Seconds With Steff

That was some trip

Mileage, Mayhem & Laundry

At 134 miles more than Route 66, Hunter and I completed 2,412 miles on this trip.  That’s a lot of road.  And now, there’s just so much laundry.  Everywhere I look is laundry. And I know I must reorganize the closet. Like seriously, I need a whole new system … I’m seeking Amazon for a consultation.

My Biggest Regret

Let’s start this reflection with the one thing I can’t stop thinking about: I am so incredibly annoyed with myself. We didn’t take a picture at the Lamar Valley entrance to Yellowstone because we never left the gate. I turned around and headed back to Roosevelt, and it just never even occurred to me.

When our cowboy cookout was cancelled, we ended up at the West Yellowstone Gate for dinner, but again did not take a picture. I could’ve had a picture of us at four of the five entrances, but I only have two.  Is it the end of the world? No. But it just proves: always take advantage of the photo op. Even if you’re tired. Even if you think you’ll come back. Take the picture.

The Overpacking Revelation

I overpack. Why do I overpack? I have to face the fact that I overpack. I try not to, but I get nervous. But here’s my new thing: I know we buy souvenir T-shirts, right? So why are we not wearing those on the trip? Why? Why are we waiting until we get home to wear them? That’s ridiculous. It’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. Pack a few shirts. Then wear the T-shirts we buy. Boom — instant wardrobe rotation and fewer things in the suitcase. I’m brilliant. (Eventually.)

Laundry Acceptance

In an additional effort to not overpack, I also have to acknowledge that I need to do laundry while we’re on the road. I did two loads this time, and honestly? It made everything feel so much more manageable. Clean socks, fresh shirts, and no mystery smells wafting from the backseat … Worth it.

I had set up to have fluff and fold service in Moab — and if you followed along, you know it was closed for the season, so I did it myself. Hunter was a great help, and it’s one small load of laundry. We’re usually back at the hotel right after dinner, so it’s not like we’re out exploring after dark. It’s an easy-peasy thing to do. Plus, it gives me a moment to reset — to fold, repack, and feel like I have some control over the chaos. It’s a small act of sanity in the middle of the whirlwind.

And this time, I made a great decision: I brought my own dryer sheets, which pack flat in a Ziploc bag. Inside that Ziploc, I had a smaller Ziploc filled with detergent sheets. This took up basically zero room, and I didn’t have to worry about having the quarters to purchase products in the hotel’s laundry room.

One last future upgrade: I usually use a big black garbage bag for dirty clothes, but it flops everywhere, and socks are always falling out. Next trip, I’m switching to Hunter’s camp laundry bag. It’s sturdy, it stands up, and it doesn’t look like I’m hauling around a bag of regrets. Game changer.

Garbage Box Glory and Back Seat Organization

Speaking of game changers, the one of the things that drives me the most insane about the car — never mind on a road trip — is garbage. There’s always garbage in my car. Snack wrappers, empty water bottles, receipts, mystery crumbs. And garbage bags never stay upright always spilling over. Halfway through this trip, Hunter and I were consolidating things, and I wound up putting an empty box in the backseat. That box became the Garbage Box. We used it for an entire week, and it was the best thing that happened. At the end of each day, he emptied it, keeping everything cleaner, neater, and way less chaotic. There will now always be a garbage box in my car. Forever. The floor of the backseat has found its purpose. I’m even thinking about getting a cheap dollar store bathroom garbage can for home, just to keep the magic going.

When you’re basically living out of your car for two weeks, things get messy fast. I don’t bring the luggage into the hotels every night, so it just sort of gets disastrous back there, no matter how neat I try to be.  This year I used a trunk organizer in the back seat, and that helped. But next time? I think I’m going with the 8×8 cubby boxes. I need something sturdy but still cheap that I can leave behind when we return home.

The Charger That Changed My Life

I also have a new favorite thing I will always travel with: a retractable wall charger. My amazing, wonderful, and generous sister bought it for me a few months ago after I went gaga over it at her house. I grabbed it at the last minute, and it is the most amazing thing to travel with. I used it every single night.

Not only are the cables retractable, but the plug folds — so it’s literally a small box. I don’t know who invented it, but they are a genius, and I now want twenty. One for every room. One for the car. One for Hunter’s backpack. One for the Electronics Bag. You get the idea. 

Tip Envelope Triumph

I organized all of my tips ahead of time, and it was a great move! I calculated the tip for each venture or tour we took, put the money in a letter envelope, and sealed it. On the top right corner, I wrote what it was for, and then in date order, I tucked the envelopes into a 6×8.65 white rigid stay-flat mailer I happened to have. It worked perfectly — the envelopes didn’t quite fit, which made it easy to see each excursion in succession.

