Life On The High Way
The Travels and Adventures of the High Family
Our First Day Out in Luanda
I was trying to post about our travel and first few days in Luanda, but I’m still not done with those posts. If I wait to do this chronologically it may never happen so I’m jumping in with our first Saturday in Luanda and will hopefully post about the trip here soon.
Also, disclaimer… I am mainly blogging for myself and my family. I have looked back on our RV blog several times and it is so lovely to have a record of our time spent traveling the US. I hope to do that with our time in Luanda.
I suppose I should start with Friday evening. We met several other families at the pool around 5 pm. We brought sausages and chicken hot dogs to grill. The chicken hot dogs were the only hot dogs I could find until someone told me the are actually packaged in a jar here. Now I know to look for hot dogs in jars. We headed to the rec center thinking we would be there for two hours max which was not the case. Since we had been quarantining for two weeks before our departure it was so nice to be around other people. Hudson and Lucy were swimming and playing with other kids. We were having adult conversations which mostly revolved around where to go grocery shopping. It was really nice. It was also really late by the time we got home. I think our kids went to bed around 10:30 pm. We all woke up late Saturday morning and were moving slow. I think Lucy didn’t wake up until 10 am. By the time we got ourselves dressed and ready it was almost lunchtime. I decided we are instituting a family curfew.
Our plans included going out for lunch and then doing some more shopping. Chevron gave us some food when we arrived, but it was a little odd. We have four huge boxes of Corn Flakes, 4 jars of jelly, pounds and pounds of rice, the thinnest steaks I have ever seen in my life and chicken breast. I tried to cook the steaks one night. We ate them, but really would have rather not. There is more food, but it is not what we want as a family or exactly a full pantry. I had gone to ShopRite, a South African grocery chain, on Friday, which was an experience I’ll recount later, but we still needed a few more things as you do when you move into a new place.
There is a large shopping center near us that had some restaurants so we had Emerson, our driver, take us there. To enter the center, you are required to wear a mask and provide proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test result. We walked to the restaurant and sat outside. It was an interesting dining experience. I keep thinking something will be easy here, but so far it’s all been a little hard. That’s not to say we aren’t enjoying ourselves, but when everything is different – even the dining experience – you expend a lot of effort which in the end just makes you tired. Going out to eat used to be relaxing for me, but this wasn’t. I’m sure it will get easier over time. Remember, this was our first time out as a family. It also didn’t help that we were all tired and a little cranky.
The waiter brought one menu to the table and gave it to Jordan. I waited for mine for a few seconds and then realized I wasn’t getting one. In all fairness, Jordan is better at Portuguese than I am so it probably made sense for him to order. I’m already practicing how to ask for a menu for the next time we go out though. Lucy ordered fish sticks, Hudson ordered a hamburger, and Jordan and I split was ended up basically being a huge plate of grilled meat that included octopus, tuna, chicken, and beef. The food was ok. Hudson’s hamburger wasn’t quite what he is used to in America. He had a bit of a hard time at the restaurant. I realized that it wasn’t really about the restaurant though. He was tired, and had endured a lot of change over the past week. I knew at some point he would hit a wall, as we all would, and his just happened to be at Taverna de Belas.
While Jordan waited for the check, I took the kids inside to a gelato shop. I can stumble my way through ordering (although I did order the wrong size cup), but the hardest part for me is payment. The money here is so different. 5,000 aoa (kwanzas) is about $9 USD. Our gelato bill was 13,000 aoa. If the amount is on the register and I can see it I can count out my kwanzas, but if the cashier tells me what the amount is I have no idea what he or she is saying. I’m working on learning 1 – 10 in Portuguese, but my time might be better spent learning how to say 13,000, 20,000, etc. I asked them to write the amount down for me and when I say I asked them I mean I used hand symbols trying to get my point across. The cashier obliged. I counted out my money and the kids sat and ate their gelato. It seems cliche to say, but I already have so much more empathy for people who are in a foreign country who do not speak the language or use the local currency. It’s much harder than I anticipated. I think I am a fairly intelligent human, but I felt pretty stupid when I was trying to pay for my kid’s ice cream.
We walked around Belas and I was surprised to see that there were a lot of stores. There is a store that sells luxury brands like Burberry, Marc Jacobs, etc. There is also an Aldo, a sporting goods store, a toy store, and an electronics store. We didn’t purchase anything (the prices are exorbitant), but it is nice to know if there is an emergency we can get something. I don’t know what emergency would necessitate a Burberry purchase, but I’ll keep you posted.
