ApartmentB

If you are staying near Zion National Park there is a great tourist trap in Virgin Utah right down the road. Fort Zion is a gift shop, petting zoo, and restaurant. When we stoped in the restaurant was not open, they were apparently having staffing issues, but their food looked really good. The petting zoo is only a dollar a person to get in, and carrots are three for a dollar. So its a cheap outing to do with kids and the little town that is set up is great for pictures if you go the right time of day! Don't forget to look for the Utah Werewolf when you are there!!!

If you are looking for something to do on a rainy day near Zion National Park you should check out the Dinosaur Discovery Site in St. George Utah! A farmer not very long ago discovered a few of the fossils in a field. The site was eventually purchased and a building was built over top to preserve the fossils. It was an interesting place to check out and it is dog friendly!

We had a travel day this week, which was a little difficult because of the weather! This week we left Utah and headed into Arizona with a little bit of snow on our roof. Today we drove across "the border" into California to overpay for some groceries and also check out the Blyth Intaglios. We seem to be drawn to Ancient Alien attractions!

We wanted to Hike Angels Landing at night to get some amazing star photos. Unfortunately I brought the wrong camera! It was still an amazing experience. The hike was a little easier than doing it during the day since no one else was on the trail. I would recommend scheduling someone to pick you up at either the Lodge or the Grotto since the last bus run is at 7:15 and otherwise you will have a long walk after a 5.4 mile hike!

This week we picked my parents up at the airport so we have family visiting again!!! We took them to Joshua Tree National Park, which to be honest was a little disappointing but it was still nice to see. We also went to Quartzsite and checked out the "tent city" shops. We ended the week in Anaheim California because we are going to Disney Land tomorrow!

OK.... This is a LONG video. Sorry? Anyways I hiked Angels Landing on a Sunday Morning on Veterans Day weekend. While hiking I couldn't believe all the things I discovered on the hike even knowing I watched so many videos! So on the Angels Landing portion of the hike I did not edit the footage to show you the full experience. Although on my way back down my GoPro died with about 10 minutes to go. It is unedited and has a few choice words plus some random pointless conversations. If you are unfamiliar with Angels Landing it is unbelievable hiking trail in Zion National Park. You have to take the bus to the Grotto and cross the street to hike a portion of the West Rim Trail. After going up over 1000' elevation change you will split off on Angels Landing. I have also Hiked this trail at night, stay tuned for a night hike video! I have included some time stamps below so you can skip around to see what you want to throughout the video. Intro 0-15:56 West Rim Trail 15:56 - 25:02 Walters Wiggles 21:53 Angles Landing up 25:02 - 59:40 Angels Landing Down 1:00:23 - 1:25:37 West Rim Down 1:25:37 to end

While at Zion I hiked the Narrows. I rented the dry paints, shoes, and socks from the store just outside of the parks entrance. It cost $41 to rent the gear which was not necessary but made the hike a lot more comfortable! While hiking I went up to where the canon splits and went to the right. After coming back I went up Wallstreet and turned around towards the end of Wallstreet. It was a cool hike but to be honest it was very boring. It is the same views throughout the canyon as you hike, make sure to go with a friend or a group of people so it is more enjoyable!

We did a couple things this week. We said good bye to Theresa's aunt who stayed with us for a week. I went to the St. George Children's Museum. We also went to the Pioneer Park in St. George which was an amazing place! We are going to be getting ready for a move day next week end and some possible bad weather. Blythe had some excitement this week for a "happy party"!

Here is our week 10 update video. We are near Zion National Park and enjoyed some hikes this week, the best being Angels Landing! We are also so excited to actually be with other full time families this month at the RV park we are at! There are at least 7 full time families here!

We hiked the Kayenta Trail at Zion National Park. The weather seemed like it was going to be good but there was actually a forest fire two hours north! It was a little smokey that day but the smoked cleared up within a couple hours. This was a great moderate trail to hike. It has some great views as you hike to the top and a great area to have some lunch before you start your way back down. This trail leads up through the middle emerald pool and stops at the upper emerald pool. At least when we went which was the dry season, the "pools" where not very emerald. While hiking make sure to watch the edge, there is a cliff edge with a steep drop down!

