Category: Travel

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Arizona Biking WanderLog

Mountain Biking at McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Arizona

McDowell Mountain Regional Park as been on my “visit list” for at least 2 years. We even had reservations here two years ago, but it was too late in the spring and we cancelled in favor of higher elevation to escape the heat.

When we decided to spend winter 2017 in Arizona again, McDowell Mountain climbed immediately to the top of list. Originally we reserved 8 days thinking that would be long enough to explore the trails thoroughly. Then we actually arrived, and 8 days turned into 18. Even then we were all sad to leave, and are making plans to come back relatively soon.

Travel Dates: January 5 – 22, 2017

McDowell Mountain State Park is known for its trails. Specifically, its mountain biking trails. You can hike or ride horses on them as well, but the majority of users we’ve seen have been on bikes. They also have a competitive track and run races here on a regular basis.

Mountain biking in the desert is a completely different experience. We’ve biked in Utah, Minnesota, Florida, California and plenty of other states, but the Sonoran Desert is unique. Rolling, mildly sandy trails, Saguaro catcus, ocatillo, palo verde, and jagged mountains all make this landscape one of a kind. Throw in a few amazing Arizona sunsets (seriously they are not this good ANYWHERE else) and you can begin to understand our difficulty leaving.

The Campground

This campground fills up regularly. After our initial 8 day reservation, we spent a few days in the campground overflow (basically a parking lot), 2 days back in our original site, and then we managed to pick up a 5 day site that backed up to the playground. You can look online for sites, but once you are here you can avoid the reservation fee by just calling in or talking to the campground hosts in person at the nature center.

There is a 14 day stay limit in any one site, so even if you want to be here longer you’ll have to shuffle around. Sites are water/electric so unless you are camping solo and have large tanks, you’re going to need to take a trip to the dump station anyway.

Sites are level, spacious, and not too close together. They all have a picnic table (the sturdy stone kind), and a fire pit. We always find it amusing when the camp hosts rake the gravel nicely between campers, but it does make the site feel tidy and neat.

The Trails

Someone asked me on Instagram if all the trails we’ve encountered are this smooth and rolling. Nope. Don’t let the smoothness fool you though, from the campground headed north-west all the trails are uphill. We could easily get in a good 8 mile loop in an hour and feel like we got worked. Its nice to head uphill first and then have a nice, swift downhill on the return.

Some of our favorite loops:

For the Kids

Granite – Bluff – Granite (4 miles): Start at the campground and take the connector trail to Granite. Stay on Granite when it turns left and heads down into the wash. Climb back up and you’ll run into Bluff. Turn left and enjoy the ride down back to Granite. Turn right to head back to the campground. Granite is a nice, easy, rolling uphill, and Bluff is slightly more technical on the way down. The downhill is fun with some rollers but overall not technical (except for the waterbars).

Tortoise – Pemberton – Shallmo Wash – Escondido – Cinch – Scenic – Pemberton – Tortoise (4 miles): Feels like a lot of trails but many of them are short connectors. Start at the nature center and ride Tortoise down to the intersection. From here its an easy 0.1 miles on PB until you hit SH. SH is a great downhill – fast and furious until you hit the staging area. From here find the trail head for Escondido and follow it 0.2 miles up to the turn off for CI. 0.6 miles up CI you’ll continue on up Scenic. Its fairly smooth and not steep, just a gradual uphill the entire way. Turn left on PB and ride the short distance back to TO and then up to the nature center.

Rachel rode this one with Sam and I, but I’m not sure I’d take the other two. Cara and Andrew did ride with Sam from the campground down Tortoise and Shallmo Wash to the competitive track where I picked them up after we played around for a bit.

“Cara sometimes gets frustrated as she’s not as capable as the older kids. She was upset the other night because she was scared to ride the hills on the pump track. I assured her she didn’t have to ride, it was okay to be scared, and that we would keep practicing until she felt comfortable. Instead of quitting Cara put her intense game face on and rode the hills over and over until she smiled and laughed the whole way. I’ve never seen such fierce determination and desire to overcome an obstacle. I hope that’s a lesson she keeps with her for the rest of her life!” -@currentlywandering

North Trail (3 miles): We drove up McDowell Mountain Park Dr and Asher View Dr to park at the trail head for North Trail. Along Asher View Dr. there is an amazingly old and gnarly Saguaro cactus we had to get out and inspect – so don’t miss that on your way. North Trail is a fairly tame 3 mile loop. You can ride the trail in either direction and its pretty symmetrical. Gentle uphill and then back down on the return. Rachel found it almost too easy, while Cara was upset it was too sandy in spots to ride. Great recess break from school!