From Belas we went to Candando. Candando is Luanda’s version of Target. There is the regular Candando, where we went, and the Big Candando which I may venture to this coming week. We were able to buy a lot of things we “need:” deli meat, chips, produce (but no strawberries or broccoli), sandwich bags, beer, soy sauce, and a lot of other items so I can prepare lunch and dinner this week. Since it’s similar to a Target, there is also a toy aisle that included Barbies. I was curious how much a Barbie cost, so I did the conversion my mouth dropped when I read $50! Fifty dollars for one Barbie. The Barbie set with the ambulance cost over $200. People advised us to bring a lot of items, such as toys, birthday presents, etc. to Luanda for this very reason. My understanding is that prices are so high given everything is imported and there is a level of corruption to bring items into the country. Lucy didn’t want the Barbie, but she did want a $75 baby doll. I told her no which then cued her time to meltdown. Lucy doesn’t really meltdown in an epic way (we went though plenty of that in the toddler years), but she will throw a lot of side eye, make comments under her breath and generally have a bad attitude. Once again, I realized it wasn’t just about the baby doll, just like Hudson’s hard time was more than just a hamburger. She recovered, eventually.
Emerson met us at the checkout counter and helped get our groceries in the cart and then into the car. I’m so thankful for him. He really has been so helpful as we navigate life in Angola. A fellow expat told us that our driver is more like an assistant and Emerson is definitely stepping up to that level. He speaks some English which is not common, but for which we are very grateful.
Once we made it home, we were all pretty spent. We unloaded groceries and all found a quiet place to reset. After a while, Hudson went to another boy’s house to play, Jordan ventured back out so we can get better internet, and Lucy and I headed to the pool where she saw friends she made last night.
We came home and had leftovers for dinner. I went to bed super early and hope to run our neighborhood loop tomorrow morning.
Our first day out was a success overall! Everything is a little harder here, but I am hopeful we will adjust and it will feel like home soon!
We are here! We actually moved to Luanda!
We are here! Almost two years after we were planning to move to Luanda, Angola for Jordan’s job we landed and I am currently sitting in our house on the west coast of Africa. I will continue sitting in this house because we are under a three-day quarantine. It might be ten. At some point we thought it might be 14. We are hoping to get some clarity today. The questionable quarantine length is perfect example of the uncertainities and flexibility we have had to acquire for this assignment. My new mantra is “Plan as best you can and then figure out the rest as you go.”
The timeline below recaps the roller coaster that we have been on.
September 2019 – Jordan tells me there is an opportunity in Angola and would I consider moving there. I said YES!
October 2019 – We found out that Jordan got the job and we are over the moon with excitement. I mentally start planning all the trips we are going to take while living in Angola.
January 2020 – We tell our kids we are moving to Angola and proceed with medical clearances and getting the proper vaccinations required to enter the country. Yes, certain countries required proof of vaccinations even before covid.
February 2020 – We start sorting our stuff into “storage,” “take,” and “get rid of” in preparation of our move. We prepare to sell our home in Greatwood.
March 2020 – COVID-19 hits the United States and restrictions are imposed. (Let’s be real, it was here before March, but that’s when the world seems to stop for us in Texas.) We aren’t moving in April like we planned. We wait for more information from Chevron. We think “Ok, we will probably move in the fall.”
April 2020 – April 2021 – LIMBO. Are we moving there? When? Will it happen? Jordan has already started working for the Angolan business unit from Houston. All the trips I plan seem very unlikely. It doesn’t seem like a move is imminent. We continue waiting. Those of you who know me understand that patience is not a strong point and uncertainty about the future can put me into a tailspin.
May 2021 – My tailspin results in a crash which leads to an explosion. I lost it. I lost ALL my marbles. I am done. I’m pretty sure my neighbors three doors down heard me say I am done. My life felt on pause since March 2020 and I was over it like Britney is over Jamie Lynn. I walked into Jordan’s office and said “I’m looking for a job and we need to start seriously looking at homes.” We accepted this move would never happen and decided to move forward with our lives. For us, that looked like buying a new house and for me, personally, it meant going back to work full-time.
June – July 2021 – I start interviewing for jobs and become and expert at hunting down homes in our neighborhood before they hit the market.
August 2021 – I start a job which I absolutely love. I work 1-2 days in the office and the rest from home. I love the people I work with. I love the work I am doing. I feel productive and valued. We also close on a house in Greatwood that is perfect for our family. There is a lot of work we want to do to the house, but as we told everyone “We are living here at least until the kids graduate high school!” so we have plenty of time to complete it. Dare I say… we feel settled?
Late September 2021 – Chevron tells us they are moving us to Angola.
It was like a bad joke. Over the next several days we had many conversations. Our excitement had morphed into weariness. Our home and my job felt good. Security felt good. Were we going to leave that?
Ultimately, the decision was relatively easy. Our main goal in moving overseas is to show our kids as much of the world as we can. To experience living and traveling in Africa and having relatively easy access to Europe is an experience we weren’t going to turn down. I’ll do another post on the preparations that took place this past fall, but spoiler alert: it was a lot of work!
Now we are living in Angola. Even in the midst of jet-lag and general moving frustrations Jordan and I will look at each other and say “Can you believe we are here?”
I’m not ready to wrap this roller-coaster up in a bow and say that all the twists and turns were worth it. We’ve only been here for 24 hours. But I can say that the twists and turns were beneficial. I learned that Jordan and I can weather uncertain times together. We didn’t weather them perfectly (see above to my May 2021 meltdown), but we did it together and that counts for something. I learned that my kids are fairly resilient. Perhaps their future therapist will tell me this whole ordeal has caused deep issues, but for now they seem fine and I’m rolling with that. I have mostly learned that I can’t control events, people, or even my own plans. To try and control all of these things causes exhaustion and anxiety which is funny because anxiety is what causes me to try and control things in the first place. What a terrible cycle. Like I said, my new mantra is “Plan as best you can and figure out the rest as you go,” and let me tell you, we have had to figure some things out in the past 24 hours!
