GrandCalifornian
Can't Wait To Go Back
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2012
Welcome everyone! Thanks for joining in as we talk about a different type of trip from our WDW adventures, but it is a more common trip for us. This was our 28th annual visit to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Southern Utah.
We go in July every year and normally it’s a pretty long camping trip.
First things first, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Paul, a now 42 year old Dad, engineer, car guy, and aspiring elevator mechanic.
I would also like to clarify that I have not been on all 28 of these trips, my first trip was in 2003.
I think you’re now officially an elevator mechanic…
I guess I am a full on elevator guy, with the license to prove it.
I’m Melissa, I drug Paul into the whole elevator business.
I love cows and animals and being outside. While our Disney trips are my favorite vacations, I also enjoy getting away and camping.
For me, visiting Utah started back in 1994 when I was starting High School and we were looking for a place cool enough to drive our dune buggies during summer vacation. We decided to make the trip from Southern California to Utah, and discovered the beauty of Coral Pink. We have been back every year since, so it has become quite a tradition.
A little history of us, Paul and I met in the early 90’s when we were just kids when our parents started camping together at the dunes with our dune buggies. We tease all the time that our marriage was arranged.
Yeah, it is kind of neat marrying one of my friends' daughters.
We didn’t however, start dating until I was out of high school and Coral Pink was one of the first camping trips we went on together as an official couple.
Before our Disneyland wedding and WDW honeymoon we made quite a few trips to the Utah sand dunes.
I’d like to also clarify our usage of the term “camping”.
Oh yes, even in the dunes we are much more "Wilderness Lodge" than "Fort Wilderness in a tent".
I don’t really like tents, and being in the rain, and all the giant bugs. We are more like “glampers”.
We have our own RV with nice real beds and satelite TV. We would love to take it to Fort Wilderness someday, but the time and effort to go across the country make it an impossibility for now, so we camp near home and enjoy nicer hotels at WDW.
I guess we should also introduce the kids, we have two, Allison is 12.
For this trip she was on summer break between 6th and 7th grade.
Marshall is 6, and has just completed Kindergrten.
He loves cars and trucks and anything that goes.
This trip took place July 27-30, 2022. With my recent job change and our earlier Hawaii trip, we couldn't take the usual 10 day trip. Because of random circumstances, many of the friends we usually go with weren't able to make it either, so we were only joined on this year's trip by my parents, Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy.
It was also a much shorter trip than we were used to but it was a nice break from the day to day and a last good trip before school started.
We started the trip by getting up early on a Wednesday morning and loading up all of us in the truck with our four dogs and heading North. We were on the road by 4 AM.
Ah yes, we should introduce those kids too because while they’ve stayed home for all of our other trips, they join us on our camping trips.
First up we have Shelby, she’s our old girl at 11 years old. She’s probably a Shepherd Husky mix but we’re not sure. She’s about 75 pounds and rules the roost.
Then we have the Corgis. Ratchet is Allie's dog, a six year old male corgi. He loves being his girl's dog.
Then there’s Socket, she’s 4 and WAS the baby until just recently.
She is one of Ratchet's sister's puppies, so they are related but she's not one to admit it. She is Melissa's dog, but more of a princess.
Maverick is our newest addition, a German Shepherd puppy who is just plain goofy.
We were concerned about how everyone would fit in the front of the crew cab truck but somehow we squeezed in all 8 of us in the cab.
It was good for family togetherness, and a nice introduction to camping for Maverick.
We’ve had some requests to do a trip report for this trip and while we’re both a little skeptical about how much info we can pack into this report we’re excited to relive it with all of our friends.
We'll see how it goes, and share a little bit of our love for this beautiful area of the country along the way.
We go in July every year and normally it’s a pretty long camping trip.
First things first, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Paul, a now 42 year old Dad, engineer, car guy, and aspiring elevator mechanic.
I would also like to clarify that I have not been on all 28 of these trips, my first trip was in 2003.
I think you’re now officially an elevator mechanic…
I guess I am a full on elevator guy, with the license to prove it.
I’m Melissa, I drug Paul into the whole elevator business.
I love cows and animals and being outside. While our Disney trips are my favorite vacations, I also enjoy getting away and camping.
For me, visiting Utah started back in 1994 when I was starting High School and we were looking for a place cool enough to drive our dune buggies during summer vacation. We decided to make the trip from Southern California to Utah, and discovered the beauty of Coral Pink. We have been back every year since, so it has become quite a tradition.
A little history of us, Paul and I met in the early 90’s when we were just kids when our parents started camping together at the dunes with our dune buggies. We tease all the time that our marriage was arranged.
Yeah, it is kind of neat marrying one of my friends' daughters.
We didn’t however, start dating until I was out of high school and Coral Pink was one of the first camping trips we went on together as an official couple.
Before our Disneyland wedding and WDW honeymoon we made quite a few trips to the Utah sand dunes.
I’d like to also clarify our usage of the term “camping”.
Oh yes, even in the dunes we are much more "Wilderness Lodge" than "Fort Wilderness in a tent".
I don’t really like tents, and being in the rain, and all the giant bugs. We are more like “glampers”.
We have our own RV with nice real beds and satelite TV. We would love to take it to Fort Wilderness someday, but the time and effort to go across the country make it an impossibility for now, so we camp near home and enjoy nicer hotels at WDW.
I guess we should also introduce the kids, we have two, Allison is 12.
For this trip she was on summer break between 6th and 7th grade.
Marshall is 6, and has just completed Kindergrten.
He loves cars and trucks and anything that goes.
This trip took place July 27-30, 2022. With my recent job change and our earlier Hawaii trip, we couldn't take the usual 10 day trip. Because of random circumstances, many of the friends we usually go with weren't able to make it either, so we were only joined on this year's trip by my parents, Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy.
It was also a much shorter trip than we were used to but it was a nice break from the day to day and a last good trip before school started.
We started the trip by getting up early on a Wednesday morning and loading up all of us in the truck with our four dogs and heading North. We were on the road by 4 AM.
Ah yes, we should introduce those kids too because while they’ve stayed home for all of our other trips, they join us on our camping trips.
First up we have Shelby, she’s our old girl at 11 years old. She’s probably a Shepherd Husky mix but we’re not sure. She’s about 75 pounds and rules the roost.
Then we have the Corgis. Ratchet is Allie's dog, a six year old male corgi. He loves being his girl's dog.
Then there’s Socket, she’s 4 and WAS the baby until just recently.
She is one of Ratchet's sister's puppies, so they are related but she's not one to admit it. She is Melissa's dog, but more of a princess.
Maverick is our newest addition, a German Shepherd puppy who is just plain goofy.
We were concerned about how everyone would fit in the front of the crew cab truck but somehow we squeezed in all 8 of us in the cab.
It was good for family togetherness, and a nice introduction to camping for Maverick.
We’ve had some requests to do a trip report for this trip and while we’re both a little skeptical about how much info we can pack into this report we’re excited to relive it with all of our friends.
We'll see how it goes, and share a little bit of our love for this beautiful area of the country along the way.
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