Bryce Canyon National Park

What’s up everybody?

Last November (2019) my beautiful bride decided to go visit one of her friends out in San Francisco.  That Left me wandering what it was that I was going to do with myself while she was gone.  I could do my typical go to’s like being lazy around the house, playing video games or watching a movie or tv show.  None of that was really sounding appealing and then I heard it calling.  Yes my friends, adventure was calling my name and I knew I had to answer that call.  It didn’t take me long to decide, I already knew where I wanted to go.  Bryce Canyon National Park.

From where I live in Salt Lake, its about a four hour drive to Bryce.  I only had a day and a half to see the park.  Ideally, I would have drove down the night before.  Unfortunately, I still had some things to do around the house so that wasn’t going to happen.  The plan was to wake up at 4:30 am, be on the road by 5.00 am and be at the park by 9.00 am.  Surprisingly everything worked out that smoothly.

After leaving the metro area the cityscape quickly turns into a desert landscape.  Honestly, its not the vibrant picturesque desert scene that you see on postcards or in paintings.  No, its fairly dull and drab.  Needless to say, with the exceptions of a few small communities, theres not much to look at or see.  The drive is pretty boring especially if you’re driving alone.  You have to find something to entertain you.  The conversations are not that great or interesting.  Best thing to do is crank up the radio and sing to your favorite songs.

Its not until you reach the Red Canyon area when you realize that you are in for something special.  Spectacular red rock formations make themselves known as they start to appear through the foliage before towering high over the ponderosa pines.  I don’t know too much about the area so I can’t tell you too much about it.  It is part of the Dixie National Forest and used for many types of recreation.  I have added it to my list of place that I want to explore and can’t wait to get back and find some fun.  From Red Canyon you’re about a 20 minute drive to the small town of Bryce and the gates of Bryce Canyon National Park.

Establish in 1928 by President Warren G. Harding and named after pioneer Ebenezer Bryce who helped to engineer and build an irrigation system to supply water to the surrounding communities.  Bryce Canyon is Utah’s smallest National Parks coming in at 35,835 acres or 55,992 square miles.  Don’t let its small size fool you though, what it lacks in size it makes up in sheer beauty.  Due to its remoteness it only see about 2 million visitors a year.

My first stop after entering the gate was the Visitors Center.  I would suggest doing this whenever visiting a National Park, especially if it your first time there.  Take a moment to talk with one of the rangers.  They are full of information and can suggest ideas for you to help you plan out your visit.  This is something that I wish that I had taken advantage of while I was there.  I learned too late that they were doing a stat gazing hike when the sun went down.  It sounded really fun and something that was right up my alley.  Unfortunately by the time I found out about it I couldn’t fit into my limited schedule.

Heres one pro tip for visiting Bryce Canyon:  Drive all the way to Rainbow Point, which is at the very top of the canyon, and start your journey from there.  The reasoning for this is simple.  The majority, if not all, of the turn offs are on the left side of the road.  Its easier to turn into parking areas and you don’t have to fight with traffic.  I know that I am making it sound easier than it is.  There was several times that I had to fight the urge to pullover and not continue to the top.  The views that appear are quite tempting but persevere and continue to the top.

It has been about 15 years since the last time I was here at Bryce Canyon,  I had forgotten how beautiful and awe inspiring it actually was.  I wish I was a better write to help paint a better picture of it for you to understand.  Bryce Canyon is known for a rock formation known as a Hoodoo.  Hoodoos are an irregular shaped spires created by the rock layers eroding at different rate of speed and are found in highly hot and arid locations.  They are not exclusive to Bryce and can be found throughout the world.  What makes Bryce different is the sheer number of them.

Bryce Canyon is a bit of a misnomer for its not really a canyon at all.  It’s actually a series of natural occurring amphitheaters formed out of the surrounding plateaus.  None of these amphitheaters are more famous than the Bryce Amphitheater.  The largest by far, Bryce Amphitheater is filled with thousands, if not tens of thousands, of hoodoos in every size, shape, and color.  You might even see a natural bridge here and there.  Not to mention that the majority of the hiking trails in Bryce Canyon take you through the amphitheater.  No matter what your skill level is you’ll be able to find a hike for you.  They range from a few hours to several days.  The choices are endless.