Until next time…
Sarah
Will We Fly or Not on January 8?
Several people have asked if I plan to blog about our time in Luanda, Angola. I always say yes. I’m not sure there are many people who will read these blog posts, but I love having our RV adventure documented so it seems natural I would document this new adventure. The problem? I can’t seem to start writing about our move to Luanda at all. I realized I am figuratively holding my breath until we land in Angola and I’m scared to do anything that will jinx it. Logically, I know that starting to blog about this move won’t keep it from happening, but I also posted rather lavishly on social media that we were moving in April of 2020. If I’ve learned anything it’s to not make big declarative statements in public spaces. Also, being completely transparent, I am tired of talking about this part of our move. For the better part of two years we have answered questions as to whether or not this move would happen and when we would leave. I know people are genuinely curious, but having to answer the same question over and over again – especially when you do not know the answer – is exhausting. I know I sound a little bratty. I am. Being tired makes one bratty. I understand toddlers much better now.
I’ll spare you all the details of all the back and forth we have endured since March 2020, but the current plan is for our sea shipment to be packed on January 4, for us to get our COVID test on January 7, and then fly out the afternoon of January 8. Our biggest question right now – will we be on that flight? Since Omicron is taking everyone down, we have been isolating since Christmas. We canceled playdates, parties, dinners, and lunches in hopes to test negative. Assuming we dodge the omicron bullet, there also has to be enough staff for the ten-hour flight to Frankfurt and then for the eight-hour flight to Luanda. So many things need to fall into place for us to land the morning of January 10.
We are taking this one step at a time so I haven’t really given much thought to what happens after we land. I know we will be transported to our house and that we will have to quarantine there for a period of time. We have heard we will have to quarantine for 3 days, 14 days, 10 days or 6 days. I’m still not sure what the length will be. It seems to change daily depending on who you are talking to. But all of this hinges on the fact that we actually get on the plane.
I’m weary. I think the whole world is. Living in a state of limbo is hard and systems and processes we took for granted have been disrupted. Plans have changed multiple times. Something as simple as getting on a flight is now causing a lot of angst. So yeah, I’m weary. When people ask me if I’m excited for adventure, the answer is obviously yes, but I think we will have to be on the ground in Luanda before I will let myself be truly excited. Until then, I’m going to keep holding my breath.
Day 45: Big Bend
We were hoping to start our day early today, but when we hooked up at the Stillwell Park and RV Store we noticed that our refrigerator was flashing “LP” which means low propane. Propane is important because it actually keeps our fridge running, our stove working, and our grill grilling. Since we were low we needed to get some sooner rather than later. Well, twenty minutes north of Big Bed is not the best place to try and find propane. Jordan left to go hunt some down and ended up driving 1.5 hours before he found some in Alpine, Texas. He didn’t get home until about 11:30 so the kids and I had a slow morning around the RV. Once he got back, we loaded up in the truck and headed in to Big Bend. Our first stop was some picnic tables near Dugout Wells. Since the kids and I had a late breakfast we weren’t hungry so Jordan was the only one who ate. The rest of us just swatted flies away. At one point, a bug bit me and it hurt pretty badly. I looked around and all I saw were flies so I assumed it was something else.
Our first hike was the Rio Grand Village Nature Trail hike. It is a short hike. The temperature in the car read 97. I thought high in Big Bend would be in the low 80s in mid October, but we caught some bad luck and happened to be here during a heat wave. We were about 1/3 of the way through the hike when Lucy sat down on a bench and said “I got to find a way for you guys to stop taking us on hikes.” I laughed and acknowledged the heat made it a lot more uncomfortable to be outdoors. But we were determined and kept going. About 2/3 in to the hike of the sudden Lucy declared she wasn’t going any farther. She just stood there and it was obvious she was not about to budge. I thought about forcing her to finish the hike, but honestly, it was really hot and I decided to not push it. Jordan headed back with her and Hudson and I continued on. We only made it another 5 minutes before he decided he was ready to head back, too. I was disappointed, but I couldn’t blame him because it was 98 degrees.
We decided that we shouldn’t do any more hikes, but Jordan found a place called Balanced Rock that seemed like a short walk to a lookout point. Big Bend is HUGE and it took us 45 minutes, 20 of which were down a very unimproved road, to get to Balanced Rock. When we got there, we realized that this was actually a hike (2.2 miles to be exact) and not an overlook. Jordan thought this particular rock structure looked really cool said, “we can do it!” and with that, we began down the trail. I can’t even find a metaphor that would accurately describe how hot it was. Walking on the surface of the sun or walking through fire sounds appropriate, but doesn’t still quite grasp how hot we all were. We would find some shade under rocks here and there, but there were always flies and I soon realized that it was in fact a fly that bit me at lunch. I’m not sure where the phrase “harmless as a fly” came from, but flies are not harmless in west Texas. They hurt. A lot. Hudson couldn’t decide if he wanted the shade of the rocks or to keep moving in the dreadful heat so the flies couldn’t get him. To say we were miserable is a massive understatement. At this point, I can’t remember why we kept going, but we did. We finally reached the top of a steep climb and I saw a sign that said “Balanced Rock .25 miles.” I looked at little Lucy and thought, no way she is making this. I told Jordan he was losing us and she and I sat down in some partial shade.
