The Great American Road Trip: Utah

It's been a while since my first Great American Road Trip post - so I'll remind you all what our 2021 Summer looked like. It was 3 weeks on the road, 12 states, and over 9 National Parks/Monuments. I love traveling and showing the kids the world, but without the kids being vaccinated against Covid, we weren't ready to hop on a plane just yet.

So what better thing to do than explore the U.S. My first post was all about our time in Nevada - so now I am moving on to our time in Utah. 

Utah surprised me. When we started planning this trip I was leaning towards staying in Moab and doing Arches National Park and Canyonlands. But we got some warning about just how hot (and crowded) it can be in Moab in the summer, so we decided to do Capitol Reef instead. We were not disappointed.

We stayed two nights at The Rim Rock Inn in Torrey, Utah and I could have easily added another night. We stayed in their cabins which were great. With a big empty area behind the cabins, the kids were able to run around a bit. The picture above is the view of our cabins from the rocky area behind them.

There was a fair amount of smoke in the air from fires so the skies weren't as amazing as we would have hoped, but I imagine that on a clear night you could see stars for ages.

I had plans to try different food while in Torrey, but The Rim Rock Patio was right across from our cabin and had great outdoor seating and delicious pizza and beer so we ate their both nights. It had a fun little stage (maybe they have performances in non-covid time) and corn hole and horseshoes to play as well. 

The kids got a kick out of the fact that they call it a "spaghetti western cafe" as it is a blend of a pizza and bbq joint. 

And on to the park. Capitol Reef National Park is definitely an under rated National Park. It has all the red rock beauty you expect and want in Utah - but in the valley is a hidden oasis. The area was settled by Mormon pioneers and has so many fruit trees! The park runs a U-Pick operation in the Fruita area and we got to pick some delicious, ripe Apricots.

The Fremont River area near the Fruita Schoolhouse and Gifford Homestead (where you can buy delicious pies!) is a great place to picnic with the kids. We got pies and pulled out our ice chest and spent a lot of time by the river. We saw lots of birds and wildlife too. Deers and Marmots were all over the place.

I've talked to lots of folks who have been to Capitol Reef, who didn't even know about the pies and the U-pick fruit. Which I think really was the best part of the park.

We also did the Scenic Drive, which was beautiful (and reminded the kids of the Cars Ride at Disneyland.) It was really, really hot when we were there but we did do part (not all) of the Hickman Bridge Hike. It's a 1.8 mile round trip but with very little shade. Even with our water backpacks it felt like a lot for us in the 100+ degree heat. The river area was a lot more our speed.

Lucille and Gus did the Junior Ranger program here too. So if your kids are into that, be sure to stop at the ranger station and pick that up before you start your journey.

And that's it for Utah! Stay tuned for Colorado next.

{I’m probably linking this post up at one of the awesome link parties that are hosted by some amazing blogs. Check them out!}