The Grand Ride at the Grand Canyon - by ZT

We arrived to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon just in time for dinner. We decided to get a special treat of dinner at the famous Grand Canyon Lodge. Inside the dining room we were on the very edge of the canyon. It had a great view of the canyon but unfortunately it was really foggy when we ate. For dinner I had a quesadilla, my brother had prime rib and the other had chicken. It was a fancy restaurant and probably the best quesadilla I've ever had.

After dinner we found a campsite on the edge of the park but there was no electrical so it got pretty cold. You could see your breath.

In the morning we went back to the lodge and took a bus to the stables. We were each given a name of a mule to ride. Mine was named Ben.

 Bodhi’s was named Flex.

Kaden had Vivienne.

Mom had Beatrice. A mule is the hybrid of a horse mom and a donkey dad. Mules can’t have kids. They use mules because they have stronger footing along the edge of the canyon. They were as big as horses because they have a lot of traits from their moms.

To get up you put your foot in the foot hold and swung your other leg over until you sat in the saddle. They taught us how to ride, so we knew how to stop and start. Once everybody was ready we started out of the corral. I was the fourth from the back with Bodhi, Kaden and my Mom behind me. 

I was right behind the cowboy and we were chatting. He talked about the trees, his adventures riding bulls and calves and his horses back home in Bryce Canyon. He also told me about great cowboy movies to watch. It was really fun as we went by the edge of the canyon. There was a really good view on the way back and we even saw a coyote.

Once we got back on the bus Sage was really excited to see us. She had hot chocolate with Daddy in the saloon and kissed a donkey statue for good luck. In the store I found a turquoise gemstone egg for my collection.

On our way out we took some pictures and settled into the RV for a drive to Mesa Verde.

Our Trip to Bryce and Zion National Parks - by BT

 In the morning we went to Bryce Canyon National Park from our campsite which was just a little ways from it on the other side of Dixie National Forest. 

Bryce is famous for its hoodoos which are rock spires shading part of the canyon. 

We got to see Thor’s Hammer which is a hoodoo almost exactly like Thor’s Hammer. 

We had a fun time trying to make it look like we were holding the hammer for pictures. 

After a long way up we finally reached the top We helped ourselves to a nice lunch that mom had prepared for us in the RV.  A little more sightseeing and we headed off for Zion.

(I took this one.)

     On our way between Bryce and Zion we went into a rock shop. Mom and Dad spotted it and had to turn around the big RV because they knew we would love it. In the shop we got crystals: Amber, Blue Agate, Amethyst, Emerald Calcite and Zaddek got a galaxy stone. We don't have pictures of them yet though.

We also drove through wet snow coming down on the road in one of the canyons.

When we arrived at Zion we went into a big tunnel to get to the West side of the park. 

On the west side we saw Checker Board Mountain. It almost looked like someone spent a lifetime carving it, but it was not man made. 

We reached the sign in desk and got signed in to our RV camp at the gate. The next day we took the bus to Emerald Pools trail. 

                          We hiked to the lower pool and hiked right underneath a waterfall.

                                          We hiked up then down to reach the medium pool.

                                         At first when we saw the tarantula it was scary until
                                            I remembered that they aren't dangerous.  

                   We took the bus back around the loop and headed to the RV on to Grand Canyon.

Two National Parks in One Day - Arches and Canyonlands

We arrived in Arches National Park, Utah late in the afternoon on our sixth day. We had enough time to do a nice hike up to the Windows. 

At first we couldn’t spot the South Window so we went to the North Window. It was very big but it was hard to get a picture as there were many people standing by. Climbing up into the window with a high ledge on the other side we were able to take some amazing pictures. 

We were even able to get Sage up there and a kind gentleman took pictures of us.

 As we hiked down to Turret Arch we spotted the South window to the right of it hidden behind a rock wall. When we looked back at both of them it looked like a face with two eyes and a rock wall nose in between. 

Our family continued our hike to turret arch where we got some great pictures with the sunset behind. We agreed it was too busy to see the sunset at Delicate Arch and decided that we would go first thing in the morning.

After driving back to the RV park in Moab, Utah we set up for the night and fell to sleep after a nice hot dinner. In the morning we woke to a quick breakfast... 

and a family pic at the RV park...

before driving back up the twisting roads to Delicate Arch. Because Sage wouldn’t go in the backpack we couldn’t hike right up to it so we went the short hike to the viewpoint. 

