Road Trip! An Epic Two Week Odyssey Across America
This was a dream trip - a bucket list. I wanted to do this for years, and we did it.
Our kids graduated in consecutive weeks from undergrad and graduate school and we got in the Ford Escape and drove. 13 states in 15 days. We hit 9 National Parks along with national forests, visits with friends in multiple cities, and yes this is a history blog so THREE more homes of United States presidents! I’m so excited to share this experience - let’s GOOOOOOO.
So here is the basic route we took starting from here in West Bloomfield, MI - a great big loop. The map graphic below isn’t exact because you can only add so many stops to the directions - this route shows us going through Wisconsin when we didn’t - we drove through part of Iowa on the way out for example.
This isn’t EXACT since you can only add a limited number of stops to maps in but it was our basic loop…
We loaded up the car on Sunday morning May 21st and headed out…
Day 1 - Hoover Historic Site & Iowa City
Day 1 was mostly a driving day with our first stop being in West Branch, Iowa at the Herbert Hoover Historical site. I’m here to tell you Hoover was a bad dude who was presented with an impossible situation when the stock market crashed on him… did he navigate it perfectly? No, and history has largely judged his presidency pretty poorly, and while I’m aware that most presidential sites tend to present any positive spin on the man where possible, I genuinely came away liking Herbert Hoover - we all did. I can’t necessarily say the same for Andrew Johnson for example. Hoover’s story is fascinating from his time as a geology major at Stanford where he was manager of the baseball & football teams, to his time in Australia (he was miserable there) managing gold mines to his incredible work providing food for central and eastern Europe after World War 1 and ultimately to the White House. We started at the visitor center which is the standard strategy, but I would caution you not to linger there if you have limited time because the exhibits and the film focus on Hoover’s time in West Branch which, while interesting pales in comparison to the spectacular museum within the park which is not administered by the National Park Service. There is a charge and it’s worth every penny. The site is preserved as the little neighborhood surrounding the birthplace cottage which you can go into, along with the schoolhouse, reproduction of Hoover’s father’s blacksmith shop, the Quaker meeting place and the gravesite of Herbert and Lou Hoover. Preserved for a worthy subject regardless of his poor ranking among U.S. Presidents. Here are a few photos from this stop - I took a whole bunch but I’m trying to limit it to just a handful of the most interesting for the purposes of this post - it’s going to be pretty epic as it is…
There is an article I want to call attention to on the NPS website because it frames and provides some context for our visits to the national parks on this trip, and that’s President Hoover’s contributions as a conservationist. His legacy in this regard is considerable.
The West Branch schoolhouse Herbert Hoover attended
The Hoover Cottage
More images from the site and the museum
I found the section on Hoover’s time as Secretary Of Commerce particularly fascinating as I didn’t know he was part of the very first intercity TV broadcast… You can see the detail included in the museum which is rich with artifacts and detailed history of Hoover and his times.
A few more from the museum and the grounds including the Quaker meetinghouse built in 1857 and moved 2 blocks to its current location in the park, the statue of Isis (the Goddess of Life) which was a gift from the people of Belgium for Hoover’s humanitarian efforts and the gravesite which was under construction…
On to Iowa City
I had never been to the University of Iowa campus before and it’s really beautiful - we were impressed. Our daughter Lacey wanted to get a look at the prestigious writer’s workshop where her mentor from her recently completed Long Island University M.F.A. in creative writing Robin Hemley used to teach for years. Robin recommended an antique shop called Artifacts to check out there as well (very cool) and of course I wanted to see Kinnick Stadium up close - home of one of the best traditions in college football - The Wave to the Children’s Hospital. The statue of Nile Kinnick there is also very cool - Iowa’s only Heisman winner in 1939 and he died while serving his country during a training exercise during World War II. Shout out to my guy Cade for recommending Pullman Bar & Diner for the stellar eats in Iowa City including the bananas foster bread pudding - highly recommended.
All in all a great first day with much of it spent driving… we spent the night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota at a lovely AirBnb.
Day 2 - Badlands National Park
We got on the road early the next morning with about a 4 hour drive ahead of us to the Badlands. About 150 signs for Wall Drug later (not exaggerating) we arrived at the king of all tourist traps and yes - it’s amazing. I’m a sucker for some tourist traps anyway and this one is definitely worth the stop. Tons of souvenirs - but not just cheap garbage - food, the famed 5 cent coffee and the some of the best homemade donuts I’ve ever tasted.
