Follow Along our Travels!

Visiting Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Capitol Reef National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Monument Valley & Lovely Sedona

This was one epic 10 days on the road. It had all the elements of a good road trip: a rented van, great destinations, traveling with the dog and several forced audibles due to weather and van life issues. All in all, it was fun, stressful, beautiful and I would do it again — slightly differently!

The genesis of this trip was that it was the winter of COVID (Dec 2020) and I was itching to get out but I wanted to do it safely and I wanted to bring our dog, Paisley. Thus my husband started looking up options to make all this happen — some Outdoorsy research and a plan started to take shape. We have friends that live in Buena Vista, Colorado so that was our turn-around destination. The side trips along the way allowed us to visit some national parks in the winter which I was excited about since I’d only seen them mostly in warmer months.

However, as the saying goes, “The best laid plans…” What we ended up with is some crazy weather (and a vet visit) that forced some changes to the itinerary and we ended up staying in Moab for a night. And then we had a van breakdown coming down the mountain in Telluride that forced some additional changes to the itinerary. This is all to say that with road trips often come challenges and being flexible is important.

National Parks

A lot of our domestic travel revolves around National Parks because we love to see them but also to hike, bike and get active in them. Well, we did this trip in the dead of winter and with a crazy snowstorm happening — plus we had the dog which means very little accessibility to trails in the NPs. All of this is to say that we knew we would be getting a different experience this time. Was it worth it? Yes, I think so because seeing the parks in winter is truly beautiful. Plus while there were some crowds, it wasn’t as crazy as summer crowds. Here are a couple highlights on the parks we visited this time around:

Zion National Park: We really only drove through Zion on this trip (I’ll do another post about Zion as we’ve been there a handful of times and I love it). The highlight of this drive was the Zion Tunnel and the scenery views between Zion and Bryce. It really is stunning dusted with snow (the real snow hadn’t started yet).

Bryce National Park: The famous hoodoos are even lovelier with snow than without it. I think the contrast between the red clay and the white snow really shows off how distinctive these rock formations are. For this stop, we did get out and walk around the rim trail for a bit (which dogs are allowed on) but it started snowing in earnest so we hightailed it back to the van for lunch and to get on the road before it got worse.

Capitol Reef National Park: There was a full on snowstorm as we were driving through Capitol Reef. To the point where at times you couldn’t even see the rock formations you were driving through! Not ideal for sight-seeing, but it was a very unique experience for sure. (NOTE: we’ve also been here before and would highly recommend this park not during a snowstorm).

Great Sand Dunes National Park: This park is in the middle of nowhere and comes out of seemingly nowhere. Honestly, you are driving away from the stunning 14ers of Colorado’s BV/Salida area and then bam! Sand Dunes! The dunes themselves are very large and very impressive from far. And then you get up close and you realize they are basically mountains of sand. As there are dunes in several other areas of the US, I’m guess the reason this is designated a National Park is the size of the dunes. We spent about a half of a day exploring the dunes (bonus: this NP allows dogs on some of the trails!) and really just being impressed by the sheer size of them.

Mesa Verde National Park: This was a quick stop for us because the changes to the itinerary made it hard to get everything in. So while we’ve been here, we really only went to one small area and overlook. I would recommend coming for longer (and maybe not in the winter as there are some areas of the parks that are closed). We definitely need to spend more time here!

Non-National Park Sites To See:

Ourey – “The Switzerland of America”: This mountain town is incredibly beautiful in the winter where the snow is detailing and outlining the mountains that surround it. The town itself is charming, small and very friendly! This is a perfectly walkable town (the snow storm had stopped by this time and we had blue bird days while we were there) and it is very dog friendly! I love coming through this area any time we can and would go back again in a heartbeat. Ourey is also known for its ice-climbing in the winter if you are crazy enough to try that!

Monument Valley: As you are driving through the middle of the seemingly endless desert, these jutting rock formations just start popping up. This is the famous Monument Valley. There are a couple loops/drives you can take through this area but essentially unless you rock climb, you just enjoy the break in the desert and the view.

Sedona: I can’t decide if I like Sedona better in the summer or the winter. It is a gorgeous town that is tucked away in the red clay mountains. Yes it is touristy for sure but the overall town vibe (even with tourist) is mellow, generous and grateful. We stayed in the best RV spot (highly recommend!). We were right on the creek and still walked to most places for lunch/dinner out. Another amazing this about Sedona is that it is not a National Park which means it is very dog friendly on all trails!

