Parks – The Haiarts' Adventure

Kanab, UT (Zion/Bryce NP)

We had 4 nights in Kanab, UT. We chose Kanab due to it’s proximity to Zion, Bryce and Grande Escalante.

The drive out of Williams was great, plowed roads and no ice. We stopped via Flagstaff to finally get some snow gear. The local Walmart and Target were out but we found a ski shop that had secondhand gear! $45 and the kids were finally decked out, a bit late but better than never!

Our first full day in Kanab went to Zion National Park. On the way we stopped off at the Coral Dunes to do a bit of sledding on the snow. Ollie was a bit unsure and Moose was hesitant so we didn’t spend too long sledding.

Zion was amazing! We drove through the park and the Mile Long tunnel. Many of the walks were closed due to recent mudslides. We did the Riverside Walk to the Narrows. It offered a gentle climb along side a creek which was flowing with recent snow melt. Moose offered a bit of resistant but otherwise did very well. Ollie was content riding in the Ergo Baby Air Mesh 360 (definitely a product plug).

The following day we drove to Bryce National Park. Another spectacular park. The sled again came to rescue. Because of it were able to walk along several view points. Having the kids in snow pants made a huge difference to their comfort. They weren’t stuck with wet and cold bums from the snow falling into the sled. The view points had excellent fences to prevent the kids from falling down which left us with a bit of time to take pictures. Off the trail there were many smaller paths leading down valleys and over mounds. I went part way down a snow covered goat trail for some more shots. It’s somewhere I’d love to come back with older kids and do some serious hiking. There was snow everywhere still but it was 6 degrees and wonderfully sunny. I still don’t know why everyone in the same party needs to take the same picture, each with a camera and a phone. At least we have no shortage of pictures! I will say, the processor on the iPhone 8 yields some amazing pictures, especially in low light. And it’s panoramic feature is flawless. More on that in another post.

Our last day in Kanab called for rain so we did a short local hike over the town. We came almost face to face with a buck which Moose thought was pretty cool.

Dad left us in Kanab and headed back to Phoenix and we continued onto Las Vegas to meet up with my brother Mat.

Williams, AZ (Grand Canyon NP)

We had 3 nights in Williams as our “Gateway to the Grand Canyon”, as the sign says on entering the town.

The first day in Williams was a write off. There was a fresh foot of snow. Despite the plows already in full force the roads look treacherous. Dad and I headed out to see how bad they were in the 2WD van, complete with all season tires. It took 50m to stop doing 30kph… not idea for highway driving. A sage lady at the hotel said “I’ll go another day, the Canyon will be there tomorrow”. Wise words from a woman whose advanced age precluded me from being able to say the same about her. Instead we drove around town looking for appropriate snow gear. Luckily we found some boots for the boys and some Wellington boots for Hanika.

We bundled everyone up as best we could and headed for the shops on foot. In addition to the boots we bought a sled to pull the boys around in. I had visions of a leisurely stroll through fresh snow… wrong. Within a block both boys were tossed off by the narrowly shovelled sidewalks! We made it another block before we found a cafe. On the way back the wind picked up and was blowing ice crystals around. Poor Moose was being battered. Defeated, we headed back to the room to play Monopoly.

It was Thanksgiving that day so we went out for dinner at the local Mexican restaurant. They happened to be serving a ham and turkey dinner. We got both boy a plate off the kids menu. At less than half the price of the adult dish we figured it would fill them nicely. I won’t lie, it was the size of the adult meal! Lucky for us we had some Tupperware in the car so we ended up with tomorrow’s lunch at a fraction of the cost!

Over the day and second night a few more inches of snow fell. The road conditions were reported as good. I must admit, for what I consider a pretty remote part of America the plows were great. The roads were in excellent condition apart from scattered slush. The slowest part of the drive as getting INTO the park! I missed the turn off for prepaid vehicles so we were stuck in the slow moving line.

We unpacked everyone from the van and onto the sled and started walking around the South Rim. I’m not sure what it looks like in summer but the Grand Canyon is beautiful in winter. The size of the canyon can’t be overstated. I’ve never seen anything like it. We managed a bit of a walk with the sled before the boys got too cold and we had to turn back. Everyone looked jealous of our setup, especially the poor parents trying to push strollers and wagons through snow! One downside was that snow was piling into the sled and the boys only had sweatpants on.

