Livin' Part of Life

If you’ve been following us, you thought you’d get a post from Karen today because we switch each day. Much to your chagrin, you are now realizing that you get me again today. Lucky you! Karen suggested I post again tonight because we did an incredible hike. It was a hike she did with LLS… Read more

There are many times in our journeys, as we are hiking, that I find myself thinking about how important these parks are to me. When we hike, we are normally in single-file. Me in the lead with Karen following close behind. It’s not a man thing, it’s that Karen finds it more comfortable having me… Read more

Bryce. Finally. Rick has heard about this place from his kids, his uncle, and me (and I’m sure others) as one of the most spectacular parks, unlike all others. Today, he knows why. Overnight, we weren’t sure if it was going to happen. We were again plagued by the restless night when we climb significantly… Read more

Rain is something we haven’t had to deal with much on this trip. That was until we woke up this morning and found ourselves in a deluge. While we were very cozy inside, packing up and moving out is not necessarily fun in precipitation. So we took our time, had some breakfast and coffee, before… Read more

In this phase of the trip, we are always planning. It is part of the fun. Rick has done all of the difficult work so that our route and campgrounds are already established. Other than a cursory review of which National Parks, # of days, # of driving hours, I really don’t pay attention to… Read more

We had to begrudgingly bid farewell to Moab this morning. The entire experience, including our LONG day off yesterday, was perfect. But it was time to continue west and south to our next stop in Torrey, Utah, home of Capitol Reef National Park. The drive north out of Moab very quickly turned from the lovely… Read more

Even us retired folks enjoy some R&R. After all, quite a few people have said to us that we stay awfully busy in our retirement. If by busy they mean staying active and fully enjoying every day, they are quite right! Anyhow, we are 2 weeks into our trip and this is the first day… Read more

When we talked about retirement, seemingly a long time ago, we talked about wanting to see all of the US National Parks. It seemed a lofty goal, as in fact it is. 63 different parks comprise our National Parks system. That’s a daunting task, but we wanted to see them all. Arches National Park, which… Read more

Today, Arches National Park. Rick had been here many years ago (before kids) and has been sharing that this is one of his most anticipated locations. So I was really excited for today, especially given that the surrounding area is just stunning. The hike we wanted to do most is Delicate Arch. And if you… Read more

After nearly 2,300 miles, we crossed the border into Utah this morning. We have seen some special places in the past week. But as we got closer to Moab (our home for the next 5 nights) we realized that Utah just hits differently. Our drive today was short, just over 2 hours. Because we are… Read more