She's Camping at Coral Pink, a Summer 2022 Southern Utah Trip Report

[GrandCalifornian]

Welcome everyone! Thanks for joining in as we talk about a different type of trip from our WDW adventures, but it is a more common trip for us. This was our 28th annual visit to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Southern Utah.

We go in July every year and normally it’s a pretty long camping trip.

First things first, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Paul, a now 42 year old Dad, engineer, car guy, and aspiring elevator mechanic.


I would also like to clarify that I have not been on all 28 of these trips, my first trip was in 2003.


I think you’re now officially an elevator mechanic…

I guess I am a full on elevator guy, with the license to prove it.

I’m Melissa, I drug Paul into the whole elevator business.


I love cows and animals and being outside. While our Disney trips are my favorite vacations, I also enjoy getting away and camping.

For me, visiting Utah started back in 1994 when I was starting High School and we were looking for a place cool enough to drive our dune buggies during summer vacation. We decided to make the trip from Southern California to Utah, and discovered the beauty of Coral Pink. We have been back every year since, so it has become quite a tradition.




A little history of us, Paul and I met in the early 90’s when we were just kids when our parents started camping together at the dunes with our dune buggies. We tease all the time that our marriage was arranged.

Yeah, it is kind of neat marrying one of my friends' daughters.

We didn’t however, start dating until I was out of high school and Coral Pink was one of the first camping trips we went on together as an official couple.

Before our Disneyland wedding and WDW honeymoon we made quite a few trips to the Utah sand dunes.

I’d like to also clarify our usage of the term “camping”.

Oh yes, even in the dunes we are much more "Wilderness Lodge" than "Fort Wilderness in a tent".

I don’t really like tents, and being in the rain, and all the giant bugs. We are more like “glampers”.

We have our own RV with nice real beds and satelite TV. We would love to take it to Fort Wilderness someday, but the time and effort to go across the country make it an impossibility for now, so we camp near home and enjoy nicer hotels at WDW.

I guess we should also introduce the kids, we have two, Allison is 12.


For this trip she was on summer break between 6th and 7th grade.

Marshall is 6, and has just completed Kindergrten.


He loves cars and trucks and anything that goes.

This trip took place July 27-30, 2022. With my recent job change and our earlier Hawaii trip, we couldn't take the usual 10 day trip. Because of random circumstances, many of the friends we usually go with weren't able to make it either, so we were only joined on this year's trip by my parents, Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy.

It was also a much shorter trip than we were used to but it was a nice break from the day to day and a last good trip before school started.

We started the trip by getting up early on a Wednesday morning and loading up all of us in the truck with our four dogs and heading North. We were on the road by 4 AM.

Ah yes, we should introduce those kids too because while they’ve stayed home for all of our other trips, they join us on our camping trips.


First up we have Shelby, she’s our old girl at 11 years old. She’s probably a Shepherd Husky mix but we’re not sure. She’s about 75 pounds and rules the roost.

Then we have the Corgis. Ratchet is Allie's dog, a six year old male corgi. He loves being his girl's dog.

Then there’s Socket, she’s 4 and WAS the baby until just recently.

She is one of Ratchet's sister's puppies, so they are related but she's not one to admit it. She is Melissa's dog, but more of a princess.

Maverick is our newest addition, a German Shepherd puppy who is just plain goofy.

We were concerned about how everyone would fit in the front of the crew cab truck but somehow we squeezed in all 8 of us in the cab.

It was good for family togetherness, and a nice introduction to camping for Maverick.

We’ve had some requests to do a trip report for this trip and while we’re both a little skeptical about how much info we can pack into this report we’re excited to relive it with all of our friends.

We'll see how it goes, and share a little bit of our love for this beautiful area of the country along the way.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Table of Contents

Arrival Day
Thursday Morning Exploring
Thursday Afternoon and Evening
Friday Fun
Heading Home on Saturday

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Awesome-sauce! I love Utah trips!

