Friday, June 26, 2026 *Note: Started this post on Saturday morning but didn’t finish it, so any mention of “yesterday” means Friday!* I think I mentioned original plan was Hoover Dam for yesterday, but as I sat drinking my tea and considering the day ahead, I realized it made more sense to do Hoover Dam… Continue reading Zion/Vegas Trip Day 8: Mexican brunch, Caesar’s, casino, Fremont Street!
Thursday, June 25, 2026 Yesterday, after our pretty late night out on the town the night before, I was feeling lazy! We ended up lounging by the pool for a long time. It was honestly so nice. Hot but not like HOT in the morning yet. RELAXING! Finally dragged myself up to shower and get… Continue reading Zion/Vegas Trip Day 7: relaxing, more exploring, introducing Asher to gambling 🤪, and USA game
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 Yesterday was a long and very good day! I’m being lazy this morning (more on why later) and it’s getting late now, so I need to (try) to be brief here today. Relaxing morning at the hotel! An odd morning with some spitting RAIN!! What?! The cooler temps briefly felt good.… Continue reading Zion/Vegas Trip Day 6: Vegas strip, Wizard of Oz at Sphere!!, Mexico, donating a little to the casino 😉
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 Tuesday was sadly our check out day from Zion. Thankfully though we didn’t have a big hurry in the morning. The big event for yesterday was a UTV tour in Sand Hollows State Park, en route back to Vegas (about 45 minutes southwest of Zion). I had intentionally planned for a… Continue reading Zion/Vegas Trip Day 5: Sand Hollows, UTV’ing! and return to Las Vegas
Monday, June 22, 2026 Our full Sunday yielded way to a slower Monday morning. Ethan and Ivan were dead set on watching the Argentina game at 11:00, which was fine with me as I really did want to watch it too. We absolutely “could” have gone out at the crack of dawn and done another… Continue reading Zion/Vegas Trip Day 4: chill morning, Argentina + the Narrows!
Sunday, June 21, 2026 This was THE MOST EPIC day. Like, I have so many amazing photos that it’s ridiculous. I am terrible at narrowing things down (#foreverindecisive) so please brace for an onslaught of pictures. 😬 So far I can confidently say Zion now ranks in the very top of my favorite national parks.… Continue reading Zion/Vegas Trip Day 3: e-bikes, Scout Lookout & Canyon Overlook trail
Saturday, June 20, 2026 Heading out from Vegas! Case in point why we have to go carry on only… and the Toyota Sienna minivan has a BIG trunk! 6 carryons and our personal items… Drive to first stop, Vegas > Valley of Fire State Park. First stop, Beehives! Visitor Center: Picked up a map and… Continue reading Zion/Vegas Trip Day 2: Valley of Fire!
We’re here! Left Madison on a 2:40 pm flight. Aren’t they so cute?! Watched the U.S. game on our phones… Yay, big win! Bye beautiful Madison, city of lakes! Hello desert land.. arriving to Phoenix. Boo, flight delay…. 6 pm flight pushed back to almost 7:30. 
Boys had Chick Fil A: The rest of… Continue reading Zion/Vegas Day 1!
You guys know by now that I STRUGGLE with packing. I have felt like in the last couple of years I've actually gotten worse with it, not better, too. Due to both cost increases and space reasons, we've shifted to being pretty much exclusively carry-on only travelers now. We also frequently take fairly long trips,… Continue reading Packing tips for an indecisive traveler
*This post is part of my “passion project” travel series where I’m slowly going back to recap our family trips from pre-blog days.* See Part 1 and Part 2 here: Part 1: Mitchell Corn Palace, the Badlands, Wall Drug, and arrival to the Black Hills Part 2: Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park & Deadwood… Continue reading South Dakota Part 3: Needles Highway, canoeing Sylvan Lake, Blue Bell’s Chuckwagon Dinner, horses and fishing!
GRATEFUL KAE 