For the Adults

Granite – Delsie – Pemberton – Lariat – Granite (8 miles): Start from the campground and take the connector trail up to GR. About the same place GR splits off left and goes left down the wash, DL heads right and continues climbing. We felt this was one of the easier climbs but still managed to get a good work out. From there, this section of PB is super fun! A short sprint uphill and then its downhill, smooth, flowy and fun to Lariat. LR was a bit boring but you have to get back to camp somehow.

“First MTB ride is in the books with another scheduled for today. There are so many trails here and I intend to ride most of them over the next week. Not gonna lie – all of you and your snow photos are making me grateful for 70 degrees, sunshine, and cactus. 🌵☀” – @currentlywandering

Pemberton – Scenic – Cinch – Escondido – Pemberton (11 miles): This one starts at the trail head staging area which is also the campground overflow. This section of Pemberton is fairly smooth so its a nice ride up to Scenic. SN is definitely more rocky as it climbs up to and along the bluff. Definitely more technical and we do recommend riding it clockwise. Once we hit the bottom we turned onto Cinch which is a small connector to Escondido. ED is a nice rolling uphill all the way back to Pemberton. It is a good combination of technical and smooth rolling hills. I really liked it. Once you hit Pemberton again its downhill all the way back to the staging area.

Granite – Pemberton – Dixie Mine – Coachwhip – Pemberton – Bluff – Granite (14 miles): If you are looking for a rocky, technical trail than you’ll love this. Riding on a hardtail, I struggled over the rocks but it was still a really good loop. Granite is an easy fast couple of miles from the campground before your hit the turn off for Pemberton. From there follow the trail past the old Ranch homestead and then start climbing up towards Dixie Mine. This part of PB isn’t too rocky and traverses some really pretty landscapes. Once you hit Dixie, there’s a gradual, rocky downhill before hitting a gnarly, long technical climb. Summit is at the turn off for Coachwhip, which has a fun, rocky downhill before another long slog uphill. From there its mostly downhill or rolling all the back to Pemberton. We chose to turn left and end our ride down Bluff rather than doing a return up Granite the way we came. Definitely the better choice as downhill doesn’t  get much better than Bluff in this park!

A note about Tonto Trail, Granite & Delsie – These trails are super easy, gradual climbs. We came down Delsie once and it was actually quite boring, fast, but boring. Most of our trail rides including going up one of these trails and taking something a little more exciting on the return. Tonto is steeper than Delsie which is steeper than Granite.

Hanging Out With Friends & Regular Life

One of my favorite parts of our stay was hanging out with friends. @TheFamilyCan came up from Lost Dutchman to join us and we convinced them to hang out for more than a week (it wasn’t hard). Our kids played for HOURS at the playground, we enjoyed a few campfires, and the kids had some solid Minecraft time. We loved having other adult company!

“Our kids have spent hours at the playground with @thefamilycan this week. Mostly it’s been Harry Potter games and imagination central, but after they left today Andrew found a different use for the slide.” -@currentlywandering

The only downside to this park is that laundry is 45 minutes away no matter which way you drive. I paired our laundry trips with grocery shopping and other errands so it wasn’t too bad.

We have some college friends down in Gilbert, and they were gracious enough to watch our kids while Sam and I attended a session at the Gilbert, Arizona LDS temple. We loved catching up with them as they are nomads at heart and are still trying to figure out how to take their 5 kids on the road someday.

“Roughly three years ago we attended the Gilbert LDS Temple open house as we passed through Arizona heading West. This week we had a chance to attend a session as we pass through Arizona (slowly) headed East. I love the focus that the Temple brings, pointing us to the Gospel of Christ and His Atoning Sacrifice. Visiting so many different temples is one of the perks of a nomadic life.” -@telegramsam

“We visited some college friends yesterday and the the kids got a kick out of their indoor trampoline. Everybody needs awesome friends like this! This is not the only cool thing in their lives as @funawesomefamily has a fun YouTube channel with plenty of fun family stuff.” -@telegramsam

We were stationary long enough to get not 1, but 2 Amazon deliveries. We utilized the Amazon locker pick- up that is available in the Phoenix area and it worked like a charm. You send your package to a nearby locker and then use your phone or a code on the keypad and it pops open your locker with package(s) inside. Brilliant. Now we just need these in more remote areas.

