Summer Road Trip Part 4!

Finally the last update from our Summer Trip! This is the final post of our road trip and it's a long one!

From San Diego we headed north east toward Nevada and Les Vegas. We arrived early evening and the sun was just setting. It was very warm so we were very thankful for full hookup meaning electricity and the air cond! After dinner, we headed into town just to check out the strip!

The lights were amazing and nothing short of dazzling! 

The casinos were everywhere and so were the people!

It must have been quite the sight to see our RV touring the strip!

The following day we toured during the daylight hours and it's a totally different outlook!

The RV park had a pool and as it was sooo hot, we spent a good part of the day in the water! Interestingly, we saw planes coming and going every other minute. Flights to Vegas are cheap and people sure make the most of it!

We were happy to leave Sin City. The following day we made our destination Hoover Dam. It was very hot so it was tempting to drive through and carry on. But we stopped and looked at this impressive man-made dam.

From there we left Nevada and entered Arizona!

On the way to Grand Canyon, we stopped in at Williams. This was the home of Route 66, the mother highway of America!

We had dinner at the Pizza Factory. It was very good!

That night we did some free camping somewhere out in the middle of nowhere! 

The following morning we headed out to the Grand Canyon. There were shuttle buses again and so we headed to the visitor centre and watched a short overview video. We then walked to the rim and saw it for ourselves! It was very impressive and we admired the amazing handiwork of our Creator!

The mighty Colorado!

The watchtower offering spectacular views!

Grand Canyon south rim was very spectacular. The colours, the shape and the steep cliffs; all testament to God's wonderful plan of creation. 

We spent a day at the south rim and being Saturday we headed out for a place to stay for the weekend. As we intended to check out north rim as well, we found a little place called Cameron Trading Post which was half way in between. That Sunday, we listened to sermons and experienced an awesome thunderstorm right overhead!

Monday morning bright and early we left Cameron and headed to the North Rim. 

On the way we crossed the Little Colarado river. We had breakfast there and also spotted two condors. Condors were at the point of extinction a number of years ago with only 20 left. Now with captive breeding they have reached numbers of 450 birds. The condor is one of the largest wing spanned birds. We were allowed to look through a scope of a gentlemen looking for condors and spotted number 54 and its young. Very interesting. The canyon is so vast and so deep that we could not see them with the naked eye!

We then headed to the North rim. 

What better way to relax than to read a book!

The Roaring Springs Canyon!

A mini hike at the Grand Canyon.

From there we made our way to Zion National Park. We arrived late afternoon and booked at the RV campsite. After dinner, Steve, Mum and the two older girls went on the shuttle bus and viewed the park. I got to stay behind and catch up on the laundry and put the little girls to bed as they were overtired and needed an early night. The following morning, I went on the shuttle bus at 7am and did the early morning tour. 

To get to Zion NP we had to go through a 1.1 mile tunnel completely dug out by hand in the 1920's! At that time, vehicles were not as tall and big as they are now, so RVs and tour buses needed to go in single file and in the centre! Vents/windows were carved out on the side, which from the outside look tiny!

Wild turkey and its young

Big Ben. Notice the different colour rock.

Once back at camp, we left Zion and headed to Bryce National Park, which quickly became our favourite national park. 

The hoodoos, pinnacles and caverns were fascinating and looked just like enchanted castles!

We did another mini hike and then headed to Ruby's Inn for a buffet dinner. Delicious food and plenty of it!

As our next destination was Salt Lake City we travelled for a number of hours and free-camped overnight at Cove Fort.

Early next morning we hit the road and made it to Salt Lake City by noon. We toured the Mormon Conference Centre and their visitors centre and then listened to a organ recital in the tabernacle.

The temple. We couldn't gain entry because it's only used for weddings and baptisms, but did see a model of the inside. 

The Conference Centre. The roof is 4 acres of garden and relaxation area.

The tabernacle where we also listened to an organ recital.

The acoustics were amazing. No microphones needed and no nails were used in the whole building, only pegs.

That night we camped at Flying J's in Snowville.

While checking the map that night, we decided to make a slight detour (5 hours all up) and visit Craters of the Moon Monument and Park. So the following morning, that's where we headed.

It was a very strange and eerie experience. The area was black and desolate with cooled larva. The last time this volcano erupted was 2000 years ago. It wasn't the mountain dome type but bubbled up from the ground. This one could erupt anytime again.

Virtually no trees, just small plants and shrubs.

Surprisingly larva is very light! Although this chunk tested the muscle!

Miles and miles of larva

It really was an incredible park to see. Just so unreal. And that it is so barren.

Here the larva looks like tree roots.

From Craters of the moon, we were just one day away from arriving home. We bypassed Boise and drove till it was dark and free-camped at a rest area in Huntingdon Oregon. Lots of trucks also used this rest area so we were did hear trucks moving in and out during the night (except the person who wore earplugs!)

The following morning after breakfast we headed for home. Lots of driving and then familiar territory! Marysville, Mt Vernon, Bellingham and then, Sumas!

When one young lady takes up the whole bench and another takes up the table doing scrapbooking, the little girls are left to do their activities on the floor! They didn't seem to mind!

Stefan was waiting for us when we got home. He was happy to see us!

We were very thankful for the time away. For the beautiful scenery along the way, for the time we could spend together as family including time with Mum, for traveling mercies and beautiful weather!

To summarise, we were away for 30 days, visited 6 National Parks, 7 states and free-camped 14 out of the 30 days.

We hope you enjoyed reading the blog and that it might even inspire you to visit some of the places we saw, yourself!

Thanks for looking!