After marveling at this place for a little while we were ready for the Badlands, the entrance to which is right across the highway from Wall. I was a little confused about this because the Badlands visitor center is at the opposite end of the park from Wall, but that’s okay - you can get a map at the entrance booth by Wall and hit the visitor’s center after you make your way through the park. Not a problem in this case.
As for the park we were greeted immediately by a bunch of Bison right by the road. Tatanka!!! I think that moment was when it hit us - we were out west. Such a majestic sight to see them just hanging out in their natural habitat! We would end up seeing plenty of them on this trip. I just said “wazzzup dude” - that’s Ally making the sound to try to get the buffalo’s attention. If you encounter a buffalo do NOT get close. They can be really dangerous.
As for the park, the geologic deposits here make for an incredible sight - what a landscape… just mind blowing. And the prairie dogs all over are hilarious to watch. A note here once again: my photos in this blog post were captured with my iPhone 13. I am a pretty good amateur photographer and some of the photos I took on this trip that I am sharing here I’m really pleased with. I am NOT a pro. My wife Ally is. She doesn’t typically do much landscape photography with her specialty being portrait work at our studio we own together Frameable Faces Photography. But she did bring her camera on this trip and took about 1000 images. Some of those are featured at the blog on our website there if you would like to see them, and you should…. they’re quite spectacular. Let’s get to some of mine in the Badlands… starting with this quick video at Pinnacles Overlook:
Wow. I’ll also point out that one of the guides we used quite a bit on this trip was the website www.morethanjustparks.com which ranks all 63 National Parks and gives you a great rundown of things to do at each one. While I don’t agree with all of their takes, I still highly recommend the site if you’re looking to explore our National Parks and Monuments. Just as an example of a take I don’t agree with, they mention Saddle Pass Trail as one of the best and most rewarding hikes in the park. They mention that “it’s a bit of a steep ascent but the trail is short” which makes it sound like no big deal. In reality it’s not just steep - steep isn’t necessarily a problem. Steep with loose rock and really more of a difficult climb than a hike in parts would have been more accurate, but this was the exception more than the rule as we went along. It’s still a really solid resource. Here’s their rundown on the Badlands for example and I can say we did almost all 20 of the “EPIC things to do” there. The Notch Trail was really cool but the ladder you have to climb about halfway through is slightly nerve wracking. Some parks aren’t as easy to cover and check off most of the things to do in a day or less but this one was and we loved it.
View from Pinnacles Overlook at Badlands National Park
View from the Window Trail Overlook
Family Selfie from the scenic Conata Basin Road!
Day 3 - Black Hills! Mount Rushmore, Black Elk Peak, Crazy Horse
We spent the night at another AirBnB in the Black Hills - a neat little cabin which we actually had a little trouble finding but it was cool. We set out to check out Mount Rushmore which I was a little conflicted about… I’m not going to ignore the history of this - U.S. soldiers MASSACRED between 150-300 Lakota Sioux, half of which were women and children in 1890 at Wounded Knee. A mere 37 years later work began only 100 miles away in the Black Hills to literally carve American Presidents into a mountain sacred to the Sioux having the effect (specifically intended or not) of hammering home the subjugation of Native Americans in a stunning monument right in the face of every Lakota Sioux for all time. Was that necessary or cool? No. Not even a little. It’s awful. Here’s a good summary of the topic.
Do not get this twisted - I love my country. It’s a complicated mess of a tale America is. I have a complicated relationship with our founding fathers and our presidents overall. I love them as a group - but I don’t worship them. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt were flawed humans like all of us. As an amateur historian I get the nuances of our story - the good and the bad - and I try to understand them more every day in my quest for knowledge. So once again I wasn’t sure at first if I even wanted to see Mount Rushmore, and once I decided yeah we might as well check it out I wasn’t sure how I’d feel.
After seeing it with my own eyes I will say it is an awesome sight to behold. Worth seeing once for about 10 minutes - that’s about all you need and I’m not just being sarcastic. There’s nothing else really you need to do other than just get a good look. But as I stood there I felt the complicated emotions that stem from everything I just wrote above. It didn’t inspire the level of patriotism in me that would make your heart swell. It was complicated for me indeed. So yes it was really cool. And not cool at the same time. As a side note we purchased the annual pass for National Parks for $80 that gets you into all the National Parks…..except Mt. Rushmore apparently. An extra $10 which is garbage. You’ll see my first glimpse as we came around the bend of the road from a distance which was definitely a wow moment and the up close pic from the observation point at the end of the avenue of flags.
