• Home
  • The Airstream
    • Tow Vehicle
  • Destinations
    • Alabama
    • Idaho
    • Indiana
    • Florida
    • Louisiana
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Montana
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • South Dakota
    • Texas
    • Washington
    • Wisconsin
    • Wyoming
  • Homeschooling
  • Budget
  • RV Park Reviews
  • About Us
    • News
  • Contact Us

Take That Exit

Leaving the fast lane, to enjoy the view

  • Home
  • The Airstream
    • Tow Vehicle
  • Destinations
    • Alabama
    • Idaho
    • Indiana
    • Florida
    • Louisiana
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Montana
    • New Mexico
    • New York
    • South Dakota
    • Texas
    • Washington
    • Wisconsin
    • Wyoming
  • Homeschooling
  • Budget
  • RV Park Reviews
  • About Us
    • News
  • Contact Us

Camping in Zion National Park {Utah}

Jun 122016



Zion-National-Park-camping-kids

Travel dates :: May 2 – 7, 2016

After surgery in St. George, Utah and getting the blessing to continue traveling we headed to Zion National Park. Back in early April I had found a rare 5-day cancellation in Watchman campground located right in the national park and we couldn’t wait to get there.

Towing-into-Zion-National-Park

We pulled in early Monday afternoon and immediately knew we were going to love it here.

Deer-Outside-Zion-National-Park

We saw a small deer right before the campground entrance.

Zion-National-Park-Watchman-campground

Breathtaking views of the canyon – everywhere you looked.

[Read more…]

{ 1 Comment }

by Heather Filed Under: Destinations, Utah

Sand Hollow State Park and Hadley has surgery {St. George, Utah}

Jun 82016



Sand-Hollow-State-Park-St-George

Travel dates :: April 27 – May 2, 2016

After leaving Page, Arizona (see all the amazing things we did here) we headed north and then east to Sand Hollow State Park just 20 minutes outside St. George, Utah. This route was part of our original plan – but after Hadley broke her arm in Page our focus in St. George shifted from exploring the area to getting her the medical care she needed.

Sand-Hollow-State-Park-pull-thru

We arrived Wednesday night and had a great pull-thru full hook-up paved spot in Sand Hollow State Park. It had a covered picnic table, not shown.

Sand-Hollow-State-Park-Entrance

There are THREE campground areas at Sand Hollow – full-hook ups in the Westside campground (up on a hill, some spots have great views), the Sand Pit campground (partial hook-ups, campground geared toward off-road vehicles) and primitive camping on the beach near the Sand Hollow Reservoir (also geared toward off-road vehicles). If you don’t have an off-road vehicle (and don’t want to hear or be around them) try to get a spot in the Westside campground – this is where our initial spot was and we loved it!

UpAirstream-Sand-Hollow-State-Park

This is another spot in that Westside Campground – our friends @UpInTheAirstream got it as a walk-up spot and it had fantastic views of the mountains.

We had planned to take Hadley to an appointment on Friday with an orthopedic specialist in St. George – and we expected at this appointment to find out if Hadley needed surgery or not. But early Thursday afternoon I got a call from the orthopedic specialist and he said that after reviewing her x-rays (which had been sent to him by the hospital in Page), he recommended surgery. . .Friday morning. . . and could we come in for a consult in a couple hours!?! Gasp. This was a big surprise for us – but we wanted the best and most appropriate treatment for Hadley and we had two separate doctors recommend surgery that afternoon – the sooner the better, waiting through the weekend wasn’t advised because these breaks can start to heal if left untreated too long.

That Thursday afternoon, while I was busy calling our health insurance and coordinating the details of the surgery, Jeremy worked with the office at Sand Hollow State Park to move us to another spot that had availability through the weekend (we had originally planning to leave Saturday).

[Read more…]

{ 3 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Utah

Our top 3 things to do in Page, Arizona – Horseshoe Bend, Lower Antelope Canyon, Rafting the Colorado

Jun 72016



Page-Arizona-Things-to-Do

Travel dates :: April 24 – 28, 2016

I shared about camping at Lone Beach Rock Campground and how much I absolutely loved this primitive campground – now I wanted to tell you about ALL the things we did while we stayed here. This beautiful campsite is just 20-30 minutes away from some amazing places and experiences!