The boys returned shortly, but then we had to make it back to the car. Jordan and Hudson are almost always about 15-20 feet ahead of Lucy and me. She was moving even slower than normal and looked really, really red. When she told me she “had throw up in my mouth,” I knew she was most likely suffering from heat exhaustion. I made her drink more water and then picked her up and carried her the better part of a mile back to the car. I want to say something here about how I’m glad we pressed on or how important it is to be persistent, but honestly, it was too hot to be doing what we were doing. I think the lesson is more along the lines of knowing when to call a spade a spade and walk back to your car. We were all exhausted, sweaty and, in Lucy’s case, on the verge of getting sick. I really wanted the kids to love Big Bend, but this first day was not winning anyone over. In fact, I kept thinking, “oh my gosh, we have to come back here again tomorrow.” Big Bend Day 1 was a bust.
Until next time…
Sarah
Day 42 & 43: Williams, AZ to Springerville, AZ to… Right outside of Big Bend National Park
Day 42:
Today was flurry of activity, but not necessarily exciting activity. I ran to the grocery store, made lunch, fixed dinner, made sure the kids’ assignments were done before we left town around 1 pm. Getting from the Grand Canyon to Big Bend is quite a drive and since we can’t just take off and drive all day (although just wait!) since we have school and work to accomplish we drove to Springerville, AZ. We really liked the RV park we stayed at, but we were only there for less than 24 hours because then we headed to…
Day 43:
Deming, New Mexico. Y’all, I can’t even remember what the RV park in Deming looked like. This is what happens when you stay somewhere only a short while multiple days in a row. What I can remember about Deming is that my friend, Ashley, told me there was a Starbucks in a Chevron on I-10 and I was so pumped to go grab coffee there. It was not to be however, because that particular Chevron was 20 minutes in the opposite direction we were headed. I was overly emotional about not getting that cup of coffee. We left as early as we could, about 10:30, because we had a beast of a drive in front of us: 397 miles. That may not sound like a lot, and Google will tell you it takes 6 hours to make that drive, but when you are pulling an 11,000 lb trailer and getting 11 miles to the gallon, it will take you more like seven hours. As we were driving we kept seeing signs for Petrified Forest National Park and it turns out we were driving right by the southern entrance. We pulled in about 4:15 and the park closed at 5 so we flashed our National Park card, drove to the empty visitor center parking, and hopped out to spend about 20 minutes there. This was our 10th national park to visit! We drove out right at 5.
The drive wasn’t too bad and I’m sure our short break at the Petrified Forest helped, but by hour six we were all ready to be out of the car. We arrived at the Stillwell Store and RV Park and were able to set up while it was still light outside which is a huge deal. Plugging into electrical and really, hooking up your sewer line is something you don’t want to do in the dark if you can help it. This place is really in the middle of nowhere. We are 45 minutes from the closest town of Marathon and about 20 minutes from the entrance of Big Bend National park. The owner is a little grumpy, but we met another “road-schooling” family which is always fun. There are a lot of us out here!
This place marks the last “big” stop of our trip and we hope it’s a good one!
Until next time,
Sarah
Days 40 & 41: Williams, AZ
Day 40
Man, oh man, did 5:45 am come early today! The kids rolled out of bed and hopped right on their Zoom calls. At about 6 am I decided we probably weren’t going to be making those early Zoom calls the rest of the week. At about 10 am I was ready for a nap since I had been up since about 4! I had plans to go out and do something with that kids after school today, but the kids just wanted to play at the playground. The park we are at has a little (very little) mini golf area and we putted around there for a while. Jordan said the kids were going to bed at 6 pm so we ate early and all went to bed early. Time changes, even one hour, can be hard!
Day 41
This day was similar to yesterday except that I did laundry and Jordan took the kids to Dairy Queen. We are really living it up here in Williams, aren’t we? We also spent a good portion of the day figuring out how to get home. Driving to Texas is one thing and then figuring out how to get across Texas is another! We have the route finally planned for our drive home.
I’m personally having a hard time staying present on our trip. Now that we are 11 days from being home I find myself thinking about the things that need to be done there: getting the kids uniforms for school, making sure their Halloween costumes arrive, figuring out what we might do for Lucy’s birthday, planning for the holidays. Always thinking about what’s next isn’t a great trait of mine. I’m hoping that, at least, this weekend I can set aside my mental “to-do” list and enjoy our last bit of adventure.