Black Elk Peak, Crazy Horse, Little Big Horn
From there we embarked on our first and biggest hike of the trip - the hike up to Black Elk Peak. It was incredible! The Black Hills in general are majestic and the scenic drive to the Sylvan Lake Trailhead including part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway is fantastic. The hike is a bit strenuous - preparation is critical. We had new hiking shoes for the trip, backpacks, water, sunscreen - we did our homework. Tony is the experienced hiker in our group - the rest of us really aren’t but we did indeed kick ass on this 7+ mile, 1500 foot elevation gain, 4 hour hike and the payoff was absolutely worth it. At 7242 feet it’s the highest peak in the Black Hills (and the highest east of the Rockies) with a tower built on top of it with an amazing 360° platform to see for many miles. Make sure you go up trail 9 and come down trail 4. When we finished we headed over to see the response to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse was a great Sioux leader and when his sculpture (began in 1948) is finished it will be the biggest sculpture in the entire world. We didn’t have a lot of time there at this point, but it’s well worth the visit with a great visitor’s center with fabulous exhibits. Lastly as we drove to Bozeman, MT we passed Little Big Horn which is right off the highway so I pulled off hoping to see something even though it was closed. As luck had it a ranger was pulling out of the gates while we were parked on the entrance drive and was kind enough to point out that the hill where Custer’s Last Stand took place was indeed visible from out vantage point and I was able to see it and take a photo! 263 soldiers died there including all 210 of Custer’s men (and Custer) fighting Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. As we know the success of the Native Americans was short lived and the Black Hills were taken by the U.S. Government in a year with no compensation to the Lakota Sioux.
One of many incredible views from the 9 trail up to Black Elk Peak
This will give you a bit of an idea - photos don’t really do it justice…
Day 4 - Yellowstone National Park!
Magical. That’s how I felt about this place. We really lucked out too because we were there on May 24th which is a great time before school is out for most and the weather called for rain so there weren’t any crowds. And it didn’t rain - like maybe a drizzle for 10 minutes. I was blown away - this place has everything - canyons, waterfalls, wildlife, mountains, geysers and the thermal basins? I’m obsessed with them. Even the smell of sulphur as the planet actively works its magic all around the park (it sits on a volcano) fascinated me. I can’t say enough about it. Even the drive down from Bozeman (SUCH a cool town by the way where we had an amazing flight of pancakes at Jam! and a visit to the very cool bookstore Country Bookshelf) through Paradise Valley was an incredibly scenic treat. My friend Liz who lives in Bozeman gave us some great guidance even though we weren’t able to see her. Hopefully there will be a next time. Meanwhile here are some images and video from Yellowstone:
One of my favorite spots in the park - Norris Geyser Basin
I’m just going to let you know that I’m obsessed with the thermal activity all over the park (it basically sits on top of a volcano) - geysers, fumaroles, caldrons, hot springs, thermophilic streams and thick mats - all of it. So I’m sharing a bunch of it.
Norris Geyser Basin
This fumarole as you first head down into the Norris Geyser Basin gets pretty intense!
I could have hung out in this basin for hours… (on the pathways of course)
SOOOOO COOOOOOL
Norris Basin is bubblin’!
More info on Norris Geyser Basin…
Next Stop: Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
That’s right - Yellowstone National Park has its own “Grand Canyon” - it’s not THE Grand Canyon, but it’s still pretty grand…
Back to Geysers and Thermal Things
Okay but first the gorgeous Yellowstone Lake
Sulphur Caldron (and how cool is that little crater)
I’m obsessed with Black Dragon’s Caldron - this mudpot appeared in 1948. It’s much calmer than it was then.
Churning Caldron - oh it’s CHURNING alright…. hehe…
Mud Volcano
Dragon’s Mouth Spring
More on: Black Dragon’s Caldron, Sulphur Caldron, Mud Volcano, Dragon’s Mouth Spring, and Thermophilic Communities in general.
Old Faithful
Yes - it’s worth seeing Old Faithful - the famous geyser that erupts about every 90 minutes. We waited for almost an hour before it finally blew while we socialized with a couple of random Michigan State grads and some New Yorkers (and by the way we saw Michigan gear and Michigan people every single day on this trip - saw a Michigan helmet sticker on a Georgia plated car too - these were some of the only Michigan State people we saw) who weren’t sure exactly when it was ready to erupt again. It teased us several times but when it actually happens you KNOW it’s happening.