 

[nascargirl]

Trip sounds amazing so far. Looking forward to the rest of it.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Awesome-sauce! I love Utah trips!

It is such a beautiful state. We love hanging out there.

Trip sounds amazing so far. Looking forward to the rest of it.

Thanks, we will kick it off with the first day shortly. We're glad you're following along.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

So, let's kick this trip off. As I mentioned before, we got up early and hit the road before 4AM. I hooked up the trailer to the truck the night before, so we pretty much just had to wake up the kids and load everyone in the truck.


It’s was an early morning but heading out early helps with the heat and helps if something goes wrong along the way. It’s never a bad thing to be early.

We also were driving all the way through in one shot this time, where usually we spend a night in Mesquite Nevada on the way. Going through the desert it is nice to beat the heat, since we pass nearby Death Valley where we see temperatures over 110 degrees. We made it to Barstow and got McDonalds for breakfast at 6:15.

The Barstow McDonalds is not a trip highlight. It’s one of the few places though we can park the whole rig and get something to eat though. Paul took the kids inside to order and I hung out with the dogs to make sure Maverick didn’t try and destroy the truck.


He's still a puppy and we were not going to leave him unsupervised. We actually had a dog eat my Dad's truck seat once on the way to a Coral Pink trip when I was in high school. By the way, that dog went on to live a happy life, and did not meet his demise when we discovered the truck damage, but it still is a sore subject with Grandpa Jim.

Oh poor Charles, thunder storms are scary!

We managed to enjoy our breakfast in the truck without sharing with the dogs.

After Barstow we were looking at another 6 hour drive so we were about to have a lot of togetherness.

We are all used to long drives, but we weren't sure how we'd all do with this one. Fortunately Maverick settled in, and Melissa brough a new game for us to all play. It is called Shotgun, and is a game made for road trips.


It was HILARIOUS! I completely recommend it for long trips. The more people the better but we easily played with the four of us even with Marshall being little. We loosely kept score which drove Allison nuts. She’s really competitive and when I’d randomly score 85 points she’d just loose it. It seriously was so good though. Everytime we’d have to take a break the kids would ask if we could keep playing. We played it all the way to Utah.



The drive went well, but we noticed the truck wasn't pulling as well as usual as we climbed the last big hill before Las Vegas. We pulled over at a rest stop and found that an intake line had a crack in it, which was actually really good news since it provided an explanation as to why it wasn't running well. I tried taping it up, but oily duct tape was no match for the turbo boost, and it was still slow. We made it to the top of the hill at about 30 miles per hour, then headed down the hill across the Nevada state line and towards Las Vegas.

At least we weren’t looking at replacing the whole turbo, we might have had to sell a kid for that. After we left the rest area I got to work on the phone to try and find a part number and locate somewhere in Vegas that would have the part we needed. I found it at a Ford dealership that isn’t too far off the 15 freeway and they said they’d hold it for us. It only ended up being 160 dollars for the part which considering that we were on the road, didn’t need to be towed, and wasn’t the turbo didn’t seem bad to me.

Even better, the dealership that we had never been to had a nice spot to park the truck and trailer on the street just outside the parts department. I got the hose and was looking at installing it when I figured out a way to do it with the truck running.



That meant we could leave the air conditioner on for the kids and dogs. It went perfectly, and we were back on the road within 15 minutes. We headed North and left Las Vegas by 10:30.

He’s such a handy guy to have around.

Fortunately I didn't have to do any more handy work to make it to our destination. We always talk about Disney trips being so easy, because we aren't responsible for the logistics of hauling everything for the trip with us.

It’s so true, camping is way more work, but still fun and time way from the daily grind. It’s good for the kids too.

Back on the road we picked up the Shotgun game again and as soon as we got on the freeway we pulled a card that said “Call someone on speaker phone and tell them a knock knock joke. If they laugh you get a point” More hilarity ensued as we tried calling people to tell them lame knock knock jokes. We were all awarded 25 points for our efforts.