Until next time…
Sarah
Days 39 & 40
Days 39 and 40
The Weavers met us at our RV park at 7:30 am and we headed to the Grand Canyon. We couldn’t find an RV spot closer so we are in Williams, AZ which is about 50 minutes from the visitor center. When we arrived the Visitor’s Center wasn’t too busy which was nice. We had our “first look” at the Canyon at Mather’s Point. I think I was about 10 or 11 when I first saw the Grand Canyon. I probably reacted similar to how my kids did which was “Oh, there it is. Cool. What else is there to do?”
We made our way to the South Kaibab Trail to do a hike to the Ooh Aah point. We had a 9 year old, 8 year old, 7 year old, 5 year old and 4 year old. The hike is just under two miles total, but given it’s a canyon your ascent is on the return trip. After making our way to the ooh ahh point, which was pretty incredible, we started walking back up. The total elevation gained is 682 feet. That’s some serious elevation for a four year old, but the kids did great! And so did the adults! We stopped at the halfway point and had a snack. Once we made it back up to the rim, we took our cars over to Maswick Lodge and ate at their food court. I’m not sure if it was the food or how hungry we were after our hike, but it was a pretty delicious lunch.
After lunch, we boarded the shuttle that took us out to Hermit’s Rest and then stopped at Mohave and Powell Point on way back to the car. Hermit’s Rest was designed by a female architect, Mary Coulter, in the early 1900s. I can’t imagine there were a lot of female architects at that time and this fact made an impression on me. At this point in the day, I think the kids were like, “yep, I see the canyon, can we run and play?” Some view points has some space that allowed them to run and play and others I felt like one wrong jump and they would be down about 200 feet. Hudson assessed that death was only a 50/50 chance and seemed ok with those odds. The adults were not.
Since the bus was running at lower capacity and our party consisted of 9 people our kids sometimes had to sit on our laps. The last shuttle ride I told Hudson to sit in my lap and he exclaimed “I’m not sitting in your lap! I’m a grown man!” and the shuttle erupted with laughter.
By the time we got back to the car and made our way back to Williams, AZ it was 5 pm. We had decided we were going to pick up dinner and eat it at our RV. Who knew restaurants in Williams were so hopping on Saturday night? We finally got an order in and Jordan and Nolen picked up our food. By the time we ate it was 7 pm and we had some tired, hungry kids on our hands. After we ate, the Weavers went back to their hotel and we all slept well!
Jordan asked a park ranger if the crowds had dropped off since Covid and he said they absolutely had. He also mentioned that they were at about 1-2% of the normal crowds this time of year. Given the amount of people we saw today I have two things to say about that. One, I don’t think I could handle the Grand Canyon with 100% capacity even if a pandemic wasn’t happening. That is too crowded for me. I can’t even imagine how you get to the rail to see the lookouts if it is that crowded. Two, it dawned on me that this might be the best time to ever go see the Grand Canyon because the crowds are so thin.
Day 40:
We started the day again at the same time, 7:30 am, and we were aiming to get home a little earlier so our kids could have some downtime. Today, we planned to head east to the Desert Watchtower. Well, we got about 2 miles from the Desert Watchtower before the road shut down. At a lookout point, I called and a ranger told me that the watchtower was closed due to Covid. We were all pretty bummed. We hit a few other lookout points and the adults looked while the kids played “the floor is lava” on the rocks. Ashley had mentioned the Shoshone point hike when we were talking about taking this tirp together and I mentioned that to them while we were trying to figure out how we were going to fill our day. We looked it up and it was close by. The Shoshone trailhead is really just a parking lot. You walk about a mile in a pine forest before you reach Shoshone point. This point has a pavilion and you can even reserve to have weddings there. There were tons of picnic benches and we had brought our lunch. It turned out to be the perfect hike to the perfect spot for our last day at the Grand Canyon. On our way there, the kids were all in search of hiking sticks. Courtney, the youngest, had the largest hiking stick, but she made it work! After lunch, the kids played nearby while the adults enjoyed each other’s company looking out at the canyon. I don’t think it could have worked out better if we had actually planned it. As we packed up lunch, each of the kids took a last look at the Grand Canyon before we made the hour trip “home.” We arrived about 2 pm. Jordan and the kids zoned out while I did a few things for PTO, and planned our trip back home. We were going to stay in Williams all week, but decided to start making our way to Texas on Wednesday. At 5 pm, we met the Weavers at Grand Canyon Brewing and Distillery. The kids had a table right next to us and they were so good while we ate. I’m so glad Hudson is finally old enough for those word searches they put on kids menus! Since the Weavers lived in Indonesia up until about six months ago, it was fun hearing them talk about expat life. I’m sure the particulars may be different given we will be in different countries, but their perspective on how to approach life overseas was really great to hear. I haven’t thought too much about Angola in the past few months and these conversations reminded me“oh yeah… eventually we are moving overseas. That’s going to be so cool!”
We said our good-byes and the kids were already asking when we would see them again before we even got in the car. It’s so awesome to see Hudson and Chloe, who met when they were 15 months and 2 years old, still hang out and enjoy each other’s company. I’m thankful for friends who will drive seven hours to see you for two days!