Old Faithful!!!
Midway Geyser Basin
Last stop - Midway Geyser Basin! A great finale - WOW. The colors, the sulphur steam coming off keeping us warm as it was getting cold out… Grand Prismatic Spring (along with the Excelsior Geyser, Opal Pool and Turquoise Pool right next to it) is a mind blower.
Before we move on to Day 5, I may have to eventually do a piece on the best photography galleries in the country because I’ve definitely been to two of them now. I mentioned in the Asheville Road Trip post that we visited Benjamin Walls Fine Art Gallery and were blown away by his images from Africa. Well if he’s the Africa guy, then Tom Till is the western National Parks guy. We visited Tom Till’s gallery in Moab a few days later and saw on the wall the most spectacular photograph of Grand Prismatic Spring you will ever see. Please click on it HERE.
Day 5 - Grand Teton National Park!
After the only unenjoyable stay of the whole trip in an airbnb motel in West Yellowstone that night we woke up, had a somewhat average breakfast in town and headed to Grand Teton National Park which we drove back through Yellowstone to get to. The parks border each other with the Grand Tetons to the south, but we got held up by some bison traffic on the road in Yellowstone…. ugh. Didn’t kill our day though, and the weather was perfect for the scenic views of this stunning park. The More Than Just Parks guys rank this park number TWO of all the national parks. I disagree with them. As I said - the park is indeed stunning. Yes. But of the 9 National Parks we visited on this trip if I had to rank it I’d put it towards the bottom - maybe even last. Now we’re splitting hairs here a little - it would be like ranking your championships, and in all fairness we didn’t spend a TON of time here and really didn’t see the whole park as we were on a bit of a schedule to get to Salt Lake City to see friends on this leg of the trip. I will say this - one of the things that is supposed to be a big attraction is the opportunity to see wildlife here. We saw one bear. That’s about it. In Yellowstone we saw two bears, probably 100 bison and some elk. Maybe we just had bad luck that day in Grand Teton. And as for the mountains - they are gorgeous……..as are most of the snow peaked beauties you see driving through Colorado on I-70. And don’t get me wrong - I’m not downplaying the beauty here per se, just saying I didn’t come away feeling like I just saw something I’ve NEVER seen like I did at almost every turn in Yellowstone (as well as all of the Utah parks which we’ll get to). I’m just keeping it real for those considering this trip. With that said let’s look at what was indeed awesome about this park.
Day 6 - Salt Lake City with friends
Not much to show here - we had a lovely visit upon our arrival on the evening of Day 5 with one of Lacey’s college roommates Cassie and her boyfriend, and another one the morning of Day 6 with one of Lacey’s classmates and podcast cohost from her M.F.A. cohort, Constance Lieber - she and her husband Wilf are a delight and we really liked what we saw of Salt Lake City by the University of Utah. We drove through part of the campus and saw the stadium. Lacey and Constance recorded an episode of their podcast The Tipping Point while we were there. The premise is pretty funny - Lacey is 23, Jewish and gay while Constance is 70, Mormon and married to Wilf with 5 children (all older than Lacey). They discuss literature and some pop culture while matching drink for drink - Constance drinking pop while Lacey drinks alcohol. Their relationship is adorable! Other highlights of Salt Lake City during our brief time - an awesome local coffee shop called Coffee Garden and a top notch local bookstore we spent some time and bought a few books in called The King’s English Bookshop. We left midday for the long drive down to the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. This was May 26th and alas the North Rim wasn’t open until June 2nd.
Day 7 - Grand Canyon and Horseshoe Bend!
We made it to the Holiday Inn Express in Tusayan by the southern rim by probably around midnight or so and headed into Grand Canyon National Park the next morning. Here’s breaking news - the Grand Canyon is huge. It’s really a sight to behold. Also not my top favorite park of this trip but I’m glad we did it. I can say I was there and while we thought about hiking down into it at least part way we decided to just spend a few hours along the rim and head out. A buddy of mine told me you should just skip the Grand Canyon and spend more time in Zion and Bryce for example and I mostly agree with him now - I like those parks better, but I don’t regret making the trip to the Grand Canyon.