You will be amazed by any of the viewing areas that peer into Bryce Amphitheater but none show the true grandeur as Inspiration Point.  Inspiration Point is a three tiered viewing area.  Each platform opens you to even more spectacular views but nothing compares to the top.  I will admit it is a bit of a hike to get there but definitely worth the effort.  From the top of Inspiration you can see all of Bryce Amphitheater in all of its wonder.  There is also a U.S Geological Survey Benchmark.  These benchmarks are a metal disk that give latitude, longitude and/or orthometric height.  In my opinion they are pretty cool, especially if you are int to that kind of thing.

I do have to admit that I did something really stupid but it ended up being my favorite part to the whole trip.  For the last stop of the day I made my way to Sunrise and Sunset Points to take some final photos.  Like the names state at the right time of day this is the place to be for some spectacular views.  I did find myself back here at sunrise the following morning and it was absolutely beautiful.  Just off to the left of Sunrise Point is the trail head for Queen’s Garden.  The trail takes you from Sunrise into the middle part of the Bryce Amphitheater. Its not a difficult hike and is only about 2 miles round trip.  I had only planned on taking a few pictures and not doing any of the hikes so I left my water bottle and other gear in the car.  I figured I would walk down just a little ways and snap a few pics and head back.  I was so captivated by what I was seeing that before I knew it I was at the end of the trail staring up at a formation that was supposed to resemble Queen Victoria.  The hike down was really cool though.  I felt like I was in a Indiana Jones movie looking for some strange ancient artifact.  The trail gradually made it way to the bottom curving this way and that, man made arches cut through the rocks for easy access and green pine trees pultruding from the ground complimenting the red of the surrounding rocks.

Here is another tip:  Bryce Canyon is in an arid desert, make sure you have water with you even if you don’t think you’ll need it.  I kind of lucked out since I went in November and the weather wasn’t as hot as it could have been.  If it had been in the  summer I could have been in a world of hurt.  The risk of heatstroke and dehydration is always high.  Be smarter than me.

Even though it was a short tip, I enjoyed every minute of it.  I have fallen in love with Bryce Canyon and appreciate its beauty once again.  I don’t plan on waiting another 15 years before going there again.  I’m already looking into planning another trip.  This time I plan on spending more time and concentrating on hiking the trails.

Until next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Josh

FaceBook: Rowley’s Adventure Diaries

Instagram: @rowleysadventurediaries

YouTube: Rowley’s Adventure Diaries

San Juan, Puerto Rico

What’s up everybody?

Well our year of cruising is not off to a very good start.  At the time of me writing this I should have been sitting on a beach in St. Lucia sipping on a margarita or a mai tai.  Thanks to our new friend Covid-19 our cruise was canceled the day before we were to disembark.  You might have guessed it already but we had already flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico to get on the ship before we received word of the cancellation.

Needless to say, we were a little shocked when we first heard of the cancellation.  One of the members of our group had receive a message from a friends saying that Royal Caribbean had cancelled all of their outgoing cruises.  We hadn’t heard anything official from Royal ourselves so we didn’t want to make any rash decision until we were 100 percent sure of what was going on.  After several phone calls to various people, we received our confirmation of the cancellation.   Now we had to figure out what our next step would be.  Stay and play in Puerto Rico?  Do we fly somewhere else and spend the rest of our vacation there?  A lot of things we had to consider.  In the end we thought it best for us to head home.

Before all this madness happened there was one good thing to come out of this misadventure.  Earlier in the day we did get a chance to explore a little bit of San Juan.

