Road Trips

Goblin Valley State Park

Adventure, Road Trips, Wild West /

There are so many amazing places to explore in Utah. You could spend years adventuring in every nook and cranny, and you would never even scratch the surface of all there is to see and do. Though you probably don’t have years to explore, there is one stop worth adding to even the shortest of itineraries in Utah: Goblin Valley State Park. This park is literally in the middle of nowhere, so prepare yourself to feel completely lost, even with exact directions. If you’re doing a circuit of the Mighty 5, you will find Goblin Valley somewhere between Capitol Reef National Park and Canyonlands National Park, though it looks more like something you would find on Mars. The entire park is a hoodoo playground, and it is like nothing else you’ve experienced. Not only can you get up close and personal with these hoodoos, but you can climb them! You can play hide-and-seek, camp at the campsites, or even explore a slot canyon! We loved it so much the first time that we decided to camp there for a night on our second trip out West. Goblin Valley is a perfect playground for kids and adults alike, and the magical hoodoos are certain to enchant your whole family! My teens have rated Goblin Valley as their number one place to play in all of Utah.

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Red Velvet Cupcakery

Food, Road Trips, Southeast /

The best cupcake I’ve ever had came from Red Velvet Cupcakery in Washington, D.C. It was a vanilla bean cupcake with vanilla frosting, and it was heavenly. The red velvet cupcake was delicious, as well. They were so good that we felt the need to go back and buy another half dozen to share with the baristas at the Starbucks down the road where we had just stopped for coffee. No trip to Washington, D.C. is complete without a stop at Red Velvet Cupcakery.

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Bumbleberry Inn

National Parks, Road Trips, Wild West /

Three visits to Springdale and Zion, and three stays at Bumbleberry Inn. While there are many other options for places to stay in Springdale, we keep going back to Bumbleberry because the staff are friendly, the rooms are spacious, and the simple property meets our family’s needs. We are able to add a rollaway bed for our fifth person, so it also ends up being an excellent value stay for us. During our first visit to the Bumbleberry Inn, their restaurant was closed for renovations. Since they include free breakfast with their stays, they were offering vouchers for meals at Oscar’s Cafe across the street for all of their guests. This is where the real value of that first stay came in. Oscar’s was an instant favorite, and we couldn’t wait to go back! When we returned for our second stay, the restaurant at the hotel was back open. We did try it, since it is on property and was free for our entire party of 5, but in the end, we decided to go back to Oscar’s the following day. We had to take every opportunity to eat at one of our favorite restaurants of all time!  Bumbleberry Inn also has a gift shop on site that is attached to the restaurant, and it has a wide selection of clothes and souvenirs at comparable prices to the other tourist shops in town. With each consecutive visit we have considered trying a different property, but the location, people, and amenities of Bumbleberry Inn can’t be beat, so we return again and again!

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