It was fun. Officially the driver isn't allowed to play, but there are cards for them and plenty they can join in on.


We stopped for fuel at Moapa, where Diesel was almost $2 a gallon cheaper than at home. We also made lunch while we were stopped, and enjoyed sandwiches before getting back on the road.

It’s nice to break up the long drive with a couple breaks to stretch legs, and eat some real food. I get hangry if I don’t get to eat a real lunch.

The trip from Moapa into Utah through the Virgin river gorge was beautiful but rather uneventful which was a blessing.

It is an amazing transition as you move from Nevada into Arizona and then Utah.


The terrain just gets to be so beautiful, and the Virgin River gorge is spectacular.

We had great weather all morning until we got up to the plateau above Hurricane Utah. We started getting some pretty heavy rain.

We always talk about going up to Utah to get to see rain and thunderstorms, since we have had rain in some form every year. This time we were slightly concerned because one of the two ways into the park had been washed out by a rain storm a few days before we left home. We saw it had been repaired, which would save us at least an hour drive on the way into the park.

But now it was raining so I was a little concerned about the road. Much to my relief at about Apple Valley it cleared up a bit and we stopped for drinks and icecreams.



The rain lightened and we thought it would blow over, but as we started the last portion of the drive it started to rain, and rain hard. We have been in some hard rain before, but this was really substantial. It got worse, and soon visibility down to about 40 feet.


Eh 40 feet is generous, it is some of the hardest rain I’ve ever seen. It was insane and enough to make me want to crawl under the truck seat and hide. And now we were both really worried about the road but we continued through… slowly.

It was right about now that we got a weather alert on our phones that travel was only advised if fleeing the storm.


We continued on carefully, since now we were only about 20 minutes from the campground.

As we made our way up Cane Beds Rd. which is where we turn off the highway the rain started letting up. There was evidence of flash flooding though and there were large amounts of water coming off the cliffs.


We just continued on, and figured we'd go until we had to cross water that we weren't comfortable crossing and then re-assess. Fortunately, we made it across the earler wash out and to within sight of the park entrance before the road had water wasjing over it and there was a Ranger Jeep on the other side.


We paused for a moment but she drove over the dirt in the Jeep and told us to pull into the park. Turns out there was a rather large washover on the other side of the park entrance so if we’d come the other way we would have been delayed quite a bit while they cleared the road.


We had made it, and for the 28th July in a row were at the park. We found our spot right next to my parents, and set up our campsite.


It was still raining lightly off and on, but nothing compared to what we had earlier. Soon we were able to take the dogs for a walk to go see where the road had washed out on the other side of the park.


Maverick definatley needed the walk but the other dogs were happy chillin in the trailer. They’re veteran travelers at this point.

We got to explore the area and stretch our legs, and stopped back by the ranger station and found that they now sell ice creams, which seemed like the perfect way to celebrate our arrival.


The ranger station is always a nice destination, and besides ice cream they have a collection of sand from around the world and microscopes to view it with. There's also Harry, a snake who has lived there for over ten years.


Yeah Harry is a pretty cute gopher snake and it’s been fun to watch him grow. They also sell firewood, t-shirts, and rent sand boards. The rangers and the other people working are always so nice to chat with too.


They also have wifi which is a nice way to check in with home. There’s absolutely no cell service in the park so we can go through minor withdrawls.

The WiFi is a new addition, we used to have to drive 20-30 minutes to communicate with the outside world. We actually enjoy being a little disconnected, and not on call all the time.

We stopped by Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy's rental motorhome on our way back to our trailer. It was a nice place to hang out and chat.


We then walked back to the trailer and made dinner. We had Chinese Chicken Salad from Costco, which was a quick easy thing to make.

We often do this for dinner on arrival days when camping. It’s quick, easy, doesn’t require cooking, and a crowd pleaser.

