Our return to Page, Arizona on our 2016 cross-country road trip did not disappoint! Page offers so much for outdoor enthusiasts, and once again we left with the urge to see more. We will be back! Sadly, on our last morning in Page we had to say goodbye to Daddy and the camper. At this point in our trip, he needed to get to our new home in New Mexico and check in with work. He also needed to get…
Wetherill Mesa On our second day visiting Mesa Verde National Park on our 2016 road trip, we decided to visit the Wetherill Mesa. After a busy first day at Chapin Mesa, we were excited for more exploring on day 2! Wetherill Mesa Road is a 12-mile, winding road that splits from the main road near the Far View Area. The road is only open from May through October, weather dependent, and there are some vehicle restrictions. The view from the…
History of Mesa Verde National Park I have visited Mesa Verde National Park many times and it is one of my favorite places to visit. Mesa Verde, meaning “Green Table” in Spanish, is located in the four corners region of southwest Colorado. It is home to close to 5,000 known archaeological sites of the Ancestral Pueblo people including 600 cliff dwellings. The Ancestral Pueblo people called this area home from approximately AD 600 to 1300. The history, culture and artifacts…
After our 2 nights in Nashville, we continued our drive across Tennessee, over the Mississippi River and into Arkansas on our 2016 road trip! We were trying to keep our driving days down to 5-6 hours maximum so that we had time to explore a little bit each day. The drive from Nashville to Hot Springs, Arkansas was about 6 hours. We checked into Catherine’s Landing, our campground for the next 2 nights. This was one of our favorite campgrounds…
After a beautiful morning in downtown Asheville, we began the quick hour and forty-minute drive over to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, our home for the next 3 nights as we explored the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The drive through North Carolina and Tennessee was beautiful. Thankfully I was ahead of Todd on this drive because I was able to warn him that the camper would not be able to make it on some of the curvy roads. He had to…
While living in Washington, DC, I got a lot of recommendations to visit Natural Bridge, Virginia. Natural Bridge is just a short 3 hour and 15-minute drive from the city. I didn’t know much about the area, honestly. But, once I read a little about Natural Bridge, I added it to our DC bucket list. Unfortunately, our weekends during the short time we lived in the area quickly filled up. So, when we began planning this road trip I figured this was…
The Blue Ridge Parkway is an iconic roadway through the Appalachian Highlands with 469 miles of winding roadways and stunning vistas. The Blue Ridge Parkway is the Utah Route 12 of the East Coast. We drove Utah Route 12 last year through breath-taking Utah scenery on our cross-country road trip. This year we decided to drive a portion of the East Coast equivalent, the Blue Ridge Parkway. This drive connects Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National…
If you’ve been following our road trip in chronological order, you’ve probably noticed that we crammed A LOT of sightseeing into the trip so far. Due to a planning error on our part, the second half of our trip was filled with many long days of driving and not a lot of sight-seeing. Luckily we learned from this and spaced out the driving more evenly on our next road trip. Leaving The West Behind After two very long days of driving, we arrived…
When we initially started planning this road trip across the United States, the first location I knew I wanted to include was Mount Rushmore. I tried to include it on our trip to Yellowstone last year, but my husband didn’t approve the additional 8-hour drive. Who knew those western states were so big?! For me, Mount Rushmore is one of those iconic American spots that I had always wanted to visit. But, it’s a bit out of the way. In…
We arrived in Moab late in the afternoon of Day 2 of the road trip after a very busy morning at Bryce Canyon and driving through Utah’s most scenic roads. Moab is the most convenient location to stay when visiting Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. The town is an ideal spot for anyone who loves adventure, as it’s located right in the middle of the two parks. We spent 3 nights at the ACT Campground located about 2.5…