As I mentioned in my Lone Rock Beach post, the biggest thing you’ll need to pay attention to is the time zones. If you’re staying at Lone Beach Rock Campground then you’ll need to remember you’re in a different time zone than the tours over in Page, Arizona. Important if you have reservations and need to be somewhere at a specific time.

Horseshoe-Bend-walking-to-bend

As soon as we got settled we headed straight to Horseshoe Bend to try and catch the sunset (about a 20 minute drive from Lone Rock Beach). Located right off US 89, it’s about a 1.5 mile walk (round-trip) from the parking area to the overlook. A 1,000 foot drop down to the Colorado river, the view is amazing! We found the trail to the overlook was crowded – lots of “tourists” headed to and from the overlook – so be prepared for that.

Horseshoe-Bend-Gutsy-photos

We couldn’t believe how many people were sitting on the VERY EDGE of the overlook to get the perfect selfie or portrait. It was ridiculous, honestly.

Horseshoe-Bend-gutsy-selfies

I was anxious with my kids even being a full 10 – 20 feet from the edge, I can’t imagine the gutsy (or foolish) people balancing precariously on the ledge. To each his own, I suppose. It’s a free country and if free falling 1,000 feet into the Colorado River is your idea of a good time, who am I to judge?

Horseshoe-Bend-Family-Photo

We took some photos and headed back out before it got too dark. . .

[Read more…]

{ 3 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Arizona, Destinations, Utah

Beach camping at Lone Rock Beach campground – we loved this place! {Utah/Arizona}

May 312016



Lone-Rock-Beach-Camping-Review

Travel dates :: April 24 – 28, 2016

We left Flagstaff, Arizona on April 24 caravanning with @UpInTheAirstream north to Lone Rock Beach Primitive campground for four nights of beach camping! Honestly if we didn’t have our friends with us, I’m not sure we would have been brave enough to camp on the beach. I had some reviews of people getting stuck in the sand on the beach (and others who raved about the spot) and we are usually pretty cautious with our trailer and camper – so might have skipped it all together if we didn’t have company joining us.  I’m so glad we didn’t skip it – this place is incredible.

Lone-Rock-Beach-from-up-on-hill

Lone Rock Beach Primitive campground is part of Glen Canyon National Parks Recreational Area. Camping is just $14 and it’s completely primitive – no hook-ups, a few vault toilets, no assigned spots, just a beautiful beach on Wahweap Bay.

Welcome-To-Utah-Sign

It’s technically in Utah – but seriously right across the Arizona border, so the biggest challenge you might find is figuring out what TIME it is – since Arizona doesn’t honor daylight savings time, but Utah does. 🙂

UpAirstream-towing-Airstrema-Lone-Rock-Beach

As soon as you cross from Arizona to Utah, you’ll take a right onto the Lone Rock Beach road. It’s about a mile in and you’ll pay your $14 at the National Park station. Then you get to pick which road you want to take down to the beach – for us, there was only one obvious route without huge ruts or holes. We let @UpInTheAirstream lead the way and we found a sweet spot to park both our trailers on some harder gravel with beautiful views of the lake. We arrived Sunday afternoon and lots of people were packing up to head home from the weekend and we found it rather quiet the first night we were there.

Lone-Rock-Beach-panoramic-kids

You can clearly see the dark rock areas in the photo above. These are the areas you probably want to park on. At least have your tow vehicle or your motorhome wheels on the harder gravel areas to give you some traction when you go to leave. We have 4-wheel drive and didn’t have any issues – but we also were intentional about where we drove and parked on an area with more gravel. But we had heard lots of horror stories of people getting stuck here. I think the combination of a BIG rig, parking on soft sand and not having 4-wheel drive will get you stuck pretty easily here. In fact, the guys had to help a young lady in a sedan up to her frame in sand – she ended up having to be towed out.

I’m not trying to scare you away – it wasn’t that bad – you just need to be intentional and aware when you go to pick your spot. Really it’s worth it if you can be brave and find a spot fit for your rig.

