First RV Camping trip to Utah Mighty Five

This is the first part of our first RV trip to Utah Mighty five National parks loop. Here are the links to the next post(Arches National Park)

Preparation:

Plans are useless but planning is indispensable - Dwight D. Eisenhower.

It took over a month of learning RV 101 and planning everything in detail since this is our very first RV trip once we found the perfect one(32 ft Forrester from Sphere Rental spacious enough to accommodate 10 ppl). 

We modified our camping list to include RV essentials and especially the long list of grocery items for the 10 days. The google spread sheet helped us coordinate meal planning with our extended family joining us on the trip – including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for everyone. We used a website to help look for canceled campsites and book them as they got filled up way before we even thought of this spring break trip to Utah Mighty Five National Parks. That primarily determined the schedule below taking into account we have access to showers in between.

RV vs Tent Camping:

RV has all the comforts of home with mobility; I really appreciated the heater for the cold nights and not having to set up the tent each night and take off next morning. On the go prepared fresh meals with the convenience of having a fridge and stove, dining table for mess free feeds, and queen bed for naps made my life so much easier travelling with a toddler. Not to forget the luxury of having a mobile restroom with hot water shower for the little one in the bathtub. We are still camping within the park, closer to the hikes, nature, grill and the campfire. The only challenge we faced was its not as easy to drive around and park wherever for impromptu hikes and stops.

April 1, 2022:

Finally, the day has come and I have this habit of keeping the house clean and organized for our return, so I’m always a late nighter before the trips, to fold all laundry or organize the stuff around. DD1 enjoyed the extra day off from school so we could start on time to the airport. My cousin received us and our very first impression on SLC is so beautiful surrounded by snow mountains in every direction. After running errands at the Mexican and Harmons stores primarily for deli and fresh meats (while the other family took care of the more elaborate shopping including Costco, Indian store and Target), we had a welcome dinner at their place, but I went to bed early with DD2 tired from the night before and excited for the next day. My mom says if we do something on Ugadi, we tend to follow in the same lines for the rest of the year. Happy Ugadi (Hindu Lunar New Year’s Day), cheers to new beginnings.

Happy Earth Day

Nature has always inspired and healed me. 

When I saw the loads of messages for Earth Day (Friday, April 22) on Thursday evening on social media platforms, I decided how I can contribute: Potty train my 2-year-old.

I never really focused on it, despite my mom’s constant reminders since before my LO turned one. But this is motivating enough that one year of one child using disposable diapers uses two full grown trees, not to mention they take 250-500 years to decompose (as mentioned in the Oh Crap Potty Training book by Jamie Glowacki). It is sad that I was risking Environment and the landfill space in addition to my child’s dignity prolonging diapers because I don’t care or I am not ready. Potty Training 101 (although I missed it the workshop) follow-up email from Stratford schools was really timely and helped a lot.

In addition to avoiding single use plastic, Couple of other things how I helped in recent times.

• Avoid single use masks as much as I can
• Turn off facade lights to avoid light Pollution: On our recent trip to Bryce Canyon NP, one of the exhibits in the visitor center caught my eye, how the millions of lights at night are obscuring night skies and stars, in addition to wasted energy, greenhouse gases and money.

There is so much buzz on sustainability these days, which is very nice if it helps bring us back to our roots. I believe it comes naturally when we go back to basics in kitchens and staying closer to Nature, imparting common sense in every way of life and not going through the fads. Thanks to Rujuta Diwekar (anyone who knows me know my outright love for her)  for the guidance on this subject.

As a happy camper, living right on the bay a mile from camping (the Dumbarton Quarry campground by the bay) remind me of my love and duty towards Nature every day.