It's good stuff. We didn't do much the rest of the night, since it was still raining off and on. Marshall did a little bit of RC driving before sunset.


After that we just hung out in the trailer, and then went to bed since it had been a long day, and we were glad to have made it there successfully.

Stay tuned for more Utah fun, a trip to Kanab, drone flying, card playing campfire making camping.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

As I once heard mentioned in an educational movie at a national park, all that Utah rain is part of what helps form the interesting terrain there. It also made your trip more adventurous. Glad you got there OK even with the vehicle issue and the rough weather. The road trip card game looks super fun!

 

[Wood Nymph]

This trip took place July 27-30, 2022. With my recent job change and our earlier Hawaii trip, we couldn't take the usual 10 day trip. Because of random circumstances, many of the friends we usually go with weren't able to make it either, so we were only joined on this year's trip by my parents, Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy.

It sounds like these trips are a well-established tradition that everyone looks forward to every year. Does it always occur at the end of July?

Paul took the kids inside to order and I hung out with the dogs to make sure Maverick didn’t try and destroy the truck.

It looks like Maverick has the best seat in the truck.

After we left the rest area I got to work on the phone to try and find a part number and locate somewhere in Vegas that would have the part we needed. I found it at a Ford dealership that isn’t too far off the 15 freeway and they said they’d hold it for us.

That was very lucky to find a part, have it be so close to where you were, and have Paul fix it. Your whole vacation could have been messed up if you were somewhere else, like Death Valley, when the leak happened.

It’s nice to break up the long drive with a couple breaks to stretch legs, and eat some real food. I get hangry if I don’t get to eat a real lunch.

Even though sandwiches can be boring, they are often better and a lot faster than restaurant food. We started bringing a picnic lunch with us for long trips during the pandemic, when so many places were closed or you had to eat in your car.

We had made it, and for the 28th July in a row were at the park. We found our spot right next to my parents, and set up our campsite.

How many miles away is this place from home?

It's good stuff. We didn't do much the rest of the night, since it was still raining off and on. Marshall did a little bit of RC driving before sunset.

Is it usual to encounter rain during your July trips?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

As I once heard mentioned in an educational movie at a national park, all that Utah rain is part of what helps form the interesting terrain there. It also made your trip more adventurous. Glad you got there OK even with the vehicle issue and the rough weather. The road trip card game looks super fun!

Yeah, kind of like Florida we don’t mind the rain and come to expect it. We appreciate how it cools down days that otherwise would have been too hot. We do t get to see much rain at home so we usually don’t mind it there, this just was really hard rain.

It sounds like these trips are a well-established tradition that everyone looks forward to every year. Does it always occur at the end of July?

We have moved the trip around just a little bit from early July to later in the month, but all 28 of them have been in July. We also went up once in October, but by that time of year it starts to cool down and there are riding spots closer to home.

It looks like Maverick has the best seat in the truck.

He did pretty well, and the other dogs were tolerant of him. A few times he rolled off onto the floor and landed on whoever was there, but they sorted it out.

That was very lucky to find a part, have it be so close to where you were, and have Paul fix it. Your whole vacation could have been messed up if you were somewhere else, like Death Valley, when the leak happened.

Yeah, we first noticed the leak near Baker, which is ironically the gateway to Death Valley and a notoriously hot part of the desert. We were able to continue on and make it to Las Vegas where fortunately there are multiple Ford dealers and one had what we needed without too much of a detour.

Even though sandwiches can be boring, they are often better and a lot faster than restaurant food. We started bringing a picnic lunch with us for long trips during the pandemic, when so many places were closed or you had to eat in your car.

Yeah one of the benefits of having the trailer is we have the space and stuff to make a lunch on the way. It was nice to use the trailer on the road more this time, because it wasn’t full of dune buggies like usual.

How many miles away is this place from home?

It is 421 miles from home to Coral Pink, but the last 100 or so are nice and pretty.

