Honeymoon Itineray

My husband and I got engaged one week before the pandemic shut down. During that week, we dreamed less about our wedding and more about our honeymoon. We thought about going to an all-inclusive beach resort or touring Ireland. When the nation shut down, we knew that we would not be able to have a honeymoon outside of the states. We also wanted to be relatively isolated for fear of contracting Covid. So as we started to rethink our honeymoon, which we began to call our “coronamoon,” we decided to visit as many national parks in California as we could. To save money and to further isolate ourselves, we rented a camper van to drive and to sleep in.

Day 1: We flew into San Francisco and rented a camper van from Escape Camper Vans. https://escapecampervans.com/escape-with-avanti/

Our camper van had a queen size bed and kitchen essentials, including a propane gas stove and a sink. We should have checked the supplies before leaving the site because the next morning, we noticed there was no propane and no coffee. I was not happy because I do not do well without coffee in the morning, but we survived. As soon as we picked up the van, we drove to Redwoods National Forest, which was a 5.5 hour drive. It was late when we got into the forest so we spent the night in our van and woke up the next morning to an incredible fairy land of ginormous trees. It truly was a magical place.

After we hiked for awhile, we visited the visitor’s and found information on a state park called Patrick’s Point and she highly recommended it. It wasn’t on our itinerary but it was only 20 minutes away so we drove down and I am so glad we did! It was beautiful and I saw myself taking a trip just to visit again. There was even a place appropriately called “The wedding rock!” We explored the agate beach and ate dinner listening to sea lions.

As of September 2021, it is now called Sue-meg State park. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=417

The next day, we were planning on going to Yosemite since that was the next park on our route but even in 2020, there were so many visitors to the park that you have to reserve your entrance in advance. Even though we weren’t reserving a camp site, and we already had an “American the beautiful” pass, reservations were still required. Since we didn’t have reservations for the next day, we decided to bypass Yosemite and drive further south to Sequioa and King’s Canyon and come back to Yosemite. I hated going out of our way but we didn’t have much choice. We arrived at King’s Canyon on day 3 and hiked some easy but beautiful trails and climbed around and inside giant sequoias. King’s Canyon doesn’t get advertised much but if you go to Sequioa, include King’s Canyon in your trip because they are right next to each other .

That night, we drove to Sequioa and spent the night in the park. We made sure to park on top of a mountain so we could watch the sunrise. We were not disappointed!

The next day we explored Sequioa. We visited lots of famous sequoia trees, walked around a meadow, and climbed Moro Rock, a large granite dome with a concrete and stone stairway of 350 steps leading to the top. While we were talking around the meadow, we saw a black bear about a hundred yards away on a walking path. It walked within a few feet of a couple of hikers and pooped right in front of them on the trail. We heard their laughter even from that distance. The bear went back into the meadow and we lost sight of it in the tall grass. After a few minutes, it popped back on the trail in front of us. It stayed long enough for us to take a few pictures and then it ran off again.

The next day, we backtracked to Yosemite. On the way, we stopped at a truck stop to take a shower, because we hadn’t had one in 4 days (what a way to start a marriage, huh?) We stayed 2 days at Yosemite and it was absolutely incredible. We hiked and drove around the part and visited Tunnel View, El Capitan Meadow, O'Shaugnessy Dam, Yosemite Falls (which was dry, unfortunately), and Half-dome. As we were ending our hikes for the day, we heard a prairie dog calling from the top of a rock formation. It was taking is its protection duties very seriously.

From Yosemite, we drove to Joshua Tree National Park. We got there in the evening but it was still very hot. We decided to go to sleep early and get up before the sun rose to beat the heat. Sleeping inside our van was miserable because of the heat. My husband couldn’t sleep so he sat outside and tried to sleep in a camping chair. At one point in the night, we woke up surrounded by scorpions so he was unable to sleep the rest of the night. We wanted to go to Joshua Tree because with the government shut down and the vandalization of national parks, we were worried about never getting to see Joshua Trees. If we decide to go back though, we will not go back in the summer. Even in the very early morning, the heat was almost too much. Even the bees were so dehydrated that they would swarm people to drink their sweat. Despite the heat, Joshua tree was beautiful and had a unique ecosystem. We both boulder and we would love to go back.