We had one last dinner at a classic Route 66 diner before setting off the next day for Kanab, UT.

Joshua Tree NP, CA

The scenery was certainly taking on a different appearance now – we had left the coast behind us and were heading into the desert. We were met with long straight highways through rocky plains, along with plenty of scrub and rocky mountains. We arrived in Twenty Nine Palms – a small town just outside Joshua National Park, and pulled up to our hotel. The reception was decked out as a Western-style hotel but our accommodation was a lovely self contained unit complete with a dog turd under the bed (quickly dealt with) and an organ piano – Moose was in heaven and played it every opportunity he got. We dropped off our things at the hotel and headed straight for the park for a quick visit before the sun went down. We bought an annual pass at the entrance which then allowed us free entry into a number of other national parks – including the Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce – all of which would come in useful over the next few weeks. But for now, back to the hotel for dinner.

In the morning we headed back to the park in search of the Cholla Cactus Garden walking trail. After the 30 minute drive there, we didn’t make it out of the carpark before Moose got a splinter on the wooden hand rail. Despite our best efforts with the first aid kit in the car, we couldn’t get it out and so turned around and went back to the hotel. It came out easily with a proper pair of tweezers and some well timed distraction. Here was when the weather stopped going our way….a dust storm blew in with strong winds and very poor visibility. That ruled out going back to the park that day and we hunkered down in the hotel….where the power went out…

Before and during the sandstorm, taken from the end of our street.

The next morning the power had returned and the storm had cleared so we headed back to the park. This time we were in search of Arch Rock trail. After some dubious signage and a false start in the wrong direction, we found Arch Rock and were blown away by the rock formations. Moose was really excited and did a fantastic job climbing and jumping around on the rocks. After Arch Rock we hopped back in the car and headed on to Skull Rock, for some more climbing. After this we raced down to Keys View lookout before the sun went down. We arrived, dealt with an impressive nappy blowout, then rugged up and braved the 5 degree, windy weather to get some photos then retreat back to the warmth of the car to defrost our fingers and head back to the hotel.

The next morning we set off to Phoenix to meet up with Seb’s dad who would be joining us for the next two weeks of our trip.

Tallahassee, FL

We spent 3 nights in Tallahassee, again to break up the driving.

Tallahassee is the state capital of Florida. It’s not a big city by an stretch and we didn’t have much trouble getting around. Saying that, we didn’t do much and enjoyed a few days of low key tourism.

The highlight was the Tallahassee museum, which is more like a zoo. They had an elevated boardwalk through the enclosures of red wolves, deer, bears and panthers. My favourite animals were the tree climbing foxes.

Otherwise we really didn’t do much. It rained which forced our hands to finally buy umbrellas. They got minimal use.

We headed off to St Petersburg for Halloween.

Lynchburg, VA

We spent two nights in Lynchburg, VA to break up the drive from DC to Nashville. It was a random choice made by looking at google maps and a suitable place on AirBnB.

It was our first introduction to the real South, though not quite as intense as I had prepared for. A few Trump signs, a lot of Baptist churches and Liberty University. I didn’t see an Confederate flags though.

We wandered around downtown and went to the community market. Unfortunately, most of the stalls were closed midweek. We did find a nice little coffee roaster run by a Canadian expat, Grains of Sense Coffee Roastery. Adequately caffeinated we set off down a walking trail to Percival’s island, home of a disused rail yard for a picnic lunch. We had dinner back down at the river at a delicious pub.

Our travel days have been spread out. We’ve decided it’s not worth spending just one night somewhere, so the new minimum is two. It’s worked well so far and it gives us a full day to wander and explore and tire the kids out.

We drove out via the Smokie’s to Bluff City TN.

Washington

We spent 4 nights in DC, our longest stop of the trip so far. We stayed a bit north along a metro line (not as far as Maryland) in an AirBNB.

We expected a few days of rain so we spent the first day wandering from the Whitehouse down the Mall to the Washington monument and through the memorials dedicated to various famous people/presidents.