I also added two extra envelopes labeled “Singles” and “Not Singles,” so as I went through the cash in my wallet, I knew exactly where to add from. It was organized, efficient, and made tipping feel like a planned act instead of a last-minute scramble.

Desert Survival Tip

If you travel to the desert, bring some sort of lip balm… non-petroleum-based, please. Trust me.

Postcard Purpose

Our postcard game was on point this trip. Every time we picked out a postcard, Hunter decided to whom it was going. We went back to our room, and he wrote it out. It was absolutely fantastic — a small activity that gave him a sense of purpose and connection.

Hunter’s Prep & Tech Tools

I think my trip preparation with Hunter was spot on this go around. He spent a year completing western-themed Legos, national parks jigsaw puzzles, and watching select YouTube videos with me, so I felt he was super-prepared for each aspect of the trip.

Also, the National Park Service has an app with guided tours of select parks, and I purchased a year of Park Wolf — which I had a love/hate relationship with, but Hunter loved following the map. He did the same with the Route 66 app, so I need to figure out a way to incorporate his own personal map following kind of interactive mapping into all future trips (not just the CarPlay map). It kept him engaged and gave him a sense of direction — literally and figuratively.

The Daily Workbook Win

Hunter’s daily workbook this year was really great — if I do say so myself. I asked Copilot to write essays at an appropriate reading level about the different places we were going. Then based on the essay, create 20 or so fill-in-the-blank questions , crossword clues, and word search words.

I subscribed to BrightSpout.com to create the crossword puzzles and word searches. Then I went through all of his books that he already owns, made copies of the pages about the different places we were going, and assembled them all into a binder using page dividers to separate the work for each day of the trip. It was educational, personalized, and totally doable — and it made each day feel like an adventure with a purpose.

Wildlife Roll Call

A full accounting of each wild animal we saw on the trip:

• Bald Eagles
• Bison
• Black Bear
• Cows (Ranch Owned, but roaming freely – Dixie National Forest)
• Elk
• Grizzly Bear
• Great Horned Owls
• Hawk
• Horses (Ranch Owned, but roaming freely – Grand Tetons)
• Lizards – H rescued one in Peekaboo Slot Canyon
• Mule Deer
• Prairie Dogs
• Rock Squirrels
• Sand Cranes
• Swans
• White-Tailed Deer
• Wild Turkeys

(Still waiting for the moose to make its cameo)

Kanab: The Ultimate Home Base – Kanab Utah – Things to do in Kanab Utah | Visit Utah

My big suggestion: Kanab! Take a vacation in Kanab, Utah — Make it your home base. There is a ton to do and see. Zion (which, fun fact, I learned from a local is pronounced like “lion”) and Bryce are both within an hour, and beyond that, it’s just a nonstop buffet of fun, exploration, and adventure. You could easily spend a month doing something new every day and still not get through it all. Who knew?

Route 66 Meets Pixar

Another Kanab note, my Peekaboo Slot Canyon tour guide has a friend who works at Pixar and was on the Cars team. John Lasseter loved Kanab so much, he bought a house not far from town. Our guide swore that Radiator Springs was based on Kanab, not Seligman, Arizona — so we had another Route 66 moment.

Nothing Beats Seeing Friends

I love it when I get to see friends on a trip, and this time I saw two! Nothing is better than that, except when they let you crash at their places!

My Favorite Park (and the Ones That Came Before It)

And now for the moment you really want… my favorite park. I told Debrah on the way from the airport, and she was shocked. So here it is — my least to most favorite. And listen, they are all amazing, gorgeous, and worth your time. But someone has to be last, so… stick with me. I’ll give the reasons.

Just a note: every park listed here has Visitor Centers, camping (some have lodges), hiking, stargazing, Junior Ranger programs, and all sorts of activities I’m not even touching upon. This is just how I felt — my personal experience and the vibe I got … feel totally free to disagree!

7. Canyonlands Enormous — 337,598 acres! It’s broken into three districts, and there’s no lodging or restaurant.

• The Maze: One of the least accessible areas in the entire U.S. The Maze is 150 square miles — and up to 75 of those are wild, unmarked, and navigated by instinct and cairns. So remote that 30–50% of it is functionally unmapped. For scale: Manhattan is 23 square miles, Walt Disney World is 43, and Las Vegas is 76…Imagine all of Las Vegas as unmapped … that’s The Maze.
• The Needles: Mostly backcountry. Not for weekend warriors.
• Island in the Sky: This is where we went — and where you’d go. It’s gorgeous. Deep canyons carved by the Colorado and Green Rivers, fun-shaped rock formations, and a horizon that stretches beyond imagination. The mesa is encircled by sheer cliffs, making it feel like a stone fortress or island in the sky. A paved scenic drive loops along the rim with cinematic views — Grand View Point, Mesa Arch, and Green River Overlook are the stars. There’s also Shafer Trail if you want a panic drive. But overall, it’s scenic driving and short hikes.