After a very loooooooong red eye flight we finally touched down in San Juan.  The airport was a lot smaller than I had anticipated.  Not sure why I thought it would be bigger.  It make sense now that I think about it, a small island doesn’t really need a large airport.  Anyway, after grabbing our bags we found a taxi to take us to our hotel for the night.  Uber is also available on Puerto Rico.  Depending on the size of your group and where you are going it can be significantly cheaper to use than a taxi.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites.  The Embassy is a good sized hotel with at least 5 floors and a large gathering place near the lobby, where they serve breakfast in the morning and host happy hour in the evening.  The hotel has other amenities as well: a pool, casino, a little shop and an Outback Steakhouse, where we partook of a well deserved meal that night.  I’m going to say that it is relatively close to the beach.  We never made it there so I can’t say exactly how close it was.  From my understanding it is within walking distance, but it might be just far enough to make people choose to catch a ride.  There are two Embassy suites on the island.  The one that we stayed at happened to be about five minutes from the airport. Not too bad of a deal if you ask me.

After finally settling into our room we had a decision to make: whether we wanted to stay in the room and take a nap or to meet up with the rest of our group and see what San Juan had to offer.  I don’t know about you but I can’t sleep on an airplane so was running on about 30 minutes of sleep.  A nap was sounding really good at this point.  Ultimately, we decide to catch up with our group and see the town.  That way we would be able to fall asleep when the appropriate time came and we would be refreshed for the next day when we boarded the boat.  It was a good decision especially after the fact.

San Juan is Puerto Rico’s capital and, no surprise, its largest city.  San Juan is the third largest European built capital city found in the Americas.  It was founded by Spanish colonist in 1512.  It quickly became an important seaport for trade in the Caribbean and the Americas.  It was especially important to the Spanish as their treasure ships, laden gold and silver, stopped here before making their long journey back to Spain.  To protect their new found riches it became a military stronghold with heavy fortifications and warships.  

Through the years many Nations tried to claim San Juan as their own but failed.  Britain was able to take it once but could only hold it for 3 months before the Spanish took it back.  It wasn’t until the wiry U.S. took control of the island after signing of the Treaty of Paris of 1898 bringing an end to the Spanish-American War.  Signing of the treaty solidified Puerto Rico as a territory of the United States.  The treaty also gave the ownership of Guam and the Philippines to the U.S.

A lot of the Spanish influence still remains in San Juan today.  Not only in language and culture but in architecture too, this is especially true in Old San Juan.  Old San Juan is located in the historical district and is the oldest settlement on the island.  It has buildings that date all the way back to the 1500s.

We didn’t get a chance to spend a lot of time in Old San Juan.  By the time we met up with the rest of our group they had walk through the majority of it.  We did take a quick moment to look and some of the streets and alleyways before heading to the next stop.  The buildings that we saw where awesome though.  The old Spanish style building painted in every bright color of the rainbow.  Its too bad that we didn’t get more time.  I know there was more to be discovered.  Hopefully the next time we go back we’ll have more time to explore.

We spent most of our time exploring Castillo San Felipe de Morro and Castillo San Cristobal.  Two Spanish forts that once protected the seaport of San Juan.  Both forts are recognized as National Historical Sites and since Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory they fall under the jurisdiction of the U.S National Park System.  If you have a park pass, like us, you can use them here.

San Felipe was part of the initial phase of the citadel to be built starting in 1539.  It was built to control entry and to defend San Juan Harbor.  San Cristobal main building period started around 1766 and was completed by 1783.  It was the largest fortification built by the Spanish in the New World.  San Cristobal and its wall enclosed the city of San Juan and was built to repel land based invasions.  Both of then served their purpose well, as I mentioned above, many nation attacked and all were unsuccessful.  In between the two forts was one of the coolest cemeteries I have ever encountered.  I’m not sure of it name.  The tombs and above ground graves had some of the most ornate tombstones.  Big statues and many other decoration.  Really, really cool. 

If I was a Spanish solider during the 16th or 17th century this would be an awesome place to be stationed.  Even though you would be constantly under threat of enemy attack.  You’re on an island in the Caribbean surrounded by beautiful blue water and amazing views of the island.  You can’t really complain about that.