Is it usual to encounter rain during your July trips?

Yes, we have had some rain every year and we do enjoy it. Usually it isn’t this hard of rain but it is something to see either way.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

After such a long day the day before I was really excited to just sleep in and have a lazy morning. We put our old Sleep Number mattress in our trailer so our bed is just so comfy. You can hardly call it camping.

The dogs got me up fairly early, so I took them out for a morning walk around the campground.



Much like Disney World, I enjoy the park early in the morning.

And I enjoy my sleep. We didn’t do anything special for breakfast, we brought some pastry so everyone just kinda fended for themselves when they were hungry.

We did a Costco run before the trip and brought some good pastries and snacks. The food is always a nice part of the trip.

Marshall and I went and hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's motorhome for a bit and chatted while the girls slept in.


On a 10 day trip we have intense meal planning because we don’t like to buy groceries while we’re up there but since this trip was so much shorter the planning was much more relaxed.

It was a lot less work being a shorter trip. Grandpa, Marshall and I went for a walk around the campground, and we visited the dunes overlook pier, which was built about 10 years ago to give day use visitors a better view of the dunes. It is a unique structure.




While they were out for their walk I got up and showered and cleaned up a little bit, nothing super exciting. I had downloaded a couple of books on audible for the trip and enjoyed listening to them. There’s no cell reception at all so making sure there’s stuff to keep busy is nice.

After the overlook, we headed back to our campsite and Marshall wanted to play with the RC cars. Never being one to object to that I got them out. The bigger 4wd truck did great in the sand, and Marshall had a ball.



Then I got out a drone and made a flight over the dunes. I even spotted Bigfoot in the trees.



Last year the new head ranger came up with kind of a cute idea to drive interest at the park and put a life size Sasquatch statue in the dunes. His name is Sandsquatch.

It is another great marketing move for the park, and they heven have T-shirts and stickers that they give a discount on to guests who post their Bigfoot pictures to social media. This time I visited him by air.

You can access Sandsquatch through the dunes either with an offroad vehicle (think quad or side by side) or with an ATV tour. I don’t think it’s hikable. At least not by normal people.

It can be done, but it is usually a pretty long hot walk through soft sand. The Rangers give tips as to where to find him, and people do make the trek.

Really? Wow, I wouldn’t recommend it if it’s hot, the sand can be brutally hot and tough to walk through.

After some fun at the campsite, we decided to head in to the nearby town of Kanab. It is the closest city to the state park, abd about 20 minutes away.

On the way in we saw the results of the rain the day befoire, where meadows along the road were flooded.


We also saw cows on the way in.



There’s a couple of herds of cows that graze on the federal lands in the area and they new babies are always fun to see.

Melissa loves cows, and seeing cows in the dunes is always a treat. We have cow pictures from each of our trips.

The drive into town is just spectacular and there’s a ton to see. We drive right by Best Friend’s Animal Sanctuary and Moqui Cave. Moqui cave is kinda neat to see but very much a tourist trap.


The area is very popular with tourists, since it is surrounded by Zion, Bryce, and Grand Canyon National Parks as well as Lake Powell. We did Moqui cave our first year, and waited about another 20 before going back. It is literally a hole in the wall place on the side of the road, and they charge admission to get in and see their collections of odd objects. It is the definition of a tourist trap.

Yeah my advice is to skip it.

In Kanab we have some favorite places that we visit each year to shop, including the Cedar Post pawn shop and the Hospital Auxiliaary Thrift Store. Not typical tourist destinations for most people, but we enjoy them.

Our first stop was the pawn shop. Paul and the kids went inside while I hung out in the truck and babysat Maverick. He cannot be trusted to be left alone in the truck, he’d for sure destroy something so we hung out together

Marshall and I picked up a few tools, and Allie got a set of headphones.

Because Maverick ate her other set of headphones....

Exactly.