Navajo Point
A fine outing indeed! At this point we drove to Kanab, Utah where we stayed the following two nights in close enough proximity to hit Zion and Bryce but not without a stop at Horseshoe Bend on the way in Page, Arizona. If you’re driving by there it’s a must. A breathtaking spot! There’s a $10 fee and a short hike to the overlook.
Day 8 - The First of the UTAH MIGHTY FIVE - Zion National Park!
I didn’t know the Utah Mighty Five was a thing before this trip - I hadn’t even heard of one of them (Capitol Reef National Park). I didn’t even know if we’d hit all five on this trip but hit them all we did, and they are all equally spectacular in their own way - all totally different and you have to see all of them if you can. First up for us was Zion National Park which takes your breath away (they all do). We entered the park from the East along the Mount Carmel Scenic Drive and the first thing you see is Checkerboard Mesa, followed by twists and turns which just are not done justice by my photos…
Mount Carmel Scenic Drive
The Watchman Trail
The Watchman is the most famous mountain at Zion and the most photographed. This is where I have to be critical of the otherwise fantastic MoreThanJustParks.com guys… Keep in mind I DO highly recommend their site, but I think they missed the mark a little on Zion. Now I will say this - I think we chose the perfect time of year to take this trip overall. The end of May gets you to these parks JUST before busy season it seems, so we didn’t have to fight any large crowds. These guys say Zion is a mess because it’s choked with tourists. That wasn’t our experience at all. They also fail to mention The Watchman Trail as one of the top things to do in the park. Their top 2 are Angels Landing and The Narrows - I’m aware these are amazing because Tony did them both last year and said they might be the two best hikes ever. The problem is 1) Angels Landing would be terrifying for Ally and probably me as well and Lacey would probably have been a no as well, 2) Angels Landing requires a permit now and entering a lottery to get the chance to hike it (they haven’t updated this on their site) and 3) The Narrows is closed for now because the water flow has exceeded 200 cubic ft. per second (CFS) since mid-April… Now that doesn’t mean these guys are wrong for ranking these #1 & #2 for things to do in Zion, but for them to NOT mention The Watchman Trail is ridiculous. Luckily DriveHikeRepeat.com does mention it as a perfect moderate option which was how I found it by Googling. Keep in mind that the official National Park Service brochures and website lays out the hikes that are available as well - once I figured that out we ended up relying on these as well to pick our hikes throughout the trip. About 500 feet of elevation gain and a little over 3 miles total there and back. Perfect medium level of difficulty with a fantastic payoff putting you on top of a mesa looking at The Watchman. Highly recommended!
Spectacular view from the mesa at the top of The Watchman Trail!!!
The Watchman is right above me in the photo…
From here we took the shuttle into the canyon along the Virgin River - it’s the only way to get to this part of the park and it’s well worth it. The shuttle makes all the stops along the way for you to get out and see, hike, as much as you like.
That last view is from the Kolob Canyon part of the park which is way less populated and the MoreThanJustParks guys are huge fans of this area. You have to leave the park and drive over a half hour to get there and we didn’t realize that the road closure (which we did know about) would render almost all of that portion of the park inaccessible. That was mostly a waste of a drive as a result. Pretty much a fail even though we got a couple nice views like the one above.
Day 9 - Bryce Canyon National Park and Capitol Reef National Park!
Bryce Canyon National Park
We started day 9 at Bryce Canyon National Park - the highest elevation of the Utah Mighty Five - and it was indeed nice and cool - 66 degrees and 16% humidity - perfect weather. And what a park! It’s filled with incredible hoodoos which are fascinating columns of rock and as I mentioned before this park is SO different than Zion - the pictures won’t totally do this justice but they will give you an idea for sure. Also pretty cool that it’s the centennial celebration of the park - it was established by President Harding as a national monument on June 8th, 1923 - the 100th anniversary of that date was 11 days after we were there.
We hiked the Queens Garden Trail / Navajo Loop which I highly recommend. You can do either one on its own, but they connect in the canyon and if you start with Queens Garden Trail and go clockwise finishing with Navajo Loop you’ll be good to go. We parked at Sunset Point, walked the Rim Trail North to Sunrise Point where the Queens Garden trailhead is, and we finished where Navajo Loop ends right back where we parked at Sunset Point. The whole loop is about 3 miles and the elevation gain coming back up the Navajo Loop is 620 feet, which yes is a bit strenuous. But there aren’t really any scary drop offs or treacherous parts of the trail - all in all it’s not that hard. The hike took us just under 3 hours, Ally had very little trouble with any of it and she’s a little scared of heights. One other note - there are two different ascents from the bottom up the Navajo Trail - Wall Street and Two Bridges. Wall Street is supposed to be more scenic with a slot canyon, but it was closed due to a little trail damage so we took Two Bridges. The benefit of Two Bridges is it goes right by Thor’s Hammer which is THE big famous hoodoo - and it is an awesome sight to behold. We saw a prominent hoodoo earlier in the hike while we were still on the Queens Garden trail and thought that might be Thor’s Hammer…….it wasn’t lol… you’ll see what I mean below. Let’s take a look!
