Our Arches National Park + Canyonlands National Park + Grand Canyon National Park Family Roadtrip
As soon as we realized our wedding season would be squished into 3 short months (31 weddings/elopements or sessions in 15 weeks), we knew we needed to set a goal for ourselves: survive this insane year and in November we’ll take the boys on a Utah & Arizona National Park Roadtrip to see some of our favorite spots and get the heck away for a bit.
Well, we survived. We bought a camper (this time for CAMPING not for living) and we took the boys on a trip. We planned to head all the way to Lake Tahoe, stretching our trip over the course of 3 weeks or so, but 2020 struck, our camper broke down, and we headed back home just over a week after we left. With three little boys, though, three weeks of camping was likely too ambitious a goal, and we’re absolutely stoked with everything we got to see and experience.
“First up, Grampa Ron’s. Next stop, MOAB!” – our kids.
We visited Moab, Utah first and went to Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and Canyonlands National Park. Utah has quickly become our favorite place to visit. It’s so close to where we are – just over a 4 hour trip from Breckenridge (or just 2 hours from Grampa Ron’s house, where we tend to make a pit-stop every time we head out there AND when we’re coming back home). We all loved every second of it. I was most in total awe at Dead Horse Point National Park. So much beauty! The boys ran and played in the desert and ate a ton of dirt. We also talked a lot about all the dinosaurs that probably lived in all the parks we visited. Neeson was super concerned about the “ones that probably fell off all the cliffs into the canyons.”
After a drive through Monument Valley – WHAT IS THIS PLACE!! – we stayed in the little KOA there and that’s where the camper broke. Our slide-out got stuck in (thankfully in and not out!). If you’ve ever been inside a camper with a slide-out that won’t go out, you know its cramped, to put it lightly. We continued down to Flagstaff, Arizona the next morning for a trip to Grand Canyon National Park and switched our plans to just head home after that. The trip to the Grand Canyon was amazing. It’s hard to wrap your head around how vast it is! The boys especially loved the IMAX film about the history of the canyon, and as a result, have deemed that to be their favorite part of vacation. HA.
Here are our favorite moments from our roadtrip to 3 National Parks in Utah & Arizona!
As we sit under 18ish inches of fresh snow, we’re dreaming up a normal world and hopefully some more trips we can take this next year. We’re thinking of the forest (our land! or the PNW if we’re really feeling ambitious), the desert (Utah again!), more mountains (southwestern Colorado!), and maybe even the Badlands in South Dakota. We’ll see.
Where do you want to go?!
SPEAKING OF GOING PLACES. As it’s safe to do so, we could be convinced to travel wherever our little camper can go. Planning a Moab elopement? We’re in! Wanna get married in the Redwoods? Okay, fine.
Crafting really beautiful films + photos for the wild at heart, Basecamp Visual is a Breckenridge, Colorado based videography and photography company run by us, a husband and wife duo, Dave & Shanna. Are you on the hunt for a creative storytelling team for your upcoming 2021 Colorado (or other amazing places) intimate wedding or elopement – or HECK, just because? Let’s talk about it! Contact us today to learn more.