6. Arches Aside from the sentimental Double Arch, once you’ve seen one arch… well, you know. Driving to viewpoints in 100-degree weather just doesn’t do it for me. I’m grateful I hired the tour company. No lodging or restaurant.

5. Zion The park is a logistical headache. If you’re not staying inside the park, you shuttle in — and even if you are, you’re stuck shuttling between poorly marked stops. It’s a mile just to reach the trailheads of the two big hikes.

• The Narrows: Cool, but the microbe warnings killed the vibe. How far you go depends on your height and how soggy you’re willing to get in the river.
• Angels Landing (non-permit section): The first two miles is a steady, uphill climb on a wide, paved trail then moves into enters Refrigerator Canyon, and lastly Walter’s Wiggles 21 switchbacks stacked like sandstone origami the whole thing is 2.25 mi and 1000 feet in elevation gain. After that it’s the 1/2-mile permit-required section, which, if you do, you’re insane. Yes, I am judging!
• The rest? Gorgeous, but it’s hiking, hiking, and more hiking. You can rent bikes, as well.

4. Bryce Canyon This park offers more to do, but the major thing you’re looking at is hoodoos. Hoodoos, hoodoos, and more hoodoos. They’re gorgeous, but kind of like the arches — once you’ve seen one hoodoo …

There’s a ton of hiking and remember: it’s a canyon. If you hike down, you have to hike back up. There’s also horseback riding into the canyon and a scenic drive with an NPS audio tour. It’s laid out well and easy to navigate.

3. Yellowstone The original Wonderland. The very first National Park. There is history all over this park!

You want to see an animal? You are GUARANTEED to see bison. You will. I promise. Don’t worry. You will — often and a lot. And it’s so exciting — even for someone who’s not a nature lover. We saw deer, elk, owls, bears, a wolf, swans, a bald eagle, and so many bison.

The geological features are incredible: geysers, pools, springs, waterfalls, fumaroles, rivers, lakes. There’s hiking, horseback riding, historic architecture, and American history galore.

But… It. Is. Just. So. Big. Seriously, it’s at least a half-hour of legit driving between each point. Yellowstone is shaped like an 8, but lodging is a 3…there’s no lodging on the middle-left side of the park. Each lodge is at least 30 minutes from the next and some roads are cliffside panic-inducers. It’s all just incredibly overwhelming.

2. The Grand Tetons Awe-inspiring mountains, tons of hiking, lakes, rivers, a gorgeous scenic drive, and two small historic districts. It was just stunning. The views are cinematic, the air feels cleaner, and the whole place has a quiet grandeur that’s hard to describe. It’s the kind of park that makes you whisper “wow” every time you look up.

1. Capitol Reef This was the park I had never heard of and wasn’t looking forward to visiting. It was an obligatory stop to complete our Mighty Five checklist; however, what I found was a combination of the best parts of all the other parks, wrapped into a completely manageable experience. There’s no lodging or restaurant — unless you count pie. And you should.

• A newly renovated scenic drive, and we were one of the first cars to drive it…seriously… it opened like an hour before we drove it! It’s paved and gorgeous until you easily off-road into Capitol Gorge.
• A flat easy hike to the Narrows, a more difficult leg burner to an arch, and massive amounts of off-the-beaten-path hiking to the north of the main area, but still in the park.
• A creek, rock formations, bentonite hills, and petrified wood all along a waterpocket fold add a ton of geological features.
• A cabin, schoolhouse, blacksmith shop, pioneer register, and a working farm with a farmhouse serving the most delicious pies of all time make for a lovely historic sprinklings throughout the park. There is also a wall of petroglyphs.

There was something really lovely about it — peaceful, charming, and unexpectedly moving. It felt like a secret you’re glad you didn’t miss.

We Did It!

This really was an amazing adventure, and I’m so grateful for it. I’m proud of everything we accomplished — especially driving that stupid road. I’m also really, really glad we saw what we saw, because this is a part of the country I never would’ve visited otherwise. We truly covered all of Utah, saw an amazing mountain range, and explored the very first National Park.

Nature Is Not My Love Language

That being said… I don’t like nature. I’m not a fan of exercise. And Hunter really loves animals — zoos and, aquariums. So as we start thinking about future trips, I need a better balance. Something that gives him the animal encounters he adores and gives me a break from hiking uphill in 100-degree heat. Preferably with snacks. And shade.

What’s Next?

Speaking of which… anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for coming along