If you’ve been to DC you’ll know the Whitehouse is a bit of a let down, regardless of who occupies it. It’s not a very big building and it’s multiple fences to keep people away. I guess it’s Canada’s/Britain’s fault for burning the first one down. We went to the Washington monument but missed the day’s tickets to get to the top. It didn’t stop Moose from dancing in front of it!

The rest of the monuments were fantastic. We saw the Lincoln, MLK, FDR and Jefferson monuments. My favourite was probably the Vietnam Memorial with its haunting sculptures.

On the way home we stopped off at the local grocery store called “Save a lot”. It really highlighted the lack of access to fresh and nutritious food even in a large metropolitan area.

The next day we had a lazy morning before setting off to museums. Hanika went to the Newseum with Ollie and I took Moose to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Neither of the kids were that impressed so we both dashed through without being able to take much in. We met up with an old friend of mine for a BBQ dinner.

Our last day was equally lazy. I took the kids to a park so Hanika could relax and she returned the favour by letting me go to the Air and Space museum by myself. There are two sites, one in DC and one in Virginia.

The downtown centre is much smaller and under a lot of construction. Still, they had a version of the Apollo lunar lander used to prepare the astronauts, a life size Hubble and a full size Apollo/Soyuz docking.

We headed out via Arlington National Cemetery. Unfortunately Moose spat the dummy so I took him back to the car and saw nothing. Our last stop was the Air and Space museum in Virginia. It’s connected to Dulles Airport so is both massive and able to take planes directly from the tarmac. Not only planes but also Discovery, the space shuttle! It was an overwhelming sight. So far, a highlight of the trip for me. It also had an SR-71, the Enola Gay and a Concorde.

The next destination is Nashville with two stops in Virginia and Tennessee to break up the drive.

Niagara Falls

What a sight! It’s everyone’s first time here and it’s more stunning than people make it out to be.

We started on the American side given we were driving from Buffalo. We stopped at the state park, went up the observation deck and went on the Maid of Mist. We donned our cool blue ponchos (they’re red if you take the Hornblower from the Canadian side) and rode right past all 3 falls. The boat should be renamed the Maid of the Downpour. Thank goodness for the ponchos or we would have been soaked! Honestly though, it was a great experience and for $40 USD it was well worth it.

It was a beautiful day so we dried off quickly, had a snack and made our way across the boarder to Niagara Ontario. The boys slept so we drove around for an hour soaking up the sights. We checked into our hotel then explored around the area as much as Moose’s legs would let us. I think we’re going to buy a cheap foldable pram for him! We finished up by putting the boys in the pool before dinner with hopes of getting a solid nights sleep!

We stayed at the Four Points with a falls view room that didn’t disappoint! A big step up from the airport motel in Buffalo and probably the nicest accommodation we’ll have until Disney.

A note on Niagara Falls, it’s bloody expensive! Saying that, I wish we had a few more days there.

The next day we woke up early and headed for the Sky View ferris wheel for a lofty view of the falls. On our way Hanika took Moose to the toilet. While they were gone I heard the unmistakable sound of car vs pedestrian followed by screaming. I ran up the street to find a lot of people walking AWAY! I handed Ollie in his pram to some responsible looking people (what gives me any special ability to be a parent?) and ran to render assistance. It was a poor Australian couple who were hit crossing the road. A bit of blood and tears but no one seemed too injured. Within 10 minutes 2 fire trucks, 2 ambulances and a police cruiser showed up! Good to see the local tax revenue is paying for first rate emergency responders. We made it to the ferris wheel unscathed and enjoyed walking around Clifton Hill.

The hotel has a 12pm check out so we made our way to Toronto. We stopped in Oakville to see a very old friend and arrived in Toronto safely that afternoon.

St Malo Provincial Park

Tucked 45 minutes south of Winnipeg is the town of St Malo and its provincial park. We were invited down for the day by my cousin. The weather cooperated by clearing up just as we arrived. We were treated to bright blue skies and a little in the way of wind.

It was a great day spent immersing Moose in all things Canadian. For lunch we had fire roasted smokies. Then we took him canoeing in a wooden canoe that was hand built by my uncle (no blood relation obviously). We finished off the day with Smores over the fire. We couldn’t convince him to go for a swim though, he’s still a bit precious about the temperature!