Playing-Lone-Rock-Beach-Powell

The kids ran up and down the beach for hours. They played football, they built forts, they created sand castles and despite some pretty constant and swift winds, we couldn’t keep them inside. Too much fun. I imagine this place on a summer day would be complete bliss – sunshine, water, sand – if only the weather had been warmer the kids could have also swam in the lake. I also imagine this place is PACKED and a bit rowdy in the summer – so be prepared for crowds if the weather is more favorable.

[Read more…]

{ 2 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Arizona, Utah

Healthcare benefits on the road – We break an arm and end up in emergency room!

May 32016



Healthcare-benefits-on-road-emergency

Healthcare benefits on the road

I like to post things chronologically and lately I’ve been a few weeks behind on the blog posts (always watch our Instagram account for real-time travel updates). But I thought I’d jump ahead to talk about a big event that happened last week on the road – Hadley broke her arm! My sweet, adorable girl broke her humerus (the long bone in the upper arm). Let me tell you about it. . .

Playing-Lone-Rock-Beach-Powell

We were enjoying an amazing spot at Lone Rock Beach on Lake Powell. It was beautiful and the kids had so much room to run around and play that it made me so happy. To make things even better – we were traveling with one of our favorite families (@upintheairstream on Instagram) so not only did the kids have an epic place to play, but they had some of their best friends to play with. Things were going so well and I was so happy to see them run, smile, laugh, play and be outside. They were falling into bed exhausted and happy every night – what more could a mom ask for?

Our last night at Lone Rock Beach the kids were playing in the “fort” they created on the beach. It was a hole of sorts near the water. Liam jumped into the fort and Hadley followed closely behind – as she often does. She landed wonky – on her elbow, on harder, wet sand and was instantly in pain. I knew something wasn’t right because she’s such a tough cookie – she rarely cries when she gets hurt. . .but she was in pain and it quickly swelled up. We iced it right away and I found the nearest Urgent Care facility in Page, Arizona (about 20 minutes away). They closed at 6 p.m. and we got there at 5 p.m. – but they didn’t have an x-ray machine! So they sent us across the street to the Page Hospital Emergency Room.

Page-Hospital-waitingThe silver lining of the ER was they had cable so Hadley got to watch the Disney channel. 🙂  

The hospital in Page was amazing – they got us right in, did x-rays and quickly confirmed she had broken her humerus near the growth plate in her elbow. We explained we were headed to St. George, Utah the next day (a MUCH bigger metro center) and they referred us to an orthopedic doctor there. It was a good thing that we were already planning to head to a metro area – because Page is such a small community they had to send our x-rays to PHOENIX to get them reviewed! The emergency room staff put Hadley in a temporary cast and sent us home with after-care instructions.

Hadley-Ortho-OfficeHadley looking at a pet adoption magazine at the orthopedics office. Now she wants a dog. 🙂

We got a call from the orthopedic doctor in St. George and he recommended surgery on Friday. Before this accident I had no idea a kid could need surgery for a broken arm! But because the break was so close to the growth plate, surgery was the best care option for her. I spent a half-day on the phone calling our insurance company and considering our options. . . Do we fly home to Washington for the surgery? Do we have the surgery here? Can we drive home in time to get surgery? What was the best choice for Hadley?

[Read more…]

{ 21 Comments }

by Heather Filed Under: Arizona, Destinations, Healthcare, Utah

About-Us-Clarke-Family

Click the map to see our destinations

Map-of-travels-as-ofApril30 Currently in Utah!
RV-Accessories-fulltime-RV-side
Family-Friendly-travel-games

Follow us Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No feed found.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

Why-We-Travel-Full-Time-sidebar
Affording Full-time Travel
RV-appliances-products-recommended-side

Recent Comments

  • Marie on My favorite RV-friendly appliances and products :: Instant Pot, Dehumidifier, Electric Skillet, more
  • Debi Durkee on Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel
  • Helen in Meridian on Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel
  • Cathy Conner on Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel
  • Tracy on Transitioning back into a house after fulltime travel. . .and our plans for future travel

Find us on Pinterest

Visit Take That Exit's profile on Pinterest.

Like us on Facebook

Take That Exit

About Us

Family-map-photo-350 We're a family of four, ditching mainstream and hitching up our Airstream for a year of travel around the United States. Learn more about us
Copyright ©2023, Take That Exit. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs