We’ve been mulling over the idea of taking a road trip down through Wyoming into Colorado this fall, mostly because I want to see the fall colors and also drive through Rocky Mountain National park.

It’s about nine hours from our place, so it would make for a nice weekend drive. Not too far, but far enough we’d have to get a room and a sitter for the pack (since they won’t fit in the car and even if they did they’re not allowed in it anyway).

The last time we took such a long road trip was to see Dave Matthews play at the Gorge back in 2019, and had hoped to go back last summer but the plague put the kibosh on that. While he is playing there again this year, we thought that since neither of us have been to the national parks in Colorado, it would be fun to go somewhere new, even if it does look a lot like our own “backyard”.

Then again… we have talked about revisiting Zion National Park down in Utah, which is only about 7 hours from here and looks nothing like Yellowstone.

We went once before, back in 2013 which was two years before my mastocytosis diagnosis and back when I was still really struggling with my health and wasn’t able to get out and really hike or do much of anything at all except ride in the passenger seat and try not to complain.

That trip was torture for me, to be honest. I didn’t know it at the time, but mast cells can be disturbed by things like altitude changes, vibrations and temperature fluctuations so by the time we got to the park entrance I was pretty sick and miserable. The worst part was not knowing why.

Still, the views were incredible! I was in awe at the beauty.

We got some great pictures of the scenery, the local fauna, and of course some shots of Günther, who loves curvy mountain roads as much as we do.

Maybe even more than we do! He was built for them.

I’d love to go back when the weather is cooler and we can get out and hike a bit now that I’m doing much better. We weren’t able to go too far into the park before we had to turn around and head back to the hotel, which made me feel horribly guilty for cutting our trip short, but that was the norm back then.

At least I have a very understanding and forgiving hubby who doesn’t hold grudges and who, if I ask him to, would gladly drive me back down to Zion if that’s what I really want to do. He’s just happy when I’m happy and the thought of returning again is pretty appealing.

Then again… Glacier National Park is also about seven hours from here and I’d love to go back there again even though we used to live right next to it and have been there dozens of times.

And while it looks a lot like our “backyard”, there is something quite magical and beautiful about Glacier park that nowhere else can match. Plus, it’s where we lived when our kids were little so it holds an even more special place in my heart. If we do go back, I’m sure I’ll get all emotional thinking of holding their little hands as we walked along the shore of Lake McDonald and hearing their shrieks of laughter as we watched the herons fly just above our heads and..

Well either way, we have plenty of time to plan. It doesn’t look like cool weather will ever return but it will, someday, and it will be a welcome time for everyone.