After the pawn shop we stopped at the thrift store, I got some work done in the parking lot while everyone else went in.

Marshall got a couple of toy cars, then we went on towards another favorite stop, Crosby's feed and hardware store on the East end of town.

Your parents were looking for a fly swatter I think. The feed store is always fun to visit. Oh and Maverick needed a leash because he ate that too.

In there we looked around for other things we couldn't live without, and wound up with more toy trucks for Marshall and a Yellow T-shirt for Allie.

While we were there I got a call from work that we got served with a records request, while I was dealing with that over the phone the kids checked out the chickens.



We all enjoyed seeing the birds, since we now have chickens of our own at home, and this was our first time leaving them home.

Luckily I was able to get things figured out at work rather quickly and put off stuff until I got back but official court business is always stressful. I let myself get back on vacation and we headed over to Big Al’s at the Junction for lunch. We love this hamburger joint and highly recommend it.


This is another local tradition for us, a family owned small town burger place that's unique and fun. I highly recommend the Big Red, which is a burger topped with Ham and bacon.


I always enjoy it, and we visit at least once every trip.

There are tables outside and it was really nice day.


Maverick hung out with us at lunch and was a really good boy. He’s got a lot of learning to do and he was a good boy while we all ate.

It was nice to be able to eat outside, and the crowd wasn't too bad since it was after noon and midweek. If you're ever in Kanab, plan on spending some time at the Junction, it is well worth the usual wait.

Stay tuned for our after lunch shenanigans.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

LOL about Sandsquatch, that was a cute idea, and fun that they implemented it.

Too bad Big Al the Country Bear didn't join you for lunch!

Yes, the areas around Kanab have some world-class scenery.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Marshall and I went and hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's motorhome for a bit and chatted while the girls slept in.

That's nice that you can spend some time with your parents. Do you live close to them at home?

I see that they are playing Dominoes. Is that a good game for two people?

Grandpa, Marshall and I went for a walk around the campground, and we visited the dunes overlook pier, which was built about 10 years ago to give day use visitors a better view of the dunes. It is a unique structure.

The structure is nice, but is there any reason to sit for a while?

Last year the new head ranger came up with kind of a cute idea to drive interest at the park and put a life size Sasquatch statue in the dunes. His name is Sandsquatch.

I love Sandsquatch. That is a clever idea.

In Kanab we have some favorite places that we visit each year to shop, including the Cedar Post pawn shop and the Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Store. Not typical tourist destinations for most people, but we enjoy them.

It is all about the traditions and memories, more than the actual destination. I remember all the little shops we used to visit in the town near our grandma's cabin when we were kids. It was part of the fun.

Luckily I was able to get things figured out at work rather quickly and put off stuff until I got back but official court business is always stressful.

I always had to plan vacations around payroll when I was still working. I remember sitting in the desk area of the fourth floor at Wilderness Lodge trying to get a payroll problem fixed.

Was it hard to get away from work issues when you did a ten-day trip?

 

[GrandCalifornian]

LOL about Sandsquatch, that was a cute idea, and fun that they implemented it.

They have a new younger head ranger, and he is doing some great modern marketing.

Too bad Big Al the Country Bear didn't join you for lunch!

Lol yeah. I could see the country bears eating there on vacation.

Yes, the areas around Kanab have some world-class scenery.

They really do. It is a spectacular place to visit.

That's nice that you can spend some time with your parents. Do you live close to them at home?

They live about 4-5 hours away in Arizona. We don't get to be together as much as we'd all like, but we do see each other quite a bit.

I see that they are playing Dominoes. Is that a good game for two people?

Marshall and Grandma play with the dominoes, but don't play the actual game yet. He created a battle game this time where they built and defended forts. He had a ball.

The structure is nice, but is there any reason to sit for a while?

No, not really, but the view of the sand dunes is good from there. Most people only sit for a few minutes though.

I love Sandsquatch. That is a clever idea.