At bedtime, I told the kids the next day was going to be rough given they would have to be on their school Zoom calls at 5:45 am. Hudson asked why it was going to be rough and I said “because it’s going to be a long day.” He replied “More like it’s going to be a tiny night.” He cracks me up.
We are hanging out in Williams for a few days and then we start traveling again!
Until next time…
Sarah
Day 38: Travel to Williams, AZ
Today we drove to Williams, AZ. I would like to tell you how long it took us to get here, but did you know Arizona doesn’t participate in Daylight Savings Time? I’m so confused on times right now. All I know is that Monday our first Zoom starts at 5:45 am!
I would also like to apologize to the state of Louisiana for complaining your roads. Arizona has you beat. We bumped up and down all the way to our RV park today.
We arrived about 2 pm and once we were set up Jordan did the laundry and I headed to the grocery store. The Safeway was so crowded that it was like the Wednesday before Thanksgiving! I kept thinking “is there a holiday tomorrow that I forgot about?”
The most special thing about today was that our friends, The Weavers, drove from Bakersfield, CA to see us! We met them when we lived in Louisiana when we first moved there. Ashley and I were in a mom’s group and Jordan and Nolen both work at Chevron. Ashley and I met when she was pregnant with her second daughter, Mallory, who is turning 7 this weekend! Time flies! We were originally going to see them at their house when our trip would take us on the West Coast, but when we had to change our plans due to the wildfires they decided to make the seven hour drive to see us! We are so excited to spend time with them at the Grand Canyon!
Days 35, 36, & 37: Travel, Zion National Park & Bryce National Park
Day 35:
Tuesday we drove from the OK RV Ranch to Mt, Carmel, UT which is our base to visit Zion National Park and Bryce National Park. Before we could drive, I had to purchase our shuttle tickets for Zion. They are limiting the number of shuttle tickets sold due to Covid and I was told you had to buy your tickets at 9 am sharp as they sell out within the first few minutes. It was a little nerve-wracking, but at 8:55 am I was on my computer logged on to the national park site ready and waiting to hit purchase. We got our four tickets and Lucy said, “wow, that’s almost kind of like an auction.” I don’t even know how she knows what an auction is.
The drive was about six hours total. Sometimes these travel days are restful for the family, except for Jordan who is hauling 11,300 lbs behind us. For the record, I always offer to drive – at least short sections – to give him a break. He has never taken me up on the offer. The park we are staying at is small, but it works for our needs. When we arrived though the electrical box was smoking which was disconcerting, but the owner (whose name is Lucy!), was very attentive and we haven’t had any problems. We are meeting the nicest people on this trip.
Day 36:
When you purchase your shuttle tickets for Zion, you are basically buying an hour window in which you can board your first shuttle. The first option was 7 – 8 am. That seemed a little early for my crew, so I decided to buy the 8 – 9 am time slot. Most of the national parks we have visited, we were able to drive our car through so we would pack lunch in a cooler to eat whenever we found a spot or got hungry. Since we weren’t going to be in our car most of the day, we packed peanut butter sandwiches in our camelbacks and headed out. I have to give the park service a lot of credit for how they have adapted during Covid. Seats had removed from the shuttle so that people were spaced out and weren’t tempted to crowd in on the shuttle. Masks were also required for entry on to the shuttle.
Our first stop was the Riverside Walk. This walk takes you along the Virgin River to the spot where hikers depart for the Narrows hike. The Narrows hike looks amazing and Jordan and I kept going back and forth as to whether or not we should do it with the kids. You have to rent special shoes (the smallest size were one size too big for Lucy) and hiking sticks as the hike is up the Virgin River. The river currently has some algae bloom which, if ingested, could be dangerous. Multiple sites I read said kids will fall in the river at some point and I thought, “there is no way my kids fall down in this river and don’t drink the water,” so we passed on this hike. This was the first experience of the trip that Jordan and I were upset we “missed” out on. We looked like kids who lost their dog watching all the other people take off down the river. This hike is the most popular in Zion, and I think if we had known from the start of our trip we were coming here we could have been better prepared with supplies (i.e. waterproof hiking boots), but we thought we were going to be in California right now so we were not prepared at all. At about 9:30 am we already decided that we will be coming back when the kids are older so we can experience more of Zion.
After the riverside walk, we got back on the shuttle to head towards the lodge and do the lower emerald pool hike. As we were walking across the lawn of the lodge to the trailhead, a little boy came running over saying, “Lucy! Lucy!” He had a baseball cap and mask on so I couldn’t place him. My first thought was, “is a kid from her preschool here?” and so I asked him his name. He replied, “Jack!” like I should have known. When I looked behind Jack, I saw our “neighbors” from the park in Heber City, UT (the guy I went to HS with and his family) standing right there. I can’t believe we ran into them again! In all of Zion, to be at the same place at the same time was such a crazy coincidence. The kids were elated! I told Jordan later that either we are meant to be friends with these people or they are going to get a restraining order against us thinking we are stalking them. They were planning on doing the upper emerald pool hike so we hiked together for a while before we turned back to eat lunch. The lower emerald pool hike takes you behind a waterfall. The waterfall wasn’t particularly heavy as the park ranger said they have had about “five minutes of rain since April,” but it was still a magnificent sight to see.
