National Park Road Trip Out West
One of the things I like best about my job is the flexibility that it offers me. I’ve never been someone to plan things out far in advance. And that’s especially true about vacations.
Trips are almost always spontaneous with me. At most I’ll book them a few weeks in advance and I never have a real itinerary. My daughter, Paige, has been in charge of the vacation itineraries since she was 13. She planned a hell of a Disney vacation.
My last spur of the moment vacation was a two week National Park road trip out west. It was only me and Paige on this trip. There was going to be a lot of hiking and outdoor activity planned. My wife and my youngest daughter, Riley, prefer resorts with poolside service.
They opted to stay behind for this one.
We started in Denver and ended up in San Francisco traveling over 3,000 miles in a rental car.
- We visited the cool little town of Golden, CO.
- Hiked a glacier lake in Idaho Springs.
- Watched the sunrise in Colorado National Monument.
- Got dusty and thirsty at Arches National Park.
- Drove on scenic Hwy 128 and checked out Capital Reef National Park.
- Hiked the voodoos at sunset in Bryce Canyon.
- Exhausted ourselves on Walter’s Wiggles to Angel’s Landing and got wet in the Narrows in Zion National Park.
- Stayed the night in Vegas. Vegas is weird during Covid by the way.
- Walked the beaches and saw the homes of the Hollywood elite in Malibu.
- Drove the Pacific Coast Highway to Monterey.
- Watched the climbers on El Cap in Yosemite.
- Stumbled upon a nude beach on the clear mountain waters of Lake Tahoe.
- And saw the Golden Gate bridge behind a wall of wildfire smoke in San Francisco.
We didn’t have a real itinerary and didn’t know where we were gonna stay from night to night. Paige had to step outside of her comfort zoning being a planner and all.
I felt right at home. Two weeks of memories that we’ll share forever.