So week nine was a little ruff, well cold.... So we had a high of 34 out one day 2-3 inches of snow and it didn't break the 40's all week! We had a move day that when perfect! Well besides my jack didn't work at one point and I had to hand crank it although it works fine now! Also our stove started to come apart, at least it was an easy fix. So anyways it was a slow week, it was cold, Halloween was kinda a bust but we made the best of it! We are now at an RV Resort and enjoying it!

So... Is going to Mesa Verde in the off Season worth it? You are not able to tour the cliff dwellings between late October to mid April. They close down the tours for the season, but you can still tour the park. So is it worth it to go? Our answer is yes! The park is not busy and you can still see the cliff dwellings and take some great photos without all those pesky tourists getting in the way! I suggest going in the off season to tour the park and then going back in the summer to just take a tour of the cliff dwellings.

Traveling to Chaco Canyon National Historic Park is interesting! The road going in is not maintained as well as you would expect since it is a National Park. The road is a dirt road and has the washboard effect on a large portion of the road. It is passible for most vehicles just take t slow! Chaco Canyon is defiantly worth visiting. The ruins are an amazing site to see, and there is so much history to discover at this park.

Aztec Ruins National Monument in Aztec New Mexico was a great site to see! It has a reconstructed Kiva so you can see what a Kiva would look like about 800 to 1000 years ago! There museum has a lot of great information about the Ancient Puebloan culture. One of the best things about the park is that you can see most of the ruins from a short paved trail, so it is accessible to most people. Not to mention it is on the side of a town, there are no long crazy drives or dirt roads!

Here is our week 8 update! In this video I talk about some of our expectations vs the reality of life in a RV. It is not too far off of what we thought it would be like but there have been a few challenges!

We were staying at Heron Lake State Park near Chama New Mexico. We took a trip down to see the train head out. Unfortunately we were not able to ride the train to Colorado, but just seeing it head out in the morning was a cool experience!

Our week seven update on living and traveling in our 26' travel trailer! We spent two weeks at Heron Lake State Park in New Mexico. We checked out Chama and Brazos Cliffs. Even knowing we did not ride the train to Colorado we highly recommend it! Just seeing it leave the station was a real cool experience!

Week Six of our travels across the US has brought us to Chama and Taos New Mexico plus Pagosa Springs Colorado. We were staying near Chama New Mexico so we checked out the train station, and made a quick day trip to Taos. On Saturday we checked out Pagosa Springs Colorado and took a dip in the hot springs at The Overlook. We had a great time at Pagosa Springs and finally had a great relaxing day!

During week 5 we stayed in Santa Rosa at Santa Rosa Lake State Park. We also left a day early to go see Santa Fe and spent the night just outside the city. There was not a lot to do in Santa Rosa besides the Blue Hole, but Santa Fe had a lot to see and do! We enjoyed our stay at both locations. We also made a pit stop at the end of the week at Ghost Ranch which is a retreat in a scenic area north of Santa Fe.

Hot Springs is probably one of the most unique National Parks we have been too. It is a must see National Park. Here are some tips and tricks about the bath houses and some great restaurants that you have to check out!

We checked out this science museum near Hot Springs Arkansas. It has something for all ages and is a must see if you are in the area!

The alligator farm to be honest doesn't look like much but Blythe had a blast! She got to feed some alligators and even "hold" one. They have a couple other animals there too besides the alligators. If you are a baseball fan, Babe Ruth actually hit a ball into the alligator farm at one point.

We visited the aquarium in Hot Springs. It gets some pretty mixed reviews but Blythe enjoyed it. It is inexpensive and something to do on a rainy day. It is not a large aquarium and only has small tanks, but there is a large tortoise that roams the aquarium. I would recommend for small children but older kids probably wouldn't be impressed.

We didn't know SPA CON (Hot Sprints Comic Con) was going on when we were in Hot Springs Arkansas so we thought we would check it out! We have never been to a comic convention or any thing like that, its not really our thing but it was actually kinda fun. Blythe was excited to see all the super heroes!

You have to check out the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky! Surprisingly it is very kid friendly! They do have RV parking and can be a great pit stop if you are driving through Kentucky. There is also a built in dinner with a 50's theme with some amazing milk shakes!