We had lunch on the lawn of the lodge. Zion is the most beautiful national park we have visited and it was also the most crowded. Jordan said it was the “Disneyland” of national parks. I think the shuttle system and the crowds caused him to make that comparison. After lunch, we ran into the gift shop (I get Christmas ornaments from places we visit. Our first ornament from vacation was one Jordan and I picked up in Carmel, CA in 2011) and then grabbed the kids some ice cream. Our kids have had more ice cream on this trip that any other period in their life. We were going to take the bus back to the Visitor’s Center and do the Pa’rus trail, but that trail is 2-3 hours and I was worried about time given that we had another 1 hour hike planned later in the day. Instead, we did a short hike called the Grotto and caught the shuttle bus to the Visitor’s Center. At this point, we grabbed our truck and took the 4 minute drive into Springdale. Springdale is awesome and I wish we could have spent more time there. The next time we come with the kids we plan to stay here. We tried to go to Zion Brewing for a quick snack, but they were closed for maintenance. So, we grabbed a quick snack at the market next door, and then headed to the Canyon Overlook. I’m always impressed by the kid’s abilities on these hikes. Canyon overlook required a lot of handholding and reminders that we weren’t getting close to the edge. I considered it practice for the Grand Canyon. This hike was strenuous, but not as strenuous as the one we did in Yellowstone. Once we descended from the Canyon Overlook trail it was 5:30 pm. We still had a 45 minute drive “home” and we were all very dirty and hungry. We made the decision to grab food on our way home instead of cooking. After a quick search we found a pizza place nearby and thought “this will be great!” Unfortunately, it took over 30 minutes to make the pizzas so we probably could have gone home and eaten more quickly. While we were waiting, the man behind the counter asked what we had done in Zion. When we told him “Riverside Walk, Lower Emerald Pool, Grotto, and the Canyon Overlook” he said “all today?! No wonder y’all are so hungry!” According to the kids watches Hudson took almost 22,000 steps and Lucy took almost 24,000. I had climbed over 90 flights. It was a very full day, but we didn’t even see half of what we would have liked to in Zion hence the planning to come back for several days when the kids are older
We all crashed hard after showers.
Day 37:
Jordan and I decided we weren’t going to rush to get to Bryce so we didn’t set our alarms. I woke up at 7:15. For those that know me well you know this is very late for me! I’m almost always up by 5:30 which tells me I was very tired!
We didn’t leave for Bryce until 9:30 which put us at the trailhead ready to do our 3 hour hike at 11. I don’t know what it with us and starting hikes at 11. We followed the suggestion of a web site and linked together 2 hikes into one longer hike. This was our most advanced hike yet! It was just under three miles, but at the end you ascended over 500 vertical feet on switchbacks. The Wall Street slot Canyon was amazing though and while we had to stop to take breaks (and photos!) it was well worth the effort. We hit up two more viewpoints in the park and headed home around 3. Unfortunately, we were stopped on the road due to construction and we didn’t get to our RV until 4:45. After two full days of hiking, everyone found their corner of the RV and zoned out for an hour before dinner.
While we weren’t initially planning on coming to Utah at all this trip, after two weeks here we have fallen in love with the state. Life has a way of working out and I’m so thankful we “had” to detour to Utah. We will definitely be back. In fact, our latest retirement idea involves a condo in Park City. Ha!
Tomorrow is a travel day to the Grand Canyon. In my head, the Grand Canyon marks the “last part” of our trip. We will be there for a week and then Big Bend for a week before we make it home on Oct. 17. If I’m being completely transparent, I’m feeling very conflicted about coming home. I know it is time and that we will all appreciate the creature comforts our spacious, modern home will provide, but I’m a little sad our adventure is ending. I’m also not looking forward to the indefinite limbo we seem to be in regarding our move to Angola. We know we are going, but we don’t know when. As a planner by nature, this is hard for me. I think “Life on The High Way” is a great distraction for me from the waiting game we seem to playing at home.
Until next time…
Sarah
Day 33 & 34: A travel day and capitol reef national park
Day 33:
We woke up in the OK RV Park and since our drive todady was relatively short, we took it easy and didn’t rush to get out of Moab. Moab is growing rapidly. There is a lot of construction to widen the road and many hotels are currently being built. In a way, I wish we had visited Moab before the construction began, not only to avoid the massive traffic, but also because I think some of the charm of the town was hidden by all the building happening around it. I’m interested to see what Moab looks like in five years.
Our drive was short and simple, which as I keep saying, we do not take for granted. We drove into Hanskville, UT around 2 pm. We started looking at things to do in the afternoon, but decided hanging out at the RV park was the right call. After dinner, there was a little more I Love Lucy and then bed!
Day 34:
I’m posting all the photos of today at the end of the blog. There are too many to disperse through!