This wasn’t the vacation that we where planning on but sometimes you have to make the best out of a bad situation.  We had a lot of fun exploring the history of Old San Juan.  I would love to come back later on and explore more and see what else Puerto Rico has to offer.

As always thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Josh

The Barracks and Peekaboo Canyon

What’s up everybody?

Well we finally went out on our first major excursion of the year and boy did we need it.  The cabin fever was definitely setting in.  I don’t know how the winter has been for you but for us its been a little weird.  For the most part it has been mild, not too much snow or rain for that matter.  The issue that we had was with the temperature.  It couldn’t decide if it wanted to be warm or cold.  This didn’t help the cabin fever at all.  It would become warm enough for us to want to go out and then the next day plummet back down to freezing.  Finally we had enough, we loaded up the Jeeps and headed to Southern Utah to explore the Barracks Trail.

This trip is one that we have been planning on doing for sometime now.  We were suppose to do this last year but everyone in our group had conflicting schedule and we could never get then to line up.  Because of this it had been placed on the back burner and temporarily forgotten for other activities and adventures.  In January it was thrown out to the group; this is what we are doing.  If you can make it, awesome.  If you can’t we’ll catch you next time.  Surprisingly, most of us had no previous engagements.  We picked a weekend in February that work and head out.

The Barracks Trail is located near the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in-between the towns of Kanab and Mount Carmel Junction, Utah.  There are several places that you can get onto the trail.  From our understanding the actual trailhead is just outside of Mount Carmel Junction.  We chose to come in at the end of the trail for reason that I will get into later.

The trail is not too difficult.  It is mostly a well traveled two-track road with the occasional slick rock and sand hills.  The draw of the trail is the beautiful scenery that you find yourself in.  Sheer red rock walls rise above you forming the canyon.  Desert foliage all around, which I’m sure is a lot more stunning in the spring and summer.

The Barracks is a fun little trail. The scenery is spectacular but the real reason for doing the trail is the Virgin River.  For the majority of the trail the road follows the river, in truth it actually crosses through it and that was the fun part.  There is 22 crossing in total, not all of them are required to finish the trail so you can choose which ones you want.  I would suggest doing them all.  It occurred to me that if there is water, no matter how old you are, someone has to play in it.  It didn’t take too long before one of us went barreling through it sending a wake of water that cover the whole jeep.  Not to be out done the rest followed suit.

Playing in the water was fun but that was not my favorite part.  We came around a corner into a shadow covered canyon and was surprised by what we had found.  The shadow had lowered the temperature enough that the ground had become a sheet of ice from the splashing of vehicles passing through.  You almost had to drive slow for the fear of spinning out.  I’m not going to lie, for a brief moment the thought of gassing it to see if I could do a doughnut did cross my mind.  We still need to drive out jeeps home so it was probably I good thing I didn’t take the chance of damaging them.

As we came to the end of the trail, one of our group radioed and said that they had spotted a cave off the side of the road and they were going to check it out.  A short time later they called back and told us to come down to where they were.  We jumped back in and made our way down.  We came to a small parking area and to our surprise there was a good size hole in the side of the mountain.  Thinking about it now, I’m not sure how we missed it in the first place.

The cave or the Belly of the Dragon, as we later found out its name, is actually a man made culvert.  Originally built to funnel water underneath Highway 89 to help eliminate damage to the road.  The real cool thing about the cave is that over a short period of time the water has smoothed and cut through the sandstone creating ripples and waves in the rock floor.  No doubt the reason for the name.  The hike through is not very difficult.  There is a pretty good drop to get down to the opening and the floor is uneven, so watch your step.  I don’t know the exact length of it, I would estimate at a forth of a mile or less.  I could be way off though.

It time to tell you the reason why we decide to do the Barracks backwards.  Mt Carmel Junction, where the trailhead is located, is about 13 miles from the Eastern gate of Zion National Park.  Zion was our end goal.  We had planned on spending the rest of our time exploring the park but we had one more stop to make before heading in and that was see Peekaboo Canyon.

