Home.

We're back...! Actually we got back awhile ago but never posted that. Oops.

Total spent on lodging for the trip: $16
Total miles covered: 4,000+
Total money spent including gas, food, lodging, national parks pass, etc: <$500
Love traveling cheap! :)

Like the Energizer Bunny... We Keep Going and Going...

Quick picture update from Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. More to come.

(Suz thinks this picture is hilarious...)

Can you see us? We are there...

40 hours after leaving Flagstaff we are at night #2 of sleeping in the car at a rest stop. We tried to capture the experience in a photo... not sure this does it justice.

Suz documenting this morning after 5 rest stops and 10+ gas stations since Monday (and 0 showers). We tried to count how many places we've stopped... but we agreed it's all blurring together. The hair looks awesome, yeah?

Crossing paths with Suz's parents in Iowa. Super grateful for the free food! I don't think we've made dinner since Saturday. Wow. It's kind of an after thought; we just drive.

Guess where we are... that's right! Dubuque! Thought about stopping by the visitor center to see our old friend Michelle from back on day 1... we'll see if we stop on the way out of town. ;)

PS... just wanted you to see the bathroom at the church we camped behind the first night. Yep. Think we used it? Wouldn't put it past us. But we did have to take a pass on this one.

We have officially been welcomed to America.

Well, we did not find a free shower in Springdale, incase you were itching to know.

The bulk of the day on Sunday we spent in Zion. (This park is completely worthy of a few weeks in case you ever want to go, or come with me or Lisa next time we go. ) :) So, unfortunately, I woke up with the world's worst sore throat, like the kind where you can hardly swallow it hurts so bad, and a baby fever. But how many times are you in Zion...so, obviously I made the decision that would've pleased my mom and decided to do a "strenuous" hike (as defined in the brochure) and hike Angel's Landing. It was seriously sweet! It was only a 5 mile hike round trip, but half of the was straight up (climbing a total of 1500 feet). The picture below is a photo of Walters Wiggles...a series of about 40-50 switchbacks...and these were the second set of switchbacks!!

This is the point in the hike where we were both like, "High five! We've arrived!" And then we looked out ahead of us and all I said was a long drawn out, "WOoooooow." We hiked to the top of that peak! There were parts of the hike where we were holding on to this bulky chain that had been permanently set into the rock and you could see down on both sides of the canyon...it was pretty intense! (I'm pretty sure they said at one point it is 3 feet across with an 800 foot drop on one side and a 1200 foot drop on the other. So good.)

I took this photo from the top of Angel's Landing. Uhmm....isn't that absolutely stunning! Lisa and I spent about and hour and a bit up there starring into the abundance of awe. We met an amazing couple, Jane and Charles up top...they were good souls. Full of kindness and wisdom.

On our way to Flagstaff, AZ on Sunday night for a spontaneous stay with my friend Rachel. Thanks to Dena and Dave for opening up their "youth hostel" to us again for an unplanned visit!

Sweet rainbow, huh? Seemed to be a theme on our trip, if you know what I mean. We woke up leisurely on Monday morning. Lisa didn't sleep super well and I felt even worse...so, we were pretty much on our A-game. We left Flagstaff before noon and proceeded to Lisa's most anticipated destination, The Painted Desert National Park. I was working off my fever in the back seat of the Matrix and Lisa was soaking up the vast amount of lush history!

Lisa literally had to drag me out of the car for this photo...not my best photo op.

I think we got into Colorado around 11:30 last night...it all seems so blurry. We were on the road for a grand total of around 14 hours. SICK. (both figuratively and literally.) We officially parked the car at around 2:30 in a rest area off of I-70 and slept for the next 5 hours in my car.

Woke up this morning feeling good. Well, as good as you can feel for spending the night sleeping in the fetus position in the driver seat of car at a rest stop. I drove for about 40 minutes and then obviously we pulled off at the next rest area to go to the bathroom and brush our teeth. So, here we are, Lisa with her hand towel, toiletries, and her overall "I'm glad to be up this early," expression and me with my wild hair and 3 nalgenes coming into the Kansas visitor center. Here are these two women working at the front desk or help center or whatever you call it loving-on the people-watching aspect of their jobs. I'm pretty sure we were the best part of their morning, coming in "all put together." So, to add to the tally of people who probably thought we were a couple...we could add these two. I walked into the front desk area...the one lady gave me a map and then offered me some coffee (which I was completely grateful for)...Lisa walks up behind me and instead of asking Lisa she wanted a map and wanted to sign the guestbook, she asks, "Are you two together?" And I emphatically answer, yes, not realizing how that could've sounded to her. Let's be real, it's Kansas, they totally thought we were a couple.

Good times. We are in Salina, KS writing to you and about to get back on the road.

This photo is officially disgusting, but we just couldn't help ourselves... can't miss a state sign. :)

Fun Facts:

- 1 Rattlesnake sighting.

- Number of times improvised bathroom situations on the side of highways or hiking trails: approx. 8.

- Number of times honked at while taking state-sign photos: innumerable.

- Farthest ahead we planned for where to sleep that night: day 1 Madison to Kansas - 12 hours. Shortest: decided on the spot - Dixie National Forest at Bryce Canyon, in addition to the rest stop off I70.

- Massive bruises acquired while on the trip: 1, Susie's left thigh.

- Number of Diet Dr. Peppers consumed in 9 days (I'm proud of this!): 19.