Buena Vista/Salida area: If you are not from Colorado, these are areas you most likely have never heard of. And if you are from Colorado, you are probably mad at me for drawing attention to this area. This region is quaint, quiet (in the winter) mountain towns that are tucked under the Collegiate Peaks. This makes for a stunning backdrop to all things, plus if you have a truck or 4×4 you can cruise into the mountains to do some hiking/snow romping. The towns themselves have delicious restaurants and are super dog friendly as well. I’ve never been in the summer (where I believe river rafting/tubing is the hot sport) but I loved being here in the winter.

Van Life

So how did our first van life experience go? Well, immediately after I swore I wouldn’t do it again as it was a lot of time in a small space for 2 people and a dog. That sentiment lasted approximately 1 week at which point I started googling how much it was to buy a Sprinter Van.

While there are some challenges inherent to living in van (such as personal space and potential for breakdowns), there is more to love about van life vacationing. I really liked that we were so transit and agile. As I’ve mentioned, we had to change the itinerary due to weather but that wasn’t a big deal because we knew we could just drive somewhere different, park and find somewhere to live for the night. I liked the option of cooking and eating meals in the van (especially since it was cold outside and we had the pup). And there is something wonderful about having a bathroom available to you at any time during a long road trip! Would I do it again? Yes (and we have). Would I do it differently next time? Yes (see the tips section).

Tips, Dos and Don’ts of this Itinerary & Changes to Itinerary:

• DO! Winterize the Van. This is my biggest tip for this trip. If you are going to rent a van in the winter, make sure the van you rent/buy is winterized down to the appropriate temperature you are going to be going to. We did ask if the van was winterized and the answer was yes, but that was for California winter — not Colorado/Utah winter. This means that when the temperature got below 15 degrees, things started breaking down in the van. This led to a very scary moment on the side of the mountain near Durango (with no cell service) where our van was smoking and we didn’t know what our options were. We were saved when a state trooper that we had to physically flag down called a flat bed wrecker (tow truck) for us. We had a memorable ride with him to Montrose and the van was able to be fixed in two days. What was very stressful at the time is now a funny memory but it all could have been avoided if we had asked the right questions to start.
• DO! This exact itinerary in a different time of year to avoid snow storms. Winter + Van = A lot of inside the van time. When I picture van life, I see cooking inside but eating outside. I see parking somewhere and getting to explore more outside than being inside. Well as this was a winter trip and the weather was wild, we spent a lot of time inside the van. By the end, I was a little stir-crazy (thankfully it was beautiful in Sedona). Just make sure to have movies downloaded, games packed and some good music if have potential for winter weather. Otherwise, plan for a van life trip during a different part of the year.
• DON’T! Expect to bring your dog to National Parks and be able to hike with freedom. We know this but in case you do not, most national parks do not allow dogs on their trails (or on very few trails). This is because they want to keep the eco-system intact and pups don’t necessarily allow that. The good thing is that we had the van if we wanted to do some hiking, but in our case due to the weather that wasn’t really an option either.
• DO! Book RV Parks to stay in. This was my first experience with RV parks and wow, they can be amazing! At the majority of them we stayed at (outside the one is Laos) there were nice bathroom/shower facilities, laundry and even cooking facilities. Being able to plug in and charge up all electronics and the van was an added bonus too.
• DO! Download your pet medical record in case you need it. So our sweet Paisley did not take to van life like we hoped she would. She was anxious from the start and since she had a heart condition, I was concerned about stress-level. Luckily, we found out that most vets on the road will look at your animal and are able to prescribe meds once they have a medical history. The tip here is to make sure to have your pets medical records in your email for easy access in case you need them! After we got her meds, she was good to go!
• Changes to this exact itinerary – As it was written we stayed in Laos and were supposed to stay in Dolores. Laos is nothing special and is just a convenient stop in between areas — wouldn’t stay again. However, there are places to stay in Capitol Reef that would have at least put us in the park longer (Fruita Campground is open in the winter). I would keep Moab over Dolores and (if done at a different time of year) tack on Arches National Park because it is right there. Canyonlands isn’t far either if you have an extra day. If I’m being honest, the non-National Parks stops on this trip were better than the actual NPs. It is likely due to the weather but also the packed itinerary that didn’t allow much exploration time. If you can, use this itinerary as a starting point and extend it to be longer.

This post was made in loving memory of our sweet Paisley girl