Just up the road from the Barracks trailhead is the staging area for Peekaboo Canyon.  Just like the Barracks it is popular with atvs and other off-road vehicles.  You might even see the occasional horse and rider.  I will point out a sign the marks the entrance to the trail.  It reads: “Four Wheel Drive - High Clearance Vehicles Required”.  Heed the warning of this sign.  If your vehicle does not meet these requirements don’t try to make the trail.  The road is mostly deep soft sand with lots of hills of varying size.  Getting stuck is a high possibility.  Once you get through the sand the trail empties out into a wash that leads you to Peekaboo Canyon.

We had a lot of fun playing in the river but my favorite part of the whole trip was definitely Peekaboo Canyon.  Peekaboo is not the typical canyon that you are used to.  It is known as a slot canyon.  A slot canyon is defined as a long, narrow, and deep with sheer walls created by the erosion of drainage water.  If you recall Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, they travel through one of these canyons, albeit a larger one, before finding the Holy Grail Temple.

Utah has several slot canyons waiting to be explored.  One of the more famous ones is the Narrows in Zion National Park.  I’ll be honest, Peekaboo was my first slot canyon.  Hiking a slot canyon has be on my bucket list for a long time, I’ve never really took the time to do it.  It wasn’t just me but all of us in our group were awe struck by the canyon.  The height and the way that the water had shaped them was spectactular.  I’m having a hard time explain just how cool it really was.  We did have to be careful in a few places.  Besides having to scramble over a few rocks, there were some massive icicle hanging over our heads.  If one of these were to break off they could do some serious damage to whomever they  landed on.  All in all it was a lot of fun and we had a blast exploring Peekaboo Canyon.

Here is my warning.  Do not hike any slot canyons if there is rain in the forecast.  Slot canyons a prone to flash floods and the water can rise quickly.  In Peekaboo you could see the evidence of this everywhere.  Large pieces of debris lodge between the walls and the waterline at least 10 ft above our heads.  Be careful.

The sun was getting ready to set by the time we made it back to the blacktop from Peekaboo.  Our plan to spend time in Zion was no longer an option but we still had to figure out how to get back to our hotel.  Ultimately the fast and most direct route was still to go through the park.  Even though we didn’t make any stop the drive was definitely worth it.  I hadn’t been there in a few years and completely forgot how beautiful it actual was.  Hopeful next time I’m in the neighborhood I’ll get a chance spend more time and explore it more.

The first trip of 2020 is official in the books and with a little luck there will be more adventures to come.

Thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Josh

FaceBook: Rowley’s Adventure Diaries

Instagram: @rowleysadventurediaries

YouTube: Rowley’s Adventure Diaries

A Taste of Adventure

What’s up everybody?

I thought that we would talk about a different type of adventure.  One that we all partake in everyday and we don’t even realize it.  If you haven’t guessed it from the title of the article or by the pictures, I’m talking about food.

Our food journey starts when we are infants and doesn’t end, not to be morbid or anything, until our end.  Let’s be honest, I can’t really remember a lot about food from my childhood and I doubt very many of you do either.  Thats okay.  I would like to think that it was something like this.  Every new flavor that hit our tongue filled us with awe and wonder.  Until we got that one thing that scrunched our face with disgust , we opened our mouths and let whatever it was slide out and fall to the floor below.

Unless you are a foodie, which I am not in any sense of the word, I feel that we lose that feeling of wonder as we get older.  Every once and a while we still taste something that brings us back to euphoria.  I don’t know, maybe I’m way off base here and its just me.

What I do know is that our taste in food is constantly evolving.  There are medical papers and studies that explain why that is.  I will give you an example of what I mean.  Mushrooms, when I was a kid I used to eat mushrooms all the time.  Now I can’t eat them, they make me gag.  Something about the taste and texture of them.  I just can’t handle it, unless they are chopped really fine and the flavor of them is muted.  Even then its questionable.  I have plenty of other examples like this and some in the reverse were I didn’t eat them as a child but now I do as an adult. Interesting to say the least.

