Aber and Out West

We're back to soft fluffy beds, hot showers, and four walls.  Our three week camping road trip of the west has come to an end and we are happily enjoying the comforts of civilization in Cuchara, Colorado.  This will be the first in a series of after the fact blog posts entitled "Aber and Out West" highlighting our road trip.  We planned the trip with the goal of visiting as many western national parks as possible.  We purchased an annual national parks membership card allowing us entry into any of the parks for the next year.  We even bought national parks passports that we stamped with each park's unique cancellation stamp that includes the date of the visit.  With time and budget limitations we left plenty of parks unexplored for future trips and are more inspired than ever to keep them high on our bucket list.  The master list of parks we visited on this trip is as follows: Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Mojave, Sequoia, Joshua Tree, Lake Mead, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Great Sand Dunes.

Top of Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. 1500 feet up from our camp on the valley floor.  The best hike of the trip!

The trip was marked by extreme weather and terrain as well as many firsts for the both of us.  As neither of us had spent much time west of the Continental Divide we were awed by the new landscapes we experienced while driving to each destination.  We became experts at setting up and taking down our "station" as we like to call it and making and breaking camp became a smooth operation.  Our little Toyota Corolla was visibly burdened by the load of camping gear, three weeks worth of food, and our new bikes attached to the trunk but it performed flawlessly on this nearly 3,500 mile road trip.  The trip ended with us both feeling like we had tapped an incredible resource for fun and adventure for many years to come.  Plans are already in the works for a trip to the National Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in our home state.  More posts in this series on the way!

Our "station" at Bryce Canyon National Park.