It really is, and people get into it.

It is all about the traditions and memories, more than the actual destination. I remember all the little shops we used to visit in the town near our grandma's cabin when we were kids. It was part of the fun.

Yes, we always think about all the fun we have had up there, and getting to continue the tradition was great.

I always had to plan vacations around payroll when I was still working. I remember sitting in the desk area of the fourth floor at Wilderness Lodge trying to get a payroll problem fixed. Was it hard to get away from work issues when you did a ten-day trip?

You know exactly how it is. We never fully get away from work issues, but not having cell service does help a little bit. Over time Melissa (and now I) have more responsibility at work, so it is harder to get away for as long. Eventually we hope to be able to do longer trips again, but for now we are glad to get even a short break from the business, even if it is interrupted by minor issues.

 

[idayrarecorded]

Awesome-sauce! I love Utah trips!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

When we left off, we had just finished lunch at The Junction. Grandma and Grandpa had finished all of their shopping, so they headed back to the campground. We needed a few more things so we went across the street to the local grocery store.


Honey’s is a great neighborhood market. They’ve always had everything we needed while we’re on vacation, even occaional weird stuff too. Paul and the kids went in and grabbed what we forgot to bring, I don’t remember what it was, while I babysat Maverick in the truck.

It is a cool store, but it is closed on Sundays. Something to remember if you're planning a trip to town. I don't remember what we got either, but we looked at cookies and chips and lots of other yummy things, along with camping supplies, toiletries, and even t-shirts. On the way out we got tokens to ride the merry go round. They have a coin operated carousel that the kids have ridden their entire lives, and they did it again this trip.



It’s super cute and fun, the kids enjoy it. After we were done at Honey’s we made one more stop looking for a leash fro Maverick at a local pet store. They didn’t have what we were looking for but we got him a new toy to chew on and keep him busy.

Ahh yeah. After that we continued the pet theme by driving the slightly longer way back to the campground and driving by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.


This establishment has been in the Kanab area as long as we have been going up there, and it has grown to be a huge thing. They have a lot of land, and take care of a lot of different typoes of animals. We didn't stop this time, but the drive is pretty.


They have a visitor center you can stop at and tours and things. You can even volunteer if you want, we’ve never done that but it seems like a neat thing to do. If nothing else the drive through the canyon is pretty.


Then we made our way across Highway 89 and towards the sand dunes. We had one more stop though, at the large meadow near the corner of sand dunes road and Hancock Road. This was initially suggested as a camping location for us since it is an oen field on BLM land, but the issue is that when it rains it becomes a small lake. Today though there were cows along the water's edge, which made it worth stopping to get some pictures.
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Yup, gotta stop and moo at the cows and take some pictures.


Then we went back to the State Park and took our dogs out for a walk. The other three had stayed in the trailer while we were in town and were ready to get out and explore for a few minutes.


After our walk, Allie and I got out the Skip-Bo cards. It’d been a long time since I had played but we figured it out and had a lot of fun.


I had never played it before, and it was an interesting learning experience. We were able to sit outside and play, which was nice since the clouds were really pretty.


Then Allie decided that we needed to play Life the board game, it’s her absolute favorite.


We hadn’t had dinner yet though so Paul set up the barbeque and we put on some burgers.

We ate the burgers outside, but were joined by some annoying yellowjacket wasps. This often happens up there, and I always forget about it until we go to eat outside. I still enjoy it though.

Oh man the yellowjackets. They freak the kids out. All they want is meat and they’re a little jerky, we’ve never been stung but they are hugely annoying.

The Life Game went on for quite a while after dinner and past sunset, with Melissa emerging victorious. The kids really enjoyed playing it though.

It was an epic game of life, it felt like it lasted forever.


Grandma and Grandpa came over and were ready for a campfire, so we lit one and just had to have smores for dessert.



We were camping after all.

That made a great way to conclude the night, and soon we were off to bed. It was a great day in Southern Utah.