Bryce Canyon Amphitheater from Sunset Point
At 35,835 acres, Bryce Canyon National Park is by far the smallest of the Utah Mighty 5 and we covered all of what you see above with the hike included by about 3PM. Our next stop was Moab, UT where we were staying the next two nights, but my wheels started turning - the drive to Capitol Reef National Park was only a couple of hours - about halfway from Bryce to Moab. What if we jumped in the car and headed straight to Capitol Reef? We could get there by 5 or 5:30, have a solid 3 plus hours to check it out and still get to Moab by 11ish right? Turned out to be the PERFECT call and allowed us to hit all of the 5!
A couple notes about the route from Bryce to Capitol Reef. The More Than Just Parks guys have mapped out an 8 day itinerary for the Utah Mighty Five (scroll down a bit on this post and you’ll see it). They do it in the reverse order we did and they say to take Hwy 12 - that it’s one of the most spectacular highways in America. They also say it’s not the way your GPS will want to take you but that you have to do it. Well coming from Bryce to Capitol Reef the GPS DID want us to take Hwy 12, but I hadn’t read that piece beforehand and I kinda missed the turnoff in the roundabout. I could have easily gone back to take Hwy 12 but the GPS did NOT reroute me and I didn’t know I was missing such a scenic drive - so I figured I was better off just continuing to follow the GPS. So we missed Hwy 12. But I will tell you that A) the drive up route 63 which is Johns Valley Rd. which then becomes route 22 South Black Cyn Rd. and then route 62 (your GPS will guide you) is quite spectacular in its own right and B) when you turn onto route 24 to head into Capitol Reef you’ll pass Curry Pizza in middle-of-nowhere-population-327 Bicknell, UT which was featured in Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. We had already eaten which was a bummer… so we didn’t hit that either… but it’s something to potentially have on your radar - it’s actually not far from Capitol Reef.
Capitol Reef National Park
Each time we would leave one of these parks buzzing about how incredible it was only to be equally if not more blown away by the next one, and this was certainly the case with Capitol Reef National Park. Clearly the least known of the 5 and the only one that isn’t quite in close proximity to one of the others (Zion and Bryce are close and Canyonlands and Arches are close). We didn’t take the time to hike any of Capitol Reef but the time we had was enough to take the scenic drive and see a good chunk of the park. Wow…
What do you do at Panorama Point? Take a Panorama pic!
What a place… and we had it almost to ourselves… As for the drive from here to Moab. Um…. there’s NOTHING. We did it almost all in the dark, no signal, no sign of civilization and I promised Lacey we’d get something to eat when we left the park. Promise……broken. Not gonna lie, this drive was nerve racking and I had a roadkill incident as well. Freaked me out a little on a desolate dark drive in the middle of the desert. Look at this map - this represents about 75 miles of route 24 from the edge of the park to Interstate 70 and I think I maybe saw an RV park in the first stretch in Caineville and another in Hanksville and then NOTHING. And I mean nothing. Be prepared - especially with gas - at least we had that going for us…
Day 10 - Canyonlands National Park!
Running out of superlatives here…. I have to get back to Canyonlands National Park. It’s gargantuan and divided into 4 districts of which we only saw one - it’s the most popular and accessible district (Island In The Sky) and you could spend days in that district alone, but I want to see more of this place. It does feel a little like you’re on an island surrounded by canyons - and not just a bunch of little canyons - each one is massive and incredible. Heck if I didn’t know the difference and had never been out west and you dropped me at the Buck Canyon Overlook and told me it was the Grand Canyon I’d probably have believed you. And the Colorado River made them both…
The drive was a little over a half hour from Moab which is a really cool town by the way.