One of Airstream’s marketing companies paid us a visit and we were privileged to be interviewed by their amazing team. They are rolling out a new “Home” campaign highlighting the various uses of full-time Airstreamers and we can’t wait to see how they edit our story together. Lisa gave us a preview of some of their previous shoots and they look top notch. Ours should be published in a few months and we’ll definitely let everyone know when it goes live!

“Fell in love with our tiny, shiny space all over again today. We spent a couple of hours cleaning yesterday in preparation for a video/photo project with @airstream_inc today. Our house looks amazing! If only the kids could keep it this clean all the time.” -@currentlywandering

We briefly went “ice skating” with @campytrails in Bakersfield a month ago and the kids have been begging to try it for real since then. With my ankle still not to full strength we determined I shouldn’t skate (not really my thing anyway) but I came along for moral support. Sam was amazingly patient with the kids and they learned to glide around the ice. I can definitely see more of this in our future!

One last errand to top off our stay was to replace our toilet. We weren’t really planning on it, but the darn thing sprung a leak (clean water thank goodness!) and we decided it was time. After some research Sam sent me to Camping World in Mesa, AZ where they had the correct toilet in stock. Really grateful this happened in civilization and not out boondocking in the desert!

We had a fabulous stay at McDowell Mountain and honestly can’t wait to go back. We attended a record three times at the same LDS ward in Fountain Hills, and there are plenty of hikes, museums and restaurants we weren’t able to check off our list. For now, however, its off to south eastern Arizona!

 

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Arizona WanderLog

Learning How to Just “Be” in the Desert for New Year’s

If you’ve followed us for any length of time, you’ve probably realized we move fairly frequently. We aren’t the type of travelers to sit in place for weeks on end, but are fueled by getting out and discovering new places.

It’s exhausting.

One of our goals this winter was to find free boondocking spots in the middle of the desert and just “be”.  Learn to relax and not be on the go all the time. I feel that perhaps a bit of the pressure to explore exotic and new places comes from social media. There’s always that pressure to post the next “amazing” photo, and I seem to struggle the most with the ability to let go.

Travel Dates: December 29, 2016 – January 4, 2017

As we sat in the Kofa desert near Quartszite, AZ for New Year’s Eve I had a chance to do exactly what we intended. It was difficult. I was antsy for a few days, even angry more than once. We were surrounded by amazing friends, yet I still struggled.

“Sometimes it feels like we are going in circles.”

“Being out in the desert has been fantastic – have you ever smelled creosote bushes after a rainstorm? 😍 At the same time I’ve been digging deep and trying to discover why I couldn’t just boondock for weeks at a time like some of our friends can.

I think it comes down to being bored. There’s really nothing out here. We went on the 1 mile “hike” up Palm Canyon, looked for quartz crystals, and visited the spiral labyrinth. And…That’s about all there is. There’s not really even a proper grocery store in the nearest town about 20 minutes away. But why does that matter? Why can’t I just be?

I think I pressure myself to provide opportunities for my kids and my expectations have inflated in the process. Exploring has taken the place of soccer, dance classes, or piano so when there’s nothing to explore I just feel empty and impatient. We’ve tried to expand our collection of outside toys so that I can just send my kids outside to play, but it’s still hard. For some reason that’s not enough for me. It’s not good enough. Not interesting enough. Not epic enough to reflect the lifestyle we are living.

I’m hoping this winter I can change. Not everyday needs to be epic hikes or science museums. I hope I can be content to sit outside and read, or throw around a frisbee with my kids. That just being together is enough. Less focusing on social expectations of our life and more being content with who I am.”

One afternoon we completed the only “hike” the area. An easy 2 mile round trip up Palm Canyon. We arrived back to the truck thinking that wasn’t “enough” but maybe it was.

Stephanie & Gus (@stephaniewv81 & @gm3sf) spearheaded a New Year’s Eve Potluck dinner. We gathered as nomads and feasted on chicken pot pie, cornbread, tacos, bean dip, chili, salad, and plenty of dessert.  Sam and I didn’t make it until midnight (hard to see the point when there’s 9am church the following morning!) but we enjoyed the time we had chatting around the propane campfire and swapping stories.

Living in a community of nomads for a week is vastly entertaining. Everyone has work (and sometimes school) to accomplish during the day and we often keep to ourselves. Evenings were spent playing games (thanks to everyone who helped us out with our prototype card game!), hanging out in trailers with a grand lounge, or playing frisbee before dinner. Our kids especially loved playing with Gus & Stephanie’s dog Gracie. She’s super cute and little and the kids all agreed we needed a dog her size. Sam and I disagreed.

