During this uncertain time in our world, the best possible place to be quarantined is middle of nowhere, Utah.
Since the school systems in America don’t know what to do with themselves, Liam’s Spring Break was extended indefinitely. This sparked the perfect opportunity for an epic adventure of living in our car – Utah edition!
Because Liam had already spent a week skiing at Alta with his friends, I jumped on the next flight to Salt Lake City while he looked around for a rental car. After he picked me up, we spent the whole day gathering cheap supplies from Walmart and Harmon prepping to turn a Ford Edge into a mobile home.
We celebrated our 1-year anniversary in the most romantic way: take-out Thai food in an Airbnb portion of someone’s finished basement, before hitting the road early the next morning! We wanted to drive about two hours outside the city to explore the “Mecca of kiteboarding” called Skyline Snowkite Launch. Liam called it his personal paradise, he figured out how to fly off the elevated hills using his new kite while I practiced some landscape photography. But one can only take so many photos of a snowy plateau… I became bored waiting in a car for 5 hours.
Next, we drove around 3 hours through both the mountains and desert to arrive in Moab, Utah! It’s always been a Bucket List item of mine to explore the dusty sights of Moab. Since most of the attractions were closed due to the spreading covid-19, we had trouble finding a safe place to park for the night. We moved around a lot, partially of our own volition, partially by the police’s, but ended up sleeping in several different makeshift camping locations and really getting a feel of the town. Starbucks hasn’t closed yet than GOD (Rihanna) so our diet for the week consisted of grande latte’s and parking lot grilled cheese!
We spent most of our three days in Moab wandering through the beautiful Arches National Park. Since the best place to be right now is outside and away from people, the actual desert seemed quite fitting for our situation. Because to the virus, the original $30 per person entrance fee was waived! Liam and I had the opportunity to spend hours hiking miles of trails. We climbed tons of sandstone formations through rain or shine for both style-points and better views of the different arches. It was incredible, truly the photos don’t do the park justice. And it was COLD! Who would have thought the literal desert would be chilly!
Over the past several trips of ours, we’ve discovered Liams fear of heights. Or rather, his fear of my reckless behavior at high elevation. I’ll have to be better about putting my life in danger near or around cliffs!
The only possible downside to accidentally traveling midst a pandemic is our issues with getting a flight home. I received phone calls every day from Delta informing us that our flight had been pushed back or canceled. It wasn’t a huge concern, and we made it back to Boston only a couple days late. However, our car rental reservation was extremely accommodating and flexible with the situation!
Overall, it was an extraordinary trip. I love Liam’s creativity with traveling and making unconventional and unique memories for us. Anyone can stay in a hotel, not everyone is willing to sleep on a $15 air mattress in a Ford!
If you have any follow up questions about Utah, Moab, or the Arches, please email me at hello@alostblonde.com
♡ Abigail Reagan
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