Upheaval Dome
Our big hike for the day was the Upheaval Dome hike. There are two overlooks, but frankly the best view is about halfway between them on a plateau that you will know when you get to it. To the second overlook and back is about 1.5 miles with 150 feet of elevation gain and took us an hour and 22 minutes. Really cool hike with a nice payoff overlooking what they believe is a crater made by a meteor.
Green River Overlook - Breathtaking….
Was playing with a couple filters on the iPhone - thought this one was kinda cool…
Buck Canyon Overlook - my favorite of the ones I saw at Canyonlands
Buck Canyon Overlook in closer detail…
Grand View Point Trail
Tony and I decided to do one more hike while Ally and Lacey chilled - the Grand View Point Trail is about 1.8 miles there and back with not much elevation gain - it’s mainly a walk along the rim of the canyon edge and the views are spectacular. Very easy and you don’t have to get close to the edge at any point.
One last view from Canyonlands - Orange Cliffs Overlook
Day 11 - Arches National Park!
The last of the Utah Mighty 5!!! Arches like many National Parks was getting crowded to the point where they decided to go to a timed entry where you have to go to the website and reserve a time to enter the park which we did. We spent the morning in town and had a pretty good breakfast at Jailhouse Cafe, did a little shopping and checked out a great bookstore called Back Of Beyond Book Store along with the aforementioned Tom Till Gallery and then headed right up the street to Arches National Park for our Noon entry. The arches are so cool - especially Delicate Arch which is THE spectacular and famous arch that is on the Utah “Life Elevated” license plates. Delicate Arch Trail was also our main hike for the day - and what a hike! Highly recommended. It’s just over 3 miles roundtrip, took us a little over 2 hours with 538 feet of elevation gain. It’s a bit strenuous and the last stretch has a steep drop off to one side which made Ally plenty nervous, but the payoff? Whoa. And frankly I didn’t feel the hike was any more difficult or scary than The Watchman, Queen’s Garden/Navajo Trail or Upheaval Dome. You don’t see Delicate Arch at all until you turn a corner and BAM - there it is in all its glory.
So yeah that’s an obvious highlight. But the rest of the park is breathtaking as well and there is plenty I’d like to get back and see… I would have liked some more time here but we still covered some amazing ground. The Salt Valley Overlook in particular is one I’m obsessed with - there’s basically what looks like a red boulder garden there that is so unique… and strangely I don’t see a lot of chatter about it online.
Salt Valley Overlook - the “boulder garden” is to the left
Obsessed…. #SorryNotSorry
More amazing formations further on up the scenic drive…
Sand Dune Arch Trail
This hike is just a brief flat one to Sand Dune Arch but it’s so cool! Deep, soft red sand leads you in between some massive sandstone walls and in the middle of it is Sand Arch!
Skyline Arch Trail
There are so many major arches to see and we didn’t see some of them such as Broken Arch and Landscape Arch, but I’m pretty pleased with the ones we chose to spend our time on - the trail to Skyline Arch is another easy one that is worth it. Not even a half mile round trip - Tony and I did it and I found Skyline Arch to be really majestic…
Panorama of the clearing at Skyline Arch - you kind of feel like you’re in a little arena…
The Windows Viewpoint and Trail
The last main spot and hike we did was The Windows Viewpoint and Trail where you can see North and South Windows, along with Turret Arch and nearby Double Arch. It’s another easy one - about a mile round trip with 99 feet of elevation so you do have to walk up some steps. What a cool area… Kind of funny too that I forgot there were two window arches - it wasn’t until we went around the back and walked over to Turret Arch when my iPhone was still set to the selfie cam that I saw TWO windows behind me! We finished up at a pull off to check out Balanced Rock and as we were driving away I realized I didn’t get the better pic of it but the one I got is still pretty cool. A well-deserved feast back in town at Miguel’s Baja Grill and we were on our way to Breckenridge!
Day 12 - Breckenridge and Denver!
We woke up in Breckenridge out of breath. The elevation of the town is 9600 feet and it was hailing when we awoke… I noticed the elevation a few times on the trip here and there but in Breckenridge it was very noticeable for all of us but Lacey really. Meanwhile Breckenridge is such a cool town!!! We had breakfast and did a little shopping before getting on the road over to Denver to visit with friends. My buddy Seth directed us up and over the Continental Divide which was a great call - what a drive, and at Loveland Pass we hopped out for a photo op - it was 35 degrees up there! We had a great evening with Seth and Lacey’s friend Chloe before we headed back out on the road towards Kansas City.