We celebrated one final evening together at the local pizza joint in honor of Heather’s birthday (@h_livingistheadventure). Armed with noise makers, cake, & ice cream we took up an entire corner of the restaurant and probably brought the average age down a decade or two as Quartszite is a popular place for retirees in the winter.

“Morning in the Airstream often looks like this. Andrew snuggling @jesscurren in our bed, Cara getting started on schoolwork, and a few dishes that didn’t get washed last night. I get to watch the morning unfold as I work from the table.” -@telegramsam

As it came time for most of us to move on I honestly became nostaglic. I enjoyed having friends close by without the pressure to really “do” anything. There were a few evenings Sam and I snuggled under a blanket outside in our camping chairs and gazed in awe at all the stars.

I think I finally started to relax. I’m hoping we can have more experiences like that this winter and can’t wait to meet up with our friends again down the road.

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State Parks Utah WanderLog

Meeting Grandparents at Snow Canyon State Park

Snow Canyon State Park is one of those hidden gems. Although it’s relatively close to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, this place is a worthy destination by itself. Plenty of rock scrambling, lava tubes, sand dunes, hiking, and gorgeous landscapes to keep anyone busy for days.

We were here back in 2014 (although we had warmer weather!) and have always wanted to return. We convinced my parents to drive down from Salt Lake City the day after Christmas, and Snow Canyon SP was conveniently close to their rented condo. Perfect. We thoroughly enjoyed our snow-covered holiday at Zion National Park, but it was definitely time to get moving towards warmer temperatures.

Travel Dates: December 26 – 28, 2016

After getting set up at our campsite, we mostly relaxed. We ate dinner with my parents, the kids slept over at the condo for 2 nights (2 nights!) in a row, they swam, went out to lunch, Sam and I got a date, and Grandma & Grandpa treated us all to see Moana at the movie theater (it was just as good as everyone said!).

We spent one day exploring Snow Canyon and since we had two vehicles decided to shuttle one of the longer trails.

We started at the Lava Flow parking lot and hiked down into two of the tubes. My kids had been looking forward to this for weeks and thoroughly enjoyed scrambling through the caves with their Niteize headlamps (Amazon affiliate link).

From there we hiked out the Butterfly trail and then scrambled over the Petrified Dunes. I’m not exactly sure we followed the trail, but it was a lot of fun! Plenty of climbing up and over the rocks which kept the kids reliably entertained.

Once we reached Hidden Pinyon cutoff it was an easy downhill back to the campground. We grabbed my parent’s car and shuttled back up to Lava Flow to grab our truck. Easy peasy. Our total mileage was close to 3 – so nothing too crazy.

It was a little strange to wake up Thursday morning, pack up the trailer, dump the tanks and drive to pick up our kids from Grandma & Grandpa’s. Our kids usually help with most of those chores, but I can see the appeal of traveling just as a couple! Perhaps when the kids are gone we will have to do some Airstreaming on our own.

Temperatures in southern Utah were still a bit chilly, so after grabbing the kids we pointed our tiny, shiny house south to Arizona for some sunshine.

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Biking Homeschool Outdoor Gear

Teach Your Child to Shift with a Woom4

Its no secret we are fans of Woombikes. We were introduced to them in 2014 as Cara was ready to leave training wheels behind. We had a fantastic experience as she basically just climbed on the bike and pedaled away (6 Reasons to Buy Your Child a Woombike).

We’ve now reached another milestone with Cara’s bike – that of upgrading to one with shifters. We reached the point where she was spinning her wheels as fast as humanly possible and still couldn’t keep up with the big kids. She had the muscle, the awareness and desire to be faster, better, and more in control – she just needed the tools.
We visited Woom headquarters in Austin, TX last spring and Mathias upgraded her Woom3 to a Woom4 with a rear derailleur and an 8- Speed SRAM X4 twister shifter. Since then, we’ve been working with her on when and how to shift her gears based on the terrain she’s riding. Its honestly been a bit of a fight. For awhile she wanted to leave her gear in the middle and pedal like she always has. Slowly, she’s come to the realization that she can go farther more quickly and with less effort if she utilizes the entire range of her gears.