This morning really marked the start of vacation as it is the first weekday that Jordan is off of work and the kids aren’t doing school except for a few things here or there. I also received the email about changing the kids learning mode for the second nine weeks this morning. After much discussion, Jordan and I have decided they will go back to in-person school starting October 26. They are so excited and spent half the time in the car today talking about school. I recognize most decisions aren’t permanent so, if this doesn’t work out, we can withdraw them or go back to virtual schooling in January.
This morning as I was getting ready to leave, Lucy said, “Why are we always going to national parks? I just want to play with my Barbies,” and about the same time Hudson asked, “Are we ever going to go to a Target again?” Given those questions, I prepared myself for a day of children complaining, but man, kids can surprise you and today was such an awesome day! We drove about 45 minutes to Capitol Reef National Park. I would encourage everyone to see this park once. To say we were surprised by it is an understatement. We decided to go to Capitol Reef because our plans changed and if we were hitting Arches, Zion, and Bryce, we thought we might as well hit the other two national parks in Utah. Well, I think this place can stand alone. It is that spectacular. I “let” Jordan plan our day because he was off of work and honestly, I wanted a break from all the planning. I think the fact that I didn’t plan or have any idea about where to go or what to do made this day a little more fun for me. We also had perfect weather! Jordan did an awesome job mapping out our day. We stopped at the Visitor’s Center to grab a map, some postcards, and to use the restroom. The restrooms at the Capitol Reef Visitor Center get a gold star for me in cleanliness which is saying something. From there we made our way to the Capitol Gorge Road and Pioneer Register. I want to keep typing that this park is GORGEOUS and it is, but that makes for a boring blog post, so just know… it is GORGEOUS. To get to Capitol Gorge Road, you drive 7.5 miles past the visitor center. Five of these miles are unpaved and 2.5 are not. We saw Volvos and other two-wheel drive cars making the drive, but I’m glad we were in a truck. The drive down to the trailhead was amazing. The kids could not believe we were driving with canyon walls all around us. I couldn’t either. Jordan and I kept saying to each other, “Can you believe this? This place is amazing!” When we reached the trailhead and started walking the path, we were even more amazed. The kids, especially, Hudson, loved climbing, running, and jumping off the canyon walls. There were little pockets of space in the canyon wall (I’m sure there is a more scientific name), that the kids sat in for photos. We saw petroglyphs and the pioneer register. To think some young man made this passage in the 1800s, wrote his name on a canyon wall that is still displayed to this day was incredible to me. We passed the Tanks and kept walking. We walked farther than most people go on this path and that is when canyon opened up a little. We probably had walked about 1.5 miles and knew we needed to get back. We also started this hike at 11 so, once again, it was nearing lunch time. I’m not sure what it is with us and starting hikes near lunch, but as long as we have a snack, the kids do ok. We decided to climb on top of a large rock where we had a 360 degree view to eat our snack before making our way back to the trailhead. Jordan later told me he decided that is where we should turn around because we hadn’t seen any other people for a while. It turns out we made the right decision because about 10 minutes in to our walk back, Lucy started asking when we were going to get to the car.
We ate our picnic lunch at the trailhead before heading off to the Gifford house to buy pies. Pies in a national park? Yes! The Gifford homestead is in the Fruita valley, which is a desert oasis that is fed by the Freemont River. Settlers here grew fruit trees, hence the name, and there are still orchards here to this day. The lushness of the valley against the desert horizon was such a beautiful contrast. The Gifford house operates now as a small museum and store that sells dried fruit, jellies, jams, homemade pies, and ice cream. I was really hoping to get a bite of someone’s pie, but the pies were sold out by the time we got there. The kids and Jordan had ice cream instead. There were some horses nearby the Gifford house so once the kids were done with ice cream, we walked over to look at them. One horse came up to us and let us pet him (her?). I haven’t been around a horse in forever and forgot what magnificent creatures they are. As we were walking back to the car, Lucy said she was asking for a horse for Christmas. I reminded her that we will eventually be moving to Angola and I didn’t think we were able to bring horses with us. She said she was sure we could ask someone and “they would make an exception.”
During this trip, we have learned when our kids are “done,” but we always push them to do one more thing. I’m not sure if that’s good parenting, but as adults, we always want to see and do a little more than they do so we drove to the Goosenecks Overlook to see the canyon. The view down into the canyon was impressive, but the view looking out from the top of the canyon was even better. I know I’ve said it before but, I don’t know why more people don’t talk about Capitol Reef National Park. If the kids hadn’t been with us, Jordan and I would have taken some more hikes, but it was late afternoon at this point so we headed back home. Jordan edited his photos (it was the first time we took out the “big” camera), I did laundry, and Hudson and Lucy played for an hour or so before dinner. After dinner, we played a rousing game of Go Fish, before we headed in for the night.
Today was one of my favorite days of our trip. I’m sure not having to deal with Zoom calls and the like helped, but the beauty of this park, the perfect weather and the fun we had as a family made this day as one that will stand out to me when I look back on our adventure. On the drive home, Hudson began ranking the parks we have seen so far. He gave Capitol Reef the highest score out of all of them so far with a 9 out of 10. In short, if you are in Utah and are able to do so – go to Capitol Reef!
Life On The High Way 