- Number of times we rode in the back of a jeep sitting in lawn chairs with two friends we made 12 hours prior: 1 (driving to Deadhorse State Park).

- Number of parks visited: 1 county park in Kansas, 1 state park in Utah, 5 National Parks, 1 National Forest, and 1 BLM-owned campsite.

The Color Orange

Here's a photo of where we camped last night! Sick, isn't it. Lisa opted to sleep in the car last night because it was raining...sad for her, because it was probably my best night of sleep so far! Dinner in the car! Gotta love having Mac N Cheese for the last 3 nights in a row!

We spent the bulk of today in Brice Canyon National Park. It's been a cold and rainy day overall, but that didn't really deter either of us from exploring and soaking up the beauty!

This was mine and Lisa's very first view of Brice Canyon National Park today...talk about taking your breath away! Lisa and I split up today and I took a hike down into the gorgeous canyon and Lisa did a trail on the rim of it. The following photos are from my 3 mile hike.

Isn't this a sweet looking plant! Uhmm...

This is called Wall Street. The color in the photos don't even come close to the actual color of the walls. It's really challenging to try to soak up all the beauty out here!

This photo is specifically for Nick and Jessie, our friends from camping in Moab. Just wanted to say that we thought of you guys when we saw this!

We are now currently in Springdale, Utah which is right outside of Zion National Park. We found another FREE place to camp tonight from a local source at this sweet organic market. The name of the place is a bit of an initial deterance, Mosquito Cove, but the girl assured us that there aren't any. I guess we'll find out tonight. None the less, I feel completely blessed that we are able to camp somewhere without forking out any money!

Next on our agenda for the evening: finding a place to shower for free!

Spontaneity.

After a tip from some fellow Utah travelers, Susie and I relaxed and refreshed at a resort down the road from our campsite that we snuck into. It was right on the Colorado River... ridiculous! We tried to fit in...but one lady we saw walk by had stilettos on... anyway, no one really noticed and we were able to bum some much needed hot tub time.

Waking up today we had a plan...roughly, but we let the day unfold and it led us another direction. We spent the morning with new friends Elisa and Deborah checking out Canyonlands National Park and Deadhorse Point State Park. It was so good. So so good.

So, the next photo...after we took it, all four of us were just cracking up and Deborah made a comment that we looked like Mount Rushmore. So, NO, we did not make our way through South Dakota.

We jumped in the car and headed down I70 towards Bryce Canyon National Park and set up camp in the Dixie National Forest. I'm about to fill up our water bottles and make some dinner before Suz wakes up from her nap... then hopefully we'll watch a sweet sunset.

Random thoughts...

I can't help but just stare at the beauty all around us. It seems unreal and impossible to comprehend or take in. It makes me remember that things I think are impossible might be possible. I just sit in awe of the things we have been seeing. Wow.

Baby dinosaurs and Rock Arches.

48 hours since our last post... and there's been a lot that's happened. I'll hit the highlights. We slept at a gorgeous apartment in downtown Denver on Tuesday night. Though, we never actually met Brian, the guy we stayed with, because he got home late and we had to be out of our parking spot by 6am! It was the start of a looooooooong (but good!) day.

(The view from the apartment window)

We tackled the Rockies Wednesday morning and enjoyed the beauty that was seemingly endless.

(Rob, this picture of the little wooden kodama is for you. We put him in lots of pictures. And, we gave one to our campsite friends... who in turn put him in all their Arches National Park photos. So fun.)

(Pictures at the Utah State sign, of course.)

(Susie climbing the Utah sign. Is that allowed? Why not!)

My highlight from yesterday might've been scoping out the dinosaur tracks and petrified bones off the highway, in addition to the petroglyphs we saw (from 2000BCE)! I put lots of pictures so you can get really excited with me. ;) Susie takes pictures of the flowering cactus, I search out the petrified bones. We get excited about different things... what can I say.

(This one is just kind of funny.)

(A BABY dinosaur! Or maybe just a lizzard... but lets just pretend) ;)

(Susie is so artsy...)

(
(Susie standing in a dinosaur foot-print... or what we think is one. There were supposed to be a lot of them... but we couldn't find them... so we decided this must be one. How can you tell what random dips in the stone are from a dinosaur150 million years ago and which ones are just natural??!)

We hit up Moab, Utah ... set up camp at a site on the Colorado River...

watched the sunset at Arches National Park at the Balanced Rock....

Today we returned to Arches for some hiking... woohoo.

and made some new friends - Nick and Jessie - at our campsite.

Fast facts:

- Blog address given to: 10. (2 new friends at a Moab Cafe, 2 friends we made at the Moab campsite, friends who gave us gas off I70, Iowa Visitor Center ladies, Brian from Denver... and maybe a few I forgot.) Nick and Jessie posted the blog in their back car window so everyone can see it on their way to Seattle. Wow. I hope we live up to all this pressure! :)

- Food co-ops discovered: 1. (In Moab)

- People who thought we were a couple: 4

1. The lady at the target dressing room counter after Susie asked if we could use the "family changing room" in order to take pictures.

2. The girl in the gas station while Susie was trying to come into the bathroom to wash dishes with me.

3.&4. Our new friends at our campsite after seeing our tiny two person tent.

Kind of awkward (ha, ha), but we're totally laughing about it!

3.&4. and our new friends at the campsite after seeing our tiny two-person tent. A little awkward. Haha. It's good humor.