Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon and Zion’s National Parks

We took our first big “camping” trip for spring break last week in our motorhome.  We hit three iconic national parks in 9 days.  The motorhome provided an awesome way to travel.  We weren’t even an hour into the trip when I saw the kids all happily coloring together and I decided that having a table and a bathroom are the only way to do a road trip!

Our first real night of adventure was at Bryce Canyon National Park.  It was beautiful.  The weather was cool and windy, but we still loved seeing the scenic beauty.

On the way out (and into) Bryce Canyon we passed through a Utah State Park, Red Canyon.  It was another beautiful place for walking around.  It looked just like Radiator Springs is portrayed at Disneyland.

Glen Canyon Damn overlook, just outside of Paige Arizona, made a great pit stop.  It was a little too cold to go for a swim in Lake Powell, but the suspended bridge and damn were both amazing.

Another awesome pit stop on the other side of Paige, one we almost missed, was a walk out the Horse Shoe Bend.”  Having not seen the Grand Canyon yet, we were totally impressed and a little scared because there was no fence. Don’t miss it in your haste to get to the Grand Canyon!

The Grand Canyon blew my mind!!  I was expecting one very deep crevice with the river running through.  I had no idea that there were crevice’s in every direction.  From most look-out points we couldn’t even see the river because it was so far below.  It was two vertical miles down to the river and about 24 miles from rim to rim.  Now that is a GRAND CANYON!

The weather started to warm when we hit Zion National Park.  Driving through the dessert wasn’t too bad with movies to watch in the RV.  Unfortunately it was windy so it was white knuckle driving for the driver.

One of the top scenic highlight of the trip, for the kids, was the 1 mile tunnel through one of the mountains in Zion.  It really was INCREDIBLE! And extra cool to lead the pack of one way traffic through the empty tunnel.

The thing we loved about Zion is the easy hiking trails that everyone in the family could do and enjoy.  My kids aren’t hikers so going for a “walk” is all we could convince them to do, but there were some amazing walks! The first “walk” we went on was to the Emerald Pools.  We recommend getting off at stop 6, the one to Angels landing, and going to stop 5 via the Emerald Pools rather than doing a loop at stop 5.  At the pools we walked behind the water falls.  I’m guess this was more spectacular because there had been rain and snow earlier in the week.

Our camp site was right on the river and had beautiful, fine sand.  The kids loved it!  Sand isn’t my thing but I tried to be a good sport.

A very short hike we went on was to the weeping rock.  We enjoyed the Emerald Pools more, but this one was so short, although steep, we couldn’t pass it up. I could imagine that the view would have been even more spectacular had all of the leaves been on the trees.

The final walk we went on was called the Riverside Walk.  It was a little longer, but flat. The kids counted over 50 squirrels on the walk.  They kept themselves easily entertained counting the squirrels, but the scenery was breath taking. One of the truly fantastic things about Zion National Park is that there are hikes for everyone, at every level!

Traveling in a camper brought family togetherness to a whole new level!  I loved watching the kids play.  Although a little peace and quiet may have been nice!