Kristin: Waddup, guys?
I'm Kristin with "Be My Travel Muse," and I'm joined by another Kristen.
Kristen: Yeah.
I'm Kristen.
I run the blog the "Bearfoot Theory."
Kristin: Kristen has this amazing Sprinter van, and you've been doing the van life thing
for a while now.
Kristen: Yeah.
I got my first van in 2016, and then I got this one last summer, so I've got 70,000 miles
on it last year.
Kristin: Nice.
We just had an awesome trip visiting...well, first we went to Dead Horse State Park, which
is a park that I went to a couple years ago, but it was in May, and so I was like this
would look amazing with snow on it and we're allowed to fly drones in the winter.
So, now we're at the Needles Overlook, which is I think I'm overlooking Canyon Lands National
Park right now, but it's a really cool area because there are like so many national state
parks and national monuments in Southern Utah, and you can get so much of it to yourself.
Like, I think there's one other car up here.
Part of it has to do with it being like February, but seeing it with the snow is awesome, and
this overlook is awesome.
It's, kind of, hard to talk Utah in terms of like beautiful outdoor natural things to
see, and I think that's why we're kind of taking it easy, not trying to get out of here
too quickly because you can just keep finding things probably for years out here.
We have arrived in the Valley of the Gods, which is really close to Monument Valley,
but this is BLM land, and in my humble opinion, it's just as cool, if not cooler, so we can
camp out here, we can drone out here.
It's like beautiful in every direction.
This is such a gorgeous part of the world.
So, we're in a place called Mexican Hat, and we're eating chia pudding because it's breakfast
time.
That doesn't look that appetizing, but it's good, right?
Kristen: It's really tasty.
Kristin: We're trying to figure out our next move, whether we try to go to The Wave because
it's unlikely to be crowded, as crowded now as normal, but there's a good chance we won't
be able to go.
Kristen: Yeah.
Kristin: Or go into parts unknown...
Kristen: And maybe take a scenic route up through Hanksville in the north and the Lake
Powell.
Kristin: Maybe we should just flip a coin.
Kristen: Let's flip a coin.
Kristin: What do you guys think?
Where should we go?
By the time you leave that comment we will have made a decision.
Kristen: Yeah.
Kristin: I have a Namibian dollar here.
Kristen: Oh, perfect.
Kristin: Do you want bird or coat of arms?
Okay.
Kristen: Bird, The Wave, coat of arms, the scenic route.
Kristin: Coat of arms.
Kristen: All right, scenic route.
Kristin: All right, scenic route.
Let's do it.
Oh, we flipped a coin, and then we ended up going to neither place on either side of the
coin.
So, now we're at a national monument, Navajo land called Canyon de Chelly because that
looks really cool.
There's some cool overlooks, so we're gonna check those out before we continue to pick something and then change our mind.
Kristin: Not a bad spot for hanging out. Check this out.
Oh my god, we just found the, hands down, coolest camp spot in the world.
This is what I love about traveling in this part of the world, is all this like public
land and all these places where you can just take a random road, you have no idea where
it leads, and then you're the only one camping somewhere like this.
Good morning.
Good morning from the Kristens.
Time for another little adventure today.
We have had no plans so far, and we kind of still don't.
Kristen: Yeah.
I think we should drive through, finish this loop here.
Kristin: Yeah.
Kristen: And then I'll get back to that highway and make a decision.
No cell phone service really out here, so...
Kristin: It's a blessing and a curse.
Kristen: Kinda gonna go with the flow.
Kristin: Kinda go with the flow and use paper maps.
Kristen: Yeah.
Kristin: What?
All right, so we've arrived at the Sipapu bridge trailhead, which is a natural bridge,
national monument.
And this is just a short hike.
I mean, we've been really good at the overlook so far.
So, we kind of want to get some exercise.
It may be a little icy.
We have one set of spikes that we could share between the two of us, so like one foot each.
We could do like the three-legged race.
Kristen: I mean, I think we could do it if we had...if we put the spike on, but...should
we try?
She did say this one was the slickest.
Kristin: Yeah.
I mean I...on one hand I want to try, on the other hand like I don't want to like die.
Kristen: I almost fell, so...
But the ranger told us that this trail was the iciest out of all three bridges, so maybe
we'll get back in the van and drive to the next trail and try that one instead.
Kristin: Yeah. I'll try those.
Kristen: Okay.
Kristin: Pretty cool.
It's like some really weird landscape, and it feels not like it's Planet Earth, but it's
super interesting, best word I can come up with.
Still haven't said what these rocks remind you of.
Kristen: No, no.
I've never seen that.
Kristin: I don't know what they remind me of.
Kristen: Goblins.
Kristin: Duh, obviously.
Kristen: Getting ready for a day in the sun.
Kristin: I'm just getting my war paint on.
Kristen: Cheers.
Kristin: Cheers.
Most important moment of the day.
I'm actually claustrophobic, so my heart rates up from walking through there.
But it's good for me to do stuff like this.
It's why I like to go into like tight places because I want to get over the fear.
It's pretty cloudy above me now, so we're gonna hightail it out of here.
Road again.
Since the hike through the slot canyons seemed like a bad idea given the weather, we decided
to come down to Capitol Reef National Park, which even though it's a national park, it
gets way fewer people than the other ones like Zion and Bryce.
And I'm even getting a little like snowflakes on me.
But the guy inside was so helpful, the volunteer ranger, and he let us know about a part of
the park that is even less frequented.
So, we might be the only people up there, but we have to drive down a high clearance
4x4 road to get there.
And I don't know if it's gonna be tricky right now given the weather.
We'll see how that goes, but otherwise it could be really cool.
Kristin: All right, got up early, hit the coffee.
Thanks for making it, Kristen.
Kristen: Yeah.
Kristin: I'm always like still in bed and you're...
Kristen: I like it.
Kristin: ...out doing stuff.
Kristen: It's my job.
Kristin: Now, we're heading back to Salt Lake City.
It's definitely bittersweet.
Kristen: Yeah.
Kristin: This was such a fun trip.
Kristen: Yeah, it's been so fun. Sorry, I'm looking up directions.
Kristin: That's important.
Kristen: The roads are snowy, so...
Kristin: Yeah. It's beautiful out right now.
It's a winter wonderland out there.
It's snowing.
Kristen's driving.
I've never driven in snow before so this is freaky to me.
Oh my God.
Kristen: Yeah.
I think it's gonna get more...I think we're going over a pass here.
Kristin: Oh my God.
Kristin: Then we had a somewhat harried drive back to Salt Lake City, but we're here now.
It's like a winter wonderland.
And I'm sad to be leaving.
Kristen: Yeah.
No, it was so fun.
I hope we get to do it again
Kristin: Yeah.
I hope we do too.
So, this van is awesome.
You should check out some of her stuff about campervanning around the U.S.
It's really cool what you have going on here.
Kristen: Yeah.
I have a whole van life section on my website and a bunch of YouTube videos.
You can check out all the little details about the van.
Kristin: Awesome.
Well, I hope you guys liked this video.
If so, give it a thumbs up.
Kristen: Thumbs up.
Kristin: Share it with your friends, and I will see you next Wednesday. Bye!