Tag Archives: Virgin River

Guest Interview – Weston Liam Pickwell, Age 6

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I’m interested to see how this interview goes.  If my hunch is correct, you’ll see a clear dichotomy between Wyatt, and my very verbose 6 year old.  Hope my fingers can keep up.

Weston, would you like to tell me a little bit about your trip?

Hmmmm….. well, I liked seeing the bears.  Um…. I liked seeing the sequoias, the tall trees, and the Grizzly Giant.  I liked Yellowstone because I liked the campground, and it was clean, and I liked the geysers, fumaroles, and mudpots.  Um…. I liked staying in a camper. Um… and…umm… well… I liked…. seeeeing the faces of Mt. Rushmore.

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What did you think about all of the driving we had to do?

Um…..  It was fun when we got to watch movies and play on our iPods.  And um… we liked um…. well I liked seeing a whole bunch of flags on Mount Rushmore.  About riding in the truck…  Oh yeah…. well I did like going to McDonalds one time, I think… and um… we got a toy Minion.

What was your least favorite part about riding in the truck?

I think it was waiting 15-20 minutes for iPods.  Why did you have to wait?  We were acting crazy.

Was there was there anything fun about driving that far?

I already told you!  The iPods!

Do you have any thoughts about the scenery you saw?

Um… it was pretty, but we have no idea if way out there there are more sequoias.  The scenery was high and pretty.  And um… I think I saw a canyon with a road in the middle with rocks in it that looked like they were from Lion King.  I think it was in Arches.

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What did you think about Yosemite?

It was interesting with all of the squirrels.  They wanted to get fed so they got just like one inch away.  Well, they walked up to a lady and she shot them with a water bottle.  Then another squirrel came.  We weren’t supposed to feed the squirrels or they could get relocated somewhere else or killed.  I think in the Badlands, what we saw was a chipmunk.

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Tell me about your experience in Zion NP.  How was that?

I think it was quite burning up in there but it was a little fun.  We stayed at Zion River Resort and it was clean and I think it had a pool.  We even had a ‘smores’agbord.  And we swam in the virgin river.  And we even hiked the narrows.  What was that like?  Well, it was a little tricky.  We went like 5 miles through water, like, kinda a current, like tiny water falls that made the current.  Well, there was patches of land that we could go on.  We ate cold pizza for lunch and cookies.

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What was your top 5 National Parks?

1. YosemiteIMG_5485

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2. YellowstoneFullSizeRender 124 FullSizeRender 104

3. ZionFullSizeRender 172 FullSizeRender 177

4. Rocky MountainIMG_6506 IMG_6508

5. SequoiaIMG_5541 IMG_5526

What were your 5 top experiences?

1. See the giant sequoias and the Grizzly Giant

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2. Seeing the geysers and hot springs

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3. Swimming in the Virgin River

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4. The Jeep Ride in Moab

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5. The ATV in the hail storm

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Why don’t you tell everyone what it is like to live in a camper for 6 weeks.

Well, when you live it in theres not much room.  For the kids, they can play in their beds with stuffed animals and they can come to life.  When you live in a camper on a trip, you have to drive like 100 miles or something to get to your campground.  And it is like 50 miles to get to a state.  And if you are going to skip a state, you have to drive 1000 miles, maybe.  I liked playing the Ranger game with Wyatt.

What was your favorite state?

Wyoming because we got to go to a cowboy thing.

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Anything you would like to add?

Yeah, there was this Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone and the highest it exploded was like 300 feet.  We didn’t get to see it, but it was the highest.  That’s all!

Heat Wave

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Monday – June 29

Day 25:

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FullSizeRender 162 FullSizeRender 151Out West, if you don’t like the scenery, keep driving.  It will probably change within the hour.  Today is travel day and we have a modest drive to Virgin, UT.  To get there, we must go to Flagstaff, and head North, around the Grand Canyon, and up through the bottom of Utah.  First, I was pretty surprised by the terrain in Arizona.  Northern Arizona is cooler (higher altitude), and quite a bit of greenery to be seen.  As we drove around the Eastern portion of the Grand Canyon, we could tell it was getting lower, hotter, and more arid.  I was really excited that we got to see the Vermilion Cliffs.  They were beautiful red cliffs that showed layer upon layer of ancient history.  But as we climbed out of them, the scenery changed.  We started seeing scrub pine and small bushes – then larger pine.  The pine was thin enough that it looked as if someone had sprinkled them out on the hillside with a pepper shaker.  And suddenly, I felt as if I were back in the black hills.  At the bottom of the climb we were at 100.  At the top, where the Kaibab Forest is and the Northern entrance to Grand Canyon, we were in the 80s.  Then as suddenly as the pine appeared, they thinned to nothing and we were back in an arid dry landscape.  One of my favorite things about this trip is seeing how the climate changes from mile to mile.  It is an impressive site.

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There are more National Monuments and Parks than I realized.  When you go into your first National Park, you have to visit the Visitor’s Center and pick up a Passbook.  From then on, every time you visit a monument or park, you can purchase a sticker to put in the book and stamp it like a passport.  Driving 89A we came around a curve, descended a bit, and found this beautiful bridge spanning Marble Canyon what I think is the beginning of the Colorado River.  They had a visitors center and a place to stamp your book!  Plus we saw California Condor #54.

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“It’s just a dry heat,” is a load of crap!  HOT IS HOT!  Imagine walking outside and having a hair dryer blown in your face, and on your head, and on your body.  I’ve never felt heat like this before.

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Rivers cool the heat!  Thank goodness we are camping on a river!

Route: Williams, AZ to Virgin, UT via Hwy 89A

Campground: Zion River Resort 

Time: Left 9:00 Standard MT.  Arrived 4:00 MT DST 6 HRS

Tuesday – June 30

Day 26:

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Zion is like the desert version of Yosemite.  It has its own huge named peaks and rock faces.  Zion is beautiful.  It is a beauty you can’t find anywhere else.

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For some reason, Zion NP doesn’t believe in air conditioning.  Its the hottest park so far and none of the buses have AC.  The Visitors Center is actually cooled through natural cooling towers.  Have no idea how its works, but it does.  If only the buses had cooling towers.

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Water is life.  We hiked to the Lower Emerald Pool and made sure to drench ourselves in the falls.  Then we ate lunch and soaked ourselves in the Virgin River.  It is an oasis in the desert.

Itinerary: Lower Emerald Pool