Come back for more fun, pie for breakfast, puppy antics and minor catastrophes.

All part of the fun.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Wow, you had burgers for lunch and dinner that day?

Regular game of Life? I like Pirates of the Caribbean Life and Haunted Mansion Life even better. Have you played those too?

The campfire with smores looks awesome!

 

[Wood Nymph]

On the way out we got tokens to ride the merry go round. They have a coin operated carousel that the kids have ridden their entire lives, and they did it again this trip.

I haven't seen one of those small carousels in years. It's a good thing Allie still fits on it.

Then Allie decided that we needed to play Life the board game, it’s her absolute favorite.

Our grandkids love to play Life. In fact, we just played it on Saturday when Luke was here for his 13th birthday party. (Happy birthday to Allie! ) We play an older version of Life. The game we like is from the 80's. I had bought a newer version a few years ago and it is a very different game which I don't like.

Grandma and Grandpa came over and were ready for a campfire, so we lit one and just had to have smores for dessert.

You have to have a campfire with smores for dessert. It's the best part of camping.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Wow, you had burgers for lunch and dinner that day?

We did… I am a burger guy and could have them all the time. This time it just worked out that it was an easy BBQ meal to pack.

Regular game of Life? I like Pirates of the Caribbean Life and Haunted Mansion Life even better. Have you played those too?

We have Haunted Mansion Life at home. The Disney versions are fun, but we still don’t wind up playing them a whole lot.

The campfire with smores looks awesome!

It was nice, and very much a camping thing to do. We were glad it didn’t rain.

I haven't seen one of those small carousels in years. It's a good thing Allie still fits on it.

Lol yes! She didn’t do it at first, but hopped in for the second ride. Not exactly a WDW ride but it’s tradition.

Our grandkids love to play Life. In fact, we just played it on Saturday when Luke was here for his 13th birthday party. (Happy birthday to Allie! ) We play an older version of Life. The game we like is from the 80's. I had bought a newer version a few years ago and it is a very different game which I don't like.

That’s neat. Happy Birthday to your grandson. Allie had a fun birthday week and we got her tickets to go see Hamilton in a few weeks. She is excited about that, and Marshall will stay with a friend so we will have a night out with the three of us.

You have to have a campfire with smores for dessert. It's the best part of camping.

Yes it is. We had rain the night before so we were extra glad to get to do it.

 

[Kate_45]

Hiya. This is great, I'm really enjoying reading, thanks.

We're visiting south utah area in May 2023, to visit Mesa Verde and other national parks. Flying into Denver from Peru and back to the UK from Las Vegas. You said that your parents rented a motorhome. We'd like to do that for our trip but the only quote we got was crazy money. Do you have any recommendations of websites to look at for this?

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to the next installment.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Hiya. This is great, I'm really enjoying reading, thanks.

We're visiting south utah area in May 2023, to visit Mesa Verde and other national parks. Flying into Denver from Peru and back to the UK from Las Vegas. You said that your parents rented a motorhome. We'd like to do that for our trip but the only quote we got was crazy money. Do you have any recommendations of websites to look at for this?

Thanks in advance. Looking forward to the next installment.

Hello! We are glad that you are enjoying the report. We have been busy and haven’t had the time to add to it recently, but we will have another post soon.

My parents did a private RV rental from rvshare.com. It was less expensive to rent someone’s personal RV than to use a big business. Kind of like air BnB for RVs. It still wasn’t inexpensive, but by renting it close to the park it saved them quite a bit of money on fuel. I believe they spent a few hundred dollars a night plus a cleaning fee and the camp site fee, but it was more fun than a hotel would have been for a similar cost.

For your trip it would likely be more expensive to rent an RV for a one way trip to cover that much area. Maybe you could consider also renting one once you got near a particular park area. That’s something we love about Southern Utah, there are a lot of parks relatively close together. Happy planning and enjoy your trip.