We were so exhausted and so hot that we didn’t stay in the desert long. We were planning on staying another night but we just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want to suggest it because I thought I was being a baby but I asked Vaughn if he would be interested in driving to LA that afternoon and getting a hotel and he enthusiastically said yes. So we drove to LA, got a hotel, took a luxurious shower and fell asleep in a nice, comfy bed. My poor husband fell asleep looking at his phone in bed. We woke up rested, dropped off our van at the Escape Camper van location in LA and went to the airport.

We had a fantastic honeymoon, we learned a lot about each other, and thinking back, there isn’t much I would change. I can’t wait to visit Redwoods and Yosemite with my family again.

Grand Circle Itineray

My mom and I took a trip out west and was a variation on the Grand Circle trip, which is where you fly into Las Vegas, drive in a circle to visit several national parks, and end up back in Las Vegas. Here is our itinerary.

We flew into Las Vegas and walked down the strip that evening. I’m not a fan of Las Vegas so I didn’t have much desire to visit a ton of places but we saw the major casinos and took a picture with these lovely ladies. Before we took the picture, they did not explain that we would have to pay for the picture. But after the picture, they told us we owed them $120. I told them no and that I was sorry and I offered to delete the picture. They said it was fine but for those of you who didn’t know, all the people walking around Vegas in a costume require payment for you to take a picture with them. Oops.

The next morning, we took a tour of the Hoover Dam. I asked the guard how many “dam” jokes he hears in a day and he said, “too dam many.” Two 30 foot tall winged bronze statues stand out front and the toes have been rubbed golden by all the visitors for good luck.

We then drove to the Grand Canyon. We got there in the early evening and did a little hiking. We stayed in a cabin inside the park and spent the rest of the day exploring. My mom is very scared of heights so I did everything I could to make her feel uncomfortable – ha! The squirrels in the park are so used to people feeding them that one came right up to my hand.

From the Grand Canyon, we drove a couple of hours to Horseshoe Bend. When we went in 2019, the parking lot and the Horseshoe Bend itself weren’t too crowded but I hear that visitors have increased the past several years so be prepared. The hike up to the overlook was difficult – it was 1.5 miles round trip on a hardened path. The view suddenly opens up at the top of the trail and is breathtaking.

We stayed at a small hotel in Page, AZ that night and then we woke up early to do a boat tour of Lake Powell and visit the Rainbow Bridge National Monument. The boat tour on the lake was relaxing and we were offered an audio tour of the geology and Native American history of the lake. It took about 3.5 hours to get to the Rainbow Bridge by boat but it was totally worth it. Other than hiking 14 miles through Navajo Nation, going by boat is the only way to reach the Rainbow Bridge. The Rainbow Bridge is one of the largest natural bridges in the world and it was a short and easy hike after we got off the boat.

We spend the night in the same hotel as the night before and the next day, we went on a tour through Antelope Canyon. The company and our guide were fantastic and I would highly recommend going on a tour. In fact, that is the only way you can visit – Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon so it is extremely dangerous to visit while it is raining.

From Antelope Canyon, we drove to Red Canyon and Bryce Canyon. We stayed the night in a hotel just outside of Bryce Canyon and spent the next day exploring Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon’s geology was so unique and I could have stayed for much longer taking pictures of all the hoodoos.

From Bryce Canyon, it was a short drive to Zion – about 1.5 hours. We stayed at a hotel just outside the park and we had enough daylight to take a scenic drive. Again, the geology was so cool. Zion is known for checkerboard mesas.

After our second day in Zion, we drove back to Las Vegas, which was about a 2 hour drive. After checking into our hotel, my mom and I drove out to “The Sign.”

My mom was in her late 60s at the time and had some health issues so we didn’t do any difficult hikes. We stayed in hotels and we drove a lot. Honestly, I didn’t mind. It was nice to enjoy the scenery and the experience without some of the difficulties associated with the outdoors. I would definitely do this trip again.