Its slow progress, but progress nonetheless. We happened in to a tradition to have each of our kids complete a 25 mile bike ride by the time they turn 8 years old. Rachel did hers with Sam back in Lehi pre-travel, and Andrew completed his with the Watermelon 4th of July ride in Minneapolis. Cara is 6 so we have just two years to get her ride in. Time to get training and gears will be an essential part of completing that ride.
As our experience is one shared by many parents, I thought we could give some advice on how to ease the transition between bikes.  I talked with Mathias, the owner of Woombikes USA, and he helped me outline 6 suggestions to help your child transition more smoothly to a bike with shifting capabilities:

1. Prepare and Anticipate

Kids transition easier when they know what is coming so talk about shifting even while your child is on a single speed bike.  Most of us just get on our bikes and go, but talking with your child about the bike components and why they are useful can help anticipate the change.  Show your child how your bike shifts (simple as picking the back wheel off the ground while remaining stationary) so they have a visual concept as well.

Ever ahead of the game, Woom has introduced a SRAM Automatix 2 Hub on their Woom3 bikes which has an internal mechanism that automatically shifts into a higher gear once 6 or 7 mph is reached. Total genius! Mathias said, “The design is hands-free, keeping your child’s focus on the road. On top of that, the hub functions as a learning tool. The mechanism also teaches [kids] timing. When they feel the bike change gears, children are passively learning how to time their shifts. Without ever touching a shifter, they can go faster, ride smoother, and move up to their next bike with total confidence. By the time the controls are in their hands, they’ll be ready for any adventure!”

2. Have a Visual Classroom

Once you have a new bike with shifters, take the time to visual explain how the bike works.  Mathias suggests that, “It’s much easier to show them, rather than tell them.  If you tell them while they are on the bike, then they are too busy and can’t really focus on your words.  Visually explain the concept while one parent is holding the saddle, and the other is rotating the pedals and shifting.” Seeing an adult bike in action is one thing, but when its their bike the concept just might have a bit more traction.

3. Ride Alongside Them

Kids love spending time with their parents, and we find many teaching moments as we hike, bike, or paddle alongside our kids. As we ride with Cara, we can coach her along the trail. “There’s a big hill coming up – shift now down to a 2,” we’ll tell her. Or, “Cara you are spinning your pedals, try shifting up to a 6.” We can judge the terrain we are riding and coach her as we go. She loves spending time with us, an we’ve been able to make more progress than if we just sent her off on her own.

4. Have Older Children Help Teach

Whether its a sibling or a friend, other children can definitely have an impact on your child. Mathias noticed that, “Parents sometimes have trouble using the right words  to communicate the concepts.  Other children who already know how to shift could use their skills and way of explaining so that the other child learns it more easily.  I saw this at a biking event, where one 5 year old explained another 5 yo how to use [their bike] in a fun an easy way.” We’ve definitely noticed this as Rachel and Andrew encourage and instruct Cara as she learns.

5. Bike in Familiar Territory

Mathias recommends to “Choose a place where your child feels most comfortable, i.e. playgrounds, parks, running tracks, safe neighborhood streets.” Cara feels most comfortable on paved pathways so that’s where we try to have most of our teaching moments. Mountain biking is great, but trails can be unpredictable and rocky. Riding the same section of trail or path over and over can also be beneficial. Kids will get used to the trail and can anticipate shifting patterns, which will also build their confidence.

6. Be Patient

Just as teaching a child to ride a bike can take time, the complicated act of shifting will take time for your child to master. I get impatient and frustrated more easily than I’d like, and have to consciously tell myself to chill out.  There are hills I know Cara can climb, but she choose not to. There are times where she is whining and frustrated and wants to give up.  The long term benefits and learning will be worth it. We believe that as our kids learn skills through outdoor activities they will be more confident and capable in all areas of their lives. Perseverance, determination, and not quitting are qualities  we would love our children to develop!


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National Parks Utah WanderLog

We Spend Christmas in Zion National Park

We made the decision last summer to do “one more” winter in the Airstream. Originally we had planned to take a break, rent a house, and teach the kids how to ski. After some long term planning, we decided that 2017/2018 was the ideal time for the that and everyone agreed we’d spend the winter traveling, exploring, and having a last full-time Christmas celebration in our shiny house.

Then the obvious question became “Where?”

Travel Dates: December 17 – 25, 2016

If you’ve learned anything about me, you’ll know that I’m a bit of a scheduler and planner. Add to that the stress of “one more” and needing it to be “epic” I kind of freaked out months before the holiday even arrived. Nothing was good enough. Nowhere seemed right. We’d throw ideas against the wall of the Western states and nothing would stick. I kind of sort of wanted to be near some family, the kids were dying for snow (despite also wanting to be in the Airstream – two things we had always sworn didn’t mix), and Sam wanted to be in the middle of nowhere in the desert. We decided California was too expensive, the Arizona desert was too remote for logistically making Christmas work, and Mexico seemed like a bad idea all around.

