Road tripping during a global pandemic with a very active and affectionate 3 year old didn’t exactly feel like a relaxing vacation but with vacation days to burn, I knew we at least needed to try it out. I reasoned, we could always drive straight home if we weren’t having fun.
While traveling during a pandemic is not exactly recommended by the government, there are a lot of precautions that we took to keep things safe for us and other people. We avoided indoor spaces and if we had to go inside, we always wore a mask. Because we have a van, we were able to sleep in a self contained unit either at campsites or in friends driveways. We also shopped primarily at stores that were strict regarding their mask policy and social distancing, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. The temptation to go inside friends houses was challenging, especially for Ari so our time spent in Salt Lake City was a little stressful. Once we got away from the city, life felt a little more relaxing and social distancing was much easier to accomplish.
By far the biggest highlight of the road trip was taking Ari up his first summit at the City of Rocks. Watching him work through his fears and subsequently feel true pride was definitely a proud mom moment. We actually did two little summits with him! And it got me wondering, is this the transition from caring about my achievements to finding more joy in my son’s achievements? I don’t know the answer, but I do know that it was pure joy to watch my son succeed at something that challenged him.
We went on a few short hikes and started to get Ari hiking a bit more without being carried in the hiking backpack. It’s definitely a work in progress that requires a lot of patience but my back sure feels a lot less sore!
We got in a lot of pitches due to strategic top-roping, friends and even some night climbing. One day at the City of Rocks, I got in 11 pitches! It’s pretty challenging to lead anything that requires much concentration while Ari is playing at the crag. He is loud and it is hard to focus on on anything that requires focusing so we try to lead below our limit (5.10 or easier) and ensure that there are not any heady run-outs. And we always made sure we had lots of trucks and good dirt for digging to keep Ari entertained at the crag.
After warm and sunny weather in Salt Lake City and the City or Rocks, we finished the trip with some cold days climbing at Vantage in WA.
While we had about 2 weeks to travel, after two very cold days and a lot of darkness at the Vantage, we decided to head home on day 11. Of course there was a massive snowstorm that shutdown I-90 on our travel day home and we had to bivy one more night in our cozy van at a parking lot in Cle Elum.
And while this was not the vacation I had planned on (we had tickets to go to Spain during this time) it certainly provided a lot of memories and opportunities to bond as a family. I truly feel lucky that we were able to make some fun memories in a year that has been so dismal. The van certainly feels a lot smaller with 3 people but there is definitely a lot more love.
Rachel's Adventures 
Sounds like a great fun complicated trip. Interesting that he can understand your directions about where to put his hands when climbing. You learned a lot. I was thinking that the van is going to feel smaller as he gets bigger. What’s next? An rv?
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A bigger van!
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