Food has become a big part of our adventuring experience.  Some of the best food that I have ever had has been while we were camping.  We’ve had everything from hotdogs cooked over an open fire to a rock salt prime rib cooked in a dutch oven, definitely one of my favorites.  We’ve gotten so bad with our meals that we have started having theme nights.

If you’re not sure what I mean, let me explain.  For example, if our theme was Mexican food then we would have enchiladas for the main dish.  Rice, beans, Mexican street corn, chips  with salsa and guacamole for side and fried ice cream for dessert.  Besides Mexican, some of our go to themes are shrimp boil and the good old American backyard barbecue.

I know what you are thinking, what about us that don’t do the whole camping thing.  That is a valid point so heres my answer to it.  In my opinion, one of the best things to do while your out traveling is to partake in the local cuisine.  I don’t know what it is about Mom n Pop or one offs but they tend to have the best food.  Honestly, it should probably be illegal how good they are.

We were checking out Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, when we decide that it was about time to find something to eat.  After a period of searching we decide on a small place called Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder Company.  I have talked about this place before and I think its worth mentioning again.  As their name implies they specialize in pizza and grinders.  If you are not familiar with a grinder it is another name for a sub, hero or hoagie sandwich.  A nice Italian loaf layered in Italian meats and cheeses placed in the oven and toasted to perfection.  There is another item on their menu that they are truly known for the pizza pot pie.  You might have seen videos of them floating around Facebook or Instagram.  The pot pies are made from simple ingredients but are packed with flavor.  They were really good.  I have attempted to recreate them in mu own kitchen but have failed miserably.  One day I will succeed.

Not all of them can be winners though, but thats part of the adventure.  We were in Michigan checking out one of their State Parks when we came across a this one.  I’m not going to state their name or where we found it.  The sad thing was that most of the reviews that we read said that they had good food.  In fact the food was fairly good but the service was lacking.  I can’t say what was going on, maybe they were just having a off day or they had the b team working that day.  We were sat pretty quickly but from there it fell apart.  It took our server a long time to come over to us and seemed disinterested on waiting on us.  When we finally got our food we were missing some of our sides and other things that we had ordered.  When we informed our server they said they would get on it and bring it out.  We never saw them after that.  Luckily they had already dropped off the check.  I was so frustrated with the whole situation that I was ready to just walk out and leave.  Cooler heads did prevail and I paid the check and I was even nice enough to leave a tip.  I really didn’t want to though.  Like I said its all part of the adventure.

No matter who you are or where you come from, food has a way of bringing us together.  Going forward I would like to continue to share our food journey with you.  I’m not entirely sure what that will look like just yet.  I usually do a little blurb about the different places in my regular post.  Maybe I can dedicate a whole post to them.  Share recipes that I come across that I like.  I don’t know, I guess we’ll figure it out along the way.

In the end what I’m trying to say is, if your out traveling and somebody offers you a bug on a stick.  Try it, you might just like it.

Safe travels.  Thanks for stopping by.

Josh

The Year of Cruisin'

What’s up everybody?

Around this time of year I usually make a list of all the places that I want to see within that year.  I decide not to do that this time around.  I’m not saying that making the list was a bad thing.  I actually like doing it, because it give me a chance to investigate new places and come up with new ideas.  In the past the list didn’t really workout too well for me.  With all that in mind I decide to dub this the “Year of Cruisin’”.  I have two reasons for doing this, which I will go through now.

My first reason is simple:  we are going to just let things flow.  I briefly mention above, that I made lists and that they didn’t tend to workout.  I don’t know about you but when I make lists I want to cross off everything that is on them.  I tend to focus on the list and when I don’t complete it I feel that I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to even though we accomplished a lot of other cool things.  Life can be unpredictable and all of our time is valuable, so instead of setting ourselves up for failure we are going to let things just happen.  Its more fun that way.

My second reason and the one that I’m going to focus on the most is that we are lucky enough to be able to go on two Caribbean cruises this year.  I know that sounds fairly excessive but what can you do when both sides of the family tell you thats what they want to do for our family trip.  I know what I did.  I held my head high, smiled, and said alright.

