Author: Phillip Doup

Megan’s Take Grand Canyon National Park is busier and more overwhelming than the other places we’ve been in terms of logistics, but of course, it’s beautiful! We started an early hike on the South Kaibab trail to Ooh Aah Point. It was 0.9 miles down, which was fairly easy with the exception of some steep […]

Megan’s Take Today started with a 17-mile scenic drive in Monument Valley at 7 am. I knew it was a must-see, but Phil had to talk me into it. I was worried about rough roads tearing up the truck or leaving us stranded. It turned out that road conditions were really not that bad along […]

Megan’s Take Today started with Mass at St. Rita of Cascia in Mancos CO. I really like visiting new churches when we’re traveling. In our experience, the churches out West are smaller and fewer and further between – not as many Catholics in these parts. St. Rita certainly wasn’t the smallest we’ve been to, but […]

Phil’s Take Megan decided to sit this post out, so it’ll be just me today. The two of us parents have been talking about how there are more benefits to such a trip than just seeing the sights. A perfect example is how we started the day. The kids were playing very nicely with each […]

Megan’s Take First, I want to give a shout-out to the great campgrounds we’ve been to so far. Salina Campground in Salina KS – great laundry room within an indoor recreation room, clean bathrooms, playground and outdoor activities. Great Sand Dunes Oasis – direct views of the national park dune field, clean bathrooms, quiet and […]

Megan’s Take Today’s plans seemed less productive in terms of maximizing our time here – like we didn’t get out of the camper until after 9:30 am and didn’t do any hikes today. But we did take the kids to a science museum called the Powerhouse and visited the train depot in downtown Durango. We […]

Megan’s Take Today was a road trip day! We decided to travel the Million Dollar Highway to Silverton and Ouray. While Emmett and Emilia don’t really appreciate a scenic drive like we do, they were cooperative and kept themselves busy in the truck. We drove straight to Ouray with beautiful views all along the way, […]

Megan’s Take Thank God our children slept in! Based on her attitude, I suspect Emilia was up earlier, but Phil, Emmett and I slept until closer to 7:30 am. We really needed that rest. This morning, we went to Great Sand Dunes National Park to say goodbye. We hiked the 0.5 mile Montville nature trail, […]

Megan’s Take The kids got to bed at 10:30 pm last night, almost 3 hours past their usual bedtime, so I thought they might sleep in. But no, they were up before 6 am… Today was spent exploring the Great Sand Dunes National Park. Emilia got her first Junior Ranger badge, and both kids had […]