WE HAVE BEEN MARRIED MORE THAN ONE YEAR! Crazy stuff. To celebrate our first anniversary we wanted to go to all of the National Parks in Utah. However, we planned this while we were in Mexico and who would of thought that a world wide pandemic would happen?? I can truly say I did not expect it. It was still so so good and we visited some of the coolest places I have ever seen and honestly I do not know how I had not been to them yet. Our original plan was we would go to Arches, Captiol Reef, and Canyon Lands National Park. Okay, so technically not all of them, but we go to Bryce + Zion all the time since we live so close to them. We wanted to go to the parks we had not been to yet. Thanks to COVID Arches and Canyon Lands were closed so we had to adjust our plans a tiny bit, but nothing was going to stop us! Luckily, Greyson is so good at planning and budgeting hah this trip went perfect with our budget and it was overall so fun.
We decided to go to Capitol Reef National Park, Moab, Dead Horse Point State Park, and Goblin Valley State Park. We were going to stay in Moab, but it was so expensive!!! So instead we stayed in a little town next to my grandparents called Monticello. There, we found a $30/night two star rated hotel. I know what you are thinking, I definitely thought it too, but it was not too bad. Everyday we would drive 45 minutes to Moab and go to our next destination from there. We drove so much!
We went on our trip memorial weekend. On our first day we woke up at 5am and headed to Captiol Reef National Park. We arrived there around 8:30 am. We went on many different hikes. It is a good thing we like hiking because we were doing it all day every day! My personal favorite hike in Captiol Reef was Cassidy's Arch. Captiol Reef was sooo cool I cannot wait to go back. After our hikes we were so tired and drove the remainder of the way to Monticello. We were exhausted and so hungry. The few restaurants that were in Monticello were closed!! After searching forever we found one Thai restaurant that was doing take out. It was heaven on Earth! Some of the best Thai food I have ever had. I would definitely go for their pineapple curry.
On our next day we woke up early again and drove a couple of hours to Dead Horse Point State Park. This place is so underrated. I honestly think this is the coolest place I have been to in all of Utah! I was obsessed. Greyson and I did a loop around the entire park and there were some lookouts you could take to get some amazing views! The trail came to 9 miles in total, but it was mostly flat so it went by fast. Once we got to the main lookout we ate our packed lunch and treats. If you have not been here you need to go ASAP. It has one of the best views you will EVER see. We got done with our hiking mid afternoon and met up with my family in the mountains later that night. My family lives in another small town 30 minutes from Monticello. They were all camping in the mountains and they invited us up for dinner, so we went up for the night and indulged in chili and peach cobbler. MY FAVORITE!
The next day of our trip we were so tired! We had done so much hiking. We slept in longer than we meant to and got on the road at 8am. We spent the day in Moab and were going to just go with the flow, so we had some time to spare. On our drive to Moab we stopped at some cool destinations and some lookouts. After our little detours we went to Moab and played our favorite sport together. DISC GOLF! We started playing together a couple of months ago and it has become one of our favorite activities. First, once you buy your discs it is free, there are actually courses everywhere (who knew!), it takes minimal skill (to play decently), and it is so much fun! We played 18 holes and by the time we were done we were drained! Disc golf is actually a workout. Especially when the course is a hiking trail in itself and you keep losing your disc hah. After we finished playing we got hamburgers, fries, and shakes at the Moab Diner. It was amazing! After lunch we were supposed to go on another hike, but we were just too tired for it. Instead we walked up a freaking steep hill of sand and ran down it, then watched a Marvel movie in our car at the park. We definitely probably got strange looks while watching our movie, but we would not have known because we covered all of the car windows with blankets hah (hence the strange looks). We are currently having a Marvel marathon and we only have a couple movies left. The remainder of the day we toured the city and walked some trails until dinner. We wanted to stay until dinner because we found a Mexican restaurant with Tacos Al Pastor! So obviously we had to go. We were so full, but we made ourselves eat and it was worth it. They were the best tacos I have had since Mexico. How we miss those tacos:(
Our trip was super short, but so much fun! On our last day we visited Goblin Valley State Park on our way home. I am so glad we made the detour it was so worth it. The whole weekend had perfect weather and at some points it was kind of cold. Our day in Goblin Valley was by far the hottest day of our trip and it was so hot in the park! We went on little hike into a cool underground cave. This park was so unique compared to all of the other parks I have ever been to. It reminded me a little bit of Bryce Canyon. These rock features were very strange looking.
Our first anniversary could not have been more perfect. We spent the weekend doing our favorite activity together, ate super good food, jammed in the car for hours, and made the best memories. I love the life we are building!
One year down, FOREVER TO GO!
- Lex