I am going to get this out of the way, because of these two trips I’m probably going to be talking a lot about cruising through out the coming months.  There’s your warning.  I’m sorry.

Recently I have been talking with a friend of mine about cruising.  He wanted my opinion on them because he thinks that it would be fun and he really wants to go on one.  The issue that he was facing was that he wasn’t sure if he could get his wife to go with him.  I can’t say with certainty why she wouldn’t want to go and I don’t want to put words into her mouth.  We’ll just say that she has some sort of issue with them.  Honestly, thats fair to say and I can understand having an issue with something that is unfamiliar.  

Unless you are like me and tend to watch a lot of travel shows than you probably only hear about cruises when something goes horribly wrong and its in the news.  I’m not say that things can’t go wrong, believe me there are plenty of things that could go wrong.  All I’m saying is that there is a low probability of something going wrong.  They take every possible precaution they can to prevent problems.  Most likely everything will go off without a hitch.

I’m going to give you the same spiel that I give whenever somebody asks me about cruising.  I really enjoy cruises and I think that they are fun.  Let me put it this way, for a relatively reasonable price you get to travel several places in a short amount of time.  When I travel one of my major stressors is to get to my destination as soon as I can so that I can maximize the amount of time that I have to visit said destination.  Cruising eliminates this stress.  After your day of play you board the boat, go to dinner, catch a show, do any other activity that is available, head to bed, wake up the next morning and find yourself in a new port ready for a new day of play.  Seems stress free to me.

Speaking of the food, your onboard meals are included.  There are some exceptions to that statement though.  Some cruise lines do have specialty restaurants that you do have to pay for.  They do tend to have your typical buffets that are open breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Some will even have pizza and hamburger joints but the main dining room is where the food really shines.  Every night you are treated to a three or four course meal.  The menu has several different options for you to choose from and they change every night.  You don’t want to get board, am I right.  I suggest getting out of your comfort zone and try something different than what you would typical order.  The one nice thing is if you don’t like it they will bring you something different.  In all honesty if you wanted to, you could order everything on the menu and the servers would be happy to bring it out to you.  No matter what you have you won’t be disappoint.

I could probably go on and on but I will save that for another installment.  I will say this.  I’m excited for this year and can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store for us.  We do have some fun adventures planned and in the books but I’m looking more towards the unscripted ones the most.  Let the Year of Cruisin’ begin!

As always thanks for stopping by.  Until next time.

Josh

YouTube: Rowley’s Adventure Diaries

Instagram: @rowleysadventurediaries

FaceBook: Rowley’s Adventure Diaries

Goodbye 2019. Hello 2020. A Year in Review

What’s up everybody?

Well the New Year is upon us and for many of us it is a time to look back and reflect on the past year.  We are no different, so I thought we would take a moment to say goodbye to 2019 and share some of our highlights.

Before I get to the nuts and bolts of this post I do have to apologize.  2019 has been a crazy year for us here at the Adventure Diaries.  Due to this craziness we haven’t been able to keep up with our posts.  Its sad to be honest.  I really enjoy sharing our adventures with you and it will be something I’ll have to work on in the future.  Its strange how life seems to find away to…well get in the way but enough of that lets get to it.

1. Moab Easter Jeep Safari

The Easter Jeep Safari (EJS) has been a tradition for our family since I was about 8 years old and I haven’t been able to participate in the event for the past 4 years.  It was something that I really missed doing while we were living in Illinois.  When we finally moved back to Utah I couldn’t wait to pull my Jeep out of storage and get it ready to go.  It was definitely worth the wait.

For those who have no idea of what I’m talking about, let me explain.  The EJS is a week long event where Jeepers and other off-road enthusiasts come together to test their mettle on guide trails.  The event is hosted by the Red Rock 4 Wheelers, who have hosted ever since its conception over 50 years ago.  People from all over the word, and I really mean from around the world, come to attend this event.

We were only able to spend four days at the EJS but we made the most of the time that we had.  It was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to get back.

