because I learned new things and earned them at the same time.

It was also cool to see a lot of deer, a bunch of lizards, a couple elk and a few coyotes.

Going down the sand dunes in the Great Sand Dune National Park was fun but going up was hard work.

During the trip we went to many national parks and monuments such as Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon, Sunset Crater Volcano, Wupatki, Glen Canyon, Walnut Canyon, Mesa Verde and the Jefferson Expansion Memorial.

That covers everything so that is our trip.

by Eric