Photos of Idaho, Montana and Utah State

My biggest take away from the Utah trip is that you can not control Mother Nature. Although it rained almost every day we were traveling, I believe we still were able to hit most of the important parts of the trip. I also think that because I researched the area so heavily prior to our trip I was able to modify on the fly which turned out to be very helpful while accommodating the weather.

Another take away was traveling by car is expensive. I outlined a few tips in a previous post on cutting down costs but I know I have a lot more work to do. Aside from my housing costs, my vacation costs are my second biggest expense every year. In order for me to keep traveling I must work on getting my costs down as much as possible. Cutting out travel is not an option, in fact I would love to increase it and the only way I can do that is by cutting my costs down.

Traveling with a dog can be quite the on taking but it is totally worth it. After coming to terms with the National Parks not being dog friendly I have focused more on state parks now. They are usually dog friendly, the entry fee is most likely less than a National Park and if you find a State Park near a National Park, they often have the same scenery. Why pay more when you don’t have to?

Dog boarding will now become a tool for when Boomer and I travel together. There will be the occasional National Park I do not want to trade for a state park and instead of leaving Boomer in the car I will drop him off at day care. I have let go of my negative feeling towards pet boarding and have decided to embrace boarding. I will try to avoid any overnight stays for him but a few daycare drop offs really paid off on this trip. Boomer was much more happy in the truck while traveling with a few days broken up by pet daycare.

A pearl of wisdom I got from our trip to Utah: I can never rely on myself to start a fire to cook my dinner over. I had a few dinners planned to cook over the fire ring at the KOAs. Wet wood and my lack of pyro expertise did not pan out well. Luckily I had back up food but it was disappointing as I love a good campfire.