Day 13 - Drive To Kansas City
Day 13 was mainly a driving day - we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express about an hour or so east of Denver, woke up and made the 8 hour drive to Kansas City where we visited and stayed with friends - Lacey’s friend Jared and his parents Stacy and Rick and we had some Kansas City barbeque. A fun visit and a great night!
Day 14 - Harry S. Truman Historical Site and Abe Lincoln’s Home in Springfield!
We started with a president and we finished with two more! Two of the very best this time! First we headed to the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site in the town of Independence where he grew up and where he returned to live after his presidency. You really get a sense for how Truman never forgot where he came from and his desire to just be a regular guy in the neighborhood when he returned from Washington. Heck they even have his car still parked in the garage for you to see! You can also tour the Noland home across the street where Harry’s Aunt and Uncle lived - he would admire future first lady Bess from across the street! What a great story. The tour of the Truman house itself was great - it didn’t go upstairs and you aren’t allowed to take photos inside but the home was left exactly as it was the day former first lady Bess Truman passed away and she had kept it how it was from the time Harry died in 1972. You can see pictures of the upstairs here. They had no secret service when they moved back home and they actually let trees and foliage overgrow to block people from seeing them hanging out on their back screened in porch. The site is a little discombobulated from the standpoint that you have to go to a separate visitor center to get your ticket for the house tour which is separate from the library and museum which charges a separate fee and is in another location close by - almost like the Hoover site but not as close together. It would seem to make sense here just to have you be able to get your tour tickets at the museum. We didn’t have time to spend at the museum although we did head over there just to take a look and there’s a great statue of President Truman in front. A great stop and worth the trip - need to get back there to check out the museum.
Panorama of the block - Noland House to the left, the house Bess grew up in on the right which would eventually become the Truman’s home
Lincoln Home Historic Site
Next stop, Springfield, IL! We were lucky to get on the last couple house tours but we had to split up - it’s first come first served to tour the home and obviously it’s a popular tour. I had seen photos of Lincoln’s home for years and I got chills walking up the front steps and inside. The Lincoln Home National Historic Site is really something - almost the whole block has been preserved and restored and they are still working on some restoration of some of the houses on the block to this day. You can really step back in time here to Abe’s life in Springfield. The house itself is relatively modest - they lived a comfortable middle class existence here.
Panoramic view of the Lincoln’s block (the road only looks curved like that because it’s a panoramic photo)
As a side note when I say that we saw more University of Michigan hats, shirts, stickers (not to mention people saying “Go Blue” to our shirts and hats) on this trip than any other BY FAR I am not kidding. There are two other homes at the Lincoln site with lots of cool exhibits and in the Arnold House there was an exhibit about excavations at the site (it was an excavation for example that turned up a chess piece that they used to determine the exact type of set they have in the Lincoln sitting room). Sure enough - there’s a photo in the Arnold House of a guy working on an excavation there with a Michigan Hockey sweatshirt on… I also snapped a pic of the Michigan Football helmet sticker on the Georgia SUV parked at the Holiday Inn Express in Kanab, Utah. GO BLUE!
Other Lincoln sites around Springfield
There is a lot to see in Springfield and once again we didn’t have time for the Lincoln Museum in town and the tomb had closed at 5 before we got there, so this is another place I’d like to return to… But we did see some cool spots.
The Lincoln Tomb
Day 15 - Home Sweet Home
After meeting Lacey’s friend Jordan for breakfast in Chicago we headed home. This was a trip we will never forget and for me, I felt like I brought back a little of the West with me - you just can’t totally get it until you’ve been there. I can’t wait to get out there again and see more! This also awakened a love of hiking for me - I loved the hikes and plan to identify some good hikes around here in Michigan as well. It’s also fun to keep track of the things you’ve done and keep a tally. Of the categories I added to on this trip my tally of things I’ve seen now looks like this:
73 Total units of the National Park Service
12 National Parks
17 U.S. President’s Homes
38 U.S. States
Progress….. but I have a long way to go! I hope you enjoyed this - it was a labor of love to put it together. Please share, comment and if you have questions feel free to ask!
M10 Social is owned by Doug Cohen in West Bloomfield, MI and provides social media training and digital marketing services from the Frameable Faces Photography studio Doug owns with his wife Ally. He can be reached there at tel:248-790-7317, by mobile at tel:248-346-4121 or via email at mailto:doug@frameablefaces.com. You can follow Doug’s band Vintage Playboy at their Facebook page here.
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