Eventually we settled on making reservations for 10 nights at Snow Canyon State Park in southwestern Utah. We had cousins that would be there visiting in-laws, and it was only 5 hours from my parents whom we thought could be enticed down to visit. The temperatures were forecasted to dip below freezing, but with some reflectix in the windows and generator time we thought we could make it work.

As the Christmas holidays crept closer and closer I kept re-thinking that decision. With our stay in Anza-Borrego State Park and the little solar we were able to utilize with the low winter sun, we had to run our generator quite a bit. Snow Canyon has limited generator hours right in the middle of the day (the perfect time to be out exploring) and we were not confident we could recharge after long night of using the furnace to keep warm.

I kept looking for more options and after playing with the idea of spending night at the lodge in Zion National Park, I casually mentioned to Sam that we could just take the Airstream to Zion instead. Watchman Campground was more expensive, but also had electric hook-ups. We’d be plugged in, could use our small space heater, and we’d be in the park to explore over Christmas! The only snag we could envision was the park service getting upset over us bringing in a Christmas tree.

That conversation led to me to remember that a group of traveling friends had camped on BLM land outside La Verkin (about 30 minutes from the entrance to Zion) on a beautiful bluff overlooking the Virgin River. No generator hours, free camping, and freedom to bring in 10 Christmas trees if we really wanted. This quickly became plan A, and we changed our reservations at Snow Canyon to just 3 days right after Christmas to coincide with my parents renting a condo and joining us in St. George for a few days.

After leaving Anza-Borrego we drove north splitting the drive with a stop in Las Vegas, finally arriving at the epic-sounding boondocking spot only to find it was literally a mud pit. We pulled off the side of the road to check it out on foot before driving down the dirt road, and Sam and I both sloshed and slipped in the mud. With rain and possibly snow in the forecast only going to make it worse, we called an audible and drove the 30 minutes into Zion hoping to snag a walk-up site at 5pm on a Monday evening.

Turns out when Plan B is fairly incredible, you don’t mind the change.

Christmas was everything I hoped it would be. We had fabulous weather for a few days and even managed to hike Hidden Canyon with our kids – a fairly steep ascent into a canyon using chains on part of the trail. We saw the Emerald Pools covered in ice, enjoyed the low crowds, bought our small Christmas tree which fit inside the Airstream Christmas Eve,  and woke up to snow on Christmas Day. We snuggled at night to stay warm and just enjoyed one of our nation’s most beautiful parks in all its winter glory.

“Upper Emerald Falls was fairly frozen on our visit yesterday. The kids spent a good 30 minutes using our hiking poles to break up the weaker sections and watch slabs of ice start a journey downriver. @telegramsam  fished this giant piece out and we marveled at the frozen bubbles inside. Not exactly a privacy shield but luckily there were few people up there with us!” -@currentlywandering

Staying right inside a National Park has some perks, including easy access to the park right outside your door. Our afternoon wander provided some excellent views and great fun. Merry Christmas! -@telegramsam

“Our casual drive around Zion turned a little more serious when we decided on a whim to hike Hidden Canyon. The part of the trail that wasn’t steep was cut into the rock and occasionally offered chains for safety. It was a challenge to us all, but most particularly to Cara and Rachel. Everybody was awesome, and we went home tired and happy.” -@telegramsam

“There’s something extra magical about an Airstream Christmas. The snow is sticking to the ground outside and our kids are going to wake up to a blanket of white in a National Park. I can’t wait!”-@currentlywandering

“Snowball fight! We decided to abandon our fancy breakfast plans in favor of a snowball fight before church earlier this morning. Always a good decision.” – @currentlywandering

“The kids opted to stay indoors with new toys (Legos! Paw Patrol! Watercoloring!) this afternoon while @telegramsam and I had a hiking date. We went up Watchman Trail and had fun sloshing in mud and slipping on sections of hard packed snow. I’ve concluded these red rocks all dusted with snow = 😍” – @currentlywandering

Sometimes our plans just fail. More often than not we aren’t sure of our location 2 weeks out. Its part of the lifestyle, and we have learned to roll with it. Sometimes however, things work out more beautifully than we could have imagined.  As Sam and I crunched our way through the snow up to the top of Watchman Trail on our hiking date, we looked at each other and just had to laugh at the winding path we took to get there. We wished everyone we passed a “Merry Christmas” as it truly was one of the best we’ve had yet.