2.  Magnolia Farms,  Waco Texas

This was one of Erin’s favorite trips of the year.  I wasn’t part of this excursion since it was a ladies only trip, so I’ll let her tell you about it.

In August my mom, aunt Sheri, sister in law Kayla and baby niece Edith went to visit my aunt Michele’s family in Texas. During our trip we visited San Antonio, enjoyed the historic Alamo. We did a tour of the grounds and watched a film about the battle and 13 day siege of the fortress. From there we headed down to San Antonio’s famous Riverwalk and took a boat tour the river.

The next day we took a couple hour drive out to Waco. Enjoying the Magnolia Experience that is the Silos. We enjoyed the beautiful grounds, market and bakery. Shopping was so much fun, we all took a piece of Magnolia home with us. The cupcakes were a huge highlight with so many flavors and delicious combinations. 

Afterward we had lunch at the Magnolia Table. We had earlier put our names on the list, as it was over a 3 hour wait. The food was incredible and I’ve since replicated some of the recipes from the Magnolia cookbook. We then drove around to see some of the Fixer Upper houses in the local area before heading back to the house.  

On our way we stopped at Sam Moon, a fun discount accessory and clothing store. Adding to our Magnolia spoils. It was a trip of a lifetime with so many memories made. Including Edith’s first trip away from home and also where she learned to crawl up stairs. Going to Bucky’s with my cousin Lance was a major highlight in addition to baking Joanna Gaines chocolate chip cookies with my cousin Makayla. My uncle Preston even cooked fresh meat from a hunt with Lance and smoked it for us to enjoy. Going for a late night drive to see the local deer in the park was the perfect end to a perfect trip.

3.  Utah’s National Parks

Earlier in 2019 I wrote a post about the places that we want to try to visit.  One of those was to visit Utah’s  National Parks.  Unfortunately we were not able to cross that one off…….come to think of it we really didn’t cross very many of them off our list.  Oh well.  Any way, we did get to visit three of them: Arches, Bryce Canyon and Canyonlands.  Zion and Capital Reef, I’ll get you next time.  

I’m not going to go to in-depth right now on them.  I plan on doing a more detail post on them individually here in the near future.  Arches is one of favorite National Park and I always enjoy going there.  We usual head to the same place but this year we finally decide to go to a different part of the park.  It made me fall in love with it all over again.

Erin had never been to Canyonlands and I haven’t been there in a very long time.  

There is no doubt why they call this place Canyonlands.  Canyon stretch as far as the eyes can see, cut by the might Colorado and Green Rivers.  Canyonlands is Utah’s largest park.  It is separated into three districts:  Island in the Sky, the Needles, and the Maze.  Each district is different and offer plenty of opportunity for adventure.  Be prepared if you do plan on going.  The desert can be unforgiving for even those that know what is in store for them.

I made the trip to Bryce Canyon by myself.  I hadn’t been there in about 12 years and really didn’t remember much about it.  It is not a very large park but that doesn’t diminish the beauty that it holds.  Bryce Canyon is known for a rock formation called a Hoodoo.  A hoodoo is formed in arid regions when rock layers erode at different speeds cause strange and wondrous shapes.  Hoodoo form throughout the world but nowhere else has the concentration of them like Bryce.  It was definitely worth the trip to see these spectacular views.

These were just a few of our adventures that we took in 2019.  There are plenty of others I could tell you about but these are the ones that stick out to us the most.  I know it that time to make a New Years Resolution but I’m not going to do that.  Most of us don’t keep it anyway, but I will continue to do the best that I can and to bring you the best content that I can.  We have some adventures in works and can’t wait to share them.

Here’s to 2020 and the next adventure!

As always thanks for stoping by, until next time.

Josh and Erin

Facebook: Rowley’s Adventure Diaries

Instagram: @rowleysadventurediaries

YouTube: Rowley’s Adventure Diaries

Arches National Park

Bear Lake

Mirror Lake

Paiute Trail

Living Planet Aquarium

Grafton Ghost Town

Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry

Midway Ice Castles