It was very pretty but Sage wanted to sit on every rock along the way so it took a while. 

Back at the RV we decided we would try a different hike out to Landscape Arch. The arch was huge and you could see the sapphire blue sky behind. 

On the way back Sage had to play in the silky red sand and even made some sand angels. 

After cleaning her off we hiked back to the RV and drove around a little to see some of the other arches before taking off for Canyonlands.

We arrived in Canyonlands and drove out to the Island in the Sky. When we got out we realized we were surrounded by deep canyons on all sides. 

There wasn’t an easy hike for us to do so we decided just to drive around and stop at the viewpoints. After another great day we settled into the RV for a big drive down to a campsite near Bryce National Park.

Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge and the RV - Z. Taylor

We left the Rocky Mountains and headed to the city of Denver. In the middle of the city we found a National Refuge named the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Once we got there we were surprised to see that there were bison. On the way through the refuge we saw droppings and then across the road right in front of us a was a huge bison. He was really hairy and went really slowly across.

We also saw some pretty cool prairie dogs. It seemed like one was on lookout duty. The rest were all around on the mounds. In the discovery center we dissected owl droppings and Kaden and I found a mole skull and a rodent of some sort.

Then we were really excited that we were going to pick up the RV. Once we got there we had to wait a really long time to sign a contract and then when he came out my mom went to check out the RV with my dad. Every time someone came past we would act normal otherwise I would eat the cheese bread my mom left me. When were allowed to get out we were guessing which RV was ours. We found ours and got inside. I really wanted to climb up to the top bed over the driver's seats but we had to unpack the van into the RV and my little sister wanted to go up to. We all got in and found a place on the couch with a seatbelt and we took off.

Our first night was pretty hard and scary because it was new. But it turned out to be really fun. I slept up top alone the first night and was really excited about it. In the morning we woke up and had our first breakfast in the RV and then rolled out to Arches National Park.

Rocky Mountain National Park - B.Taylor

     After two long days in the van we finally reached Rocky Mountain National Park. As we drove to our cabin by the river we kept on the lookout for bighorn in the big mountains above. When we reached our destination we unpacked the van into the cabin. We checked out the river for bears and then we headed out to Old Fall River road. Fall River road is a dirt road that curves up a tall mountain that not many people take. A few minutes up the curvy road a male elk as tall as our van walked right towards us! He had huge antlers.

At the top it meets the paved road that holds the highest up visitor’s center in North America. We went back down the mountain and had macaroni for dinner in our cabin. When Sage fell asleep we got into the hot tub and then went to bed.  

The next morning we woke up early to try and see moose at the marsh, but then we heard a big bull elk bugle a challenge to a nearby harem (group of females and young). We sat for a long time waiting for it to charge but it didn’t. We drove on and not long after we saw a lot of people taking pictures of something over the edge. Mom went out to see what it was. Then a second later Mom came back shouting for us to come see the bighorn sheep down the cliff side.

After many pictures were taken we saw the harem running away by the sheep. The big bull had charged! We saw him catching up to the harem and its bull leader. All of the sudden we saw the ram and its sheep family starting to run after the elk down the mountain. We tried to follow them from the road but we lost them as they headed down the mountain.

We kept on going and I saw a snowy owl in the forest. Mom had to put that idea away claiming it was a piece of wood. We had a picnic in the meadows where the moose were supposed to be but we didn’t see any. 

After driving the entire length of the park we headed back. There were lots of elk on our way  back home. We relaxed for a little while then went to the side of the park to bear lake. We hiked around it and had a lot of fun.

When we exited Bear Lake a park ranger pointed us to Moraine meadows where we could see elk. Parked there we saw smaller bull elk practicing rutting. After a bit the bulls challenged a big bull for his harem. The big bull being outnumbered 3 males to 1 bugled a retreat and herded all his females away from them. A few rebellion females stood there ground then zipped to the other side of the battlefield. After a lot of bugles, retreats, and practicing we called it a night.

The next day when we were packing up the van a big mule deer scattered out of our front yard we followed him to the river. He gracefully hopped across the river and up the cliff. When all the excitement was over we jammed back into the van and left  ROCKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK.