My Dad Spending a Week Traveling in My Van: Grand Canyon, Arches, and Sedona

Welcome back to another vlog. We have a special guest. Good morning. We've been driving around Bryce Canyon National Park trying to find parking for the hike that we want to do today, which is the Fairyland Loop Trail, but we're at the visitor center now. My dad's going to go check out the shuttle system because I had to work this morning, so it's like noon now and it's probably the worst time to try to find a parking spot and there's nothing available. It's kind of like a madhouse, but we might just stay parked here and try to take a shuttle to the trailhead where we want to go, but I'm going to make us sandwiches while he does that. Because I'm hungry. Hi, Hungry. I'm Abby. We just switched roles for a second. Okay. Ignore everything on my bed right now. I'm going to make my dad a sandwich, but then I'm going to have leftover pizza because I have leftovers from last night and I know that I'm not going to eat it for dinner because he doesn't have any leftover pizza. This is just some dairy-free mayo or vegan mayo. Everyone always yells at me and they're like, mayo is dairy-free. Okay. Vegan mayo. Dairy-free cheese. I love these Tofurky deli slices. And then obviously some avocado. A little bit of salt. Perfect. A couple pieces of pizza. Might have to do them one at a time. Take the crust off a little so that she fits. I'm going to be so honest, it's still a little bit cold, but I have the second piece in right now. It's like warm-ish. Dad figured it out and here's a sandwich. We're going to go across the street. Apparently there's like another place that we can pick up the trail, but we're going to go drive over there really quick. Okay. We're on. Are we on the loop now? Let me check all trails. You checked? Okay. So we're basically just starting at the back of it. And I think it's like eight miles. You kind of go up and down into the canyon. It's really cool. You get to see a lot more than if you just do like the Navajo loop, but that is a really good option if you want a shorter option if you're coming here. This is the hike that we're taking people on when we do my group trips. So I've already done it once, but my dad's never done it. Right now he flew out to basically kind of do like a trial run of my Mighty Five trip in Utah. Like last night we stayed at the campground that we will be staying at with you guys on my trip. We're doing the hike today that we will be doing with you guys on the trip. Even though we've already done a lot of it, it's nice to just do one full trial run, keeping in mind the fact that you're going to be doing it with 12 people. Because obviously when I was planning these trips originally, like I've only been here with the mindset of like doing this with me and maybe one or two other people. And so we have like changed a couple of things from coming to visit these places with that in mind. And so everything will just run really, really smoothly by the time you guys get here. Sorry, I'm out of breath. We're going uphill a little. We're like halfway done right now. I will say we went down for a while, which means that I'm pretty sure we're just going to be going up for a lot of this next part. But it is so nice out. I should have worn shorts. I thought it was going to be cold. It was only like 45 degrees when we left. I love it here. This is my fourth time here and it doesn't really get old. It's unlike anything else I've ever seen. Have you ever seen anything like it? Never. It's so cool. So cool. That's pretty crazy. So crazy I had to get a picture. All right. There you have it, folks. We did it. We stopped at the lodge and got cold drinks for our way back down, but I can see Junie right now. Eight and a half miles done in like less than three hours. Kind of crushed it. Totally crushed it. She's so pretty. It's the best view of the day. I don't even know if I feel that way today. That was like a really fun hike and it didn't even feel like eight miles long. Dad is writing down all the notes that we just found out. Basically, this trip is like a scouting trip, so we're like trying to figure out where to park and all that kind of stuff and we found a really good place to park. So writing all that down so that way when you guys come on the trip with me, I know exactly where to go and I'm not like wasting a bunch of our time, you know? We have about an hour and a half, an hour and a half drive to Kanab and he's staying in a hotel there. So we're going to go over there. We're going to shower. We're going to get dinner. That's about it. That's all she wrote today, but that was really fun. Honestly, 10 out of 10. It was like 50 and sunny. It's one of the coolest hikes I've ever done. Really cool hike. Yeah. And it didn't feel as long as it was, which is always nice. No. The company was great too. Oh, yeah. I try. Good morning. It is the next day. I just worked out and showered at my dad's hotel and now I need to clean up and film a couple things before we go. I have until like noon. It's 10.07 now. This is what the state of my van is like. Like literally just stuff everywhere because my dad and I have just been existing in it and it's also so grimy. So I'm going to clean up really quick, take down my window covers, put all this stuff away and then just like clean my floors and my counter so I feel a little bit better in my space, get some stuff filmed, edited, and then hopefully be ready to meet with my dad in like two hours. We're going to be on a little bit of a time crunch, but that's okay. I use this cleaning solution for everything. I just have a spray bottle. This is white vinegar. You get it in like the cleaning section. Fill the spray bottle halfway up with this and then I just put water in the other half. I love this because it cleans. I think obviously vinegar has a strong smell, but it dissipates really quickly and I don't mind the smell of it. And then it's also food safe. So like say I'm cutting something like an apple up on my cutting board, I can just spray the cutting board with this and then wipe it with a paper towel and I don't have to actually like use my water for dishes. So it's a great like saving water hack I feel like for van life. But you can use it on anything. And if you live in a house, it's great for anything too. That literally took me 10 minutes and it feels like a night and day difference in here. Obviously could probably use a deeper clean, but that can wait until after my dad's gone. At least I feel like I can like exist in this space and especially with like filming. I never want to film when I feel like really claustrophobic and it feels gross in here. So now let's get to work. Good morning. We are going to Antelope Canyon today and then Horseshoe Bend. I've never been to either of them. We're doing lower Antelope Canyon. He did upper Antelope Canyon earlier this year, but we're trying to decide which one's better because we're taking people there on my group trip and we don't know if we want to do lower or upper yet. It should be really fun. It's been on my bucket list for a while. Okay. My dad went to go check us in. I'm bringing my backpack even though it's really short. Like I think we're like barely walking, but I'm going to bring my camera with me and I want to have a little bit of water and I don't know how long like the bus ride or any of this is going to take. So I just finished editing my video. I'm waiting for that to post right now. Hopefully it'll post before we leave. That is the one thing I feel like about going on these trips. It's like so fun, but I'm trying to do my work at like any little free moment that I have. I'm like, okay, edit, post, and then we're usually in bad service. So I'm like waiting for it to load, but everything's good. I'm really excited. And then we're driving to the Grand Canyon tonight. I'm going to stay at the campground that we're using for our group trip. My dad is going to camp outside tonight. It's supposed to be kind of cold. I think the next two nights he's going to camp outside. So we'll probably like cook in the van and stuff, which I think will be a good vibe. This video that I just posted, it's been bothering me so much, but I feel like at this day and age, like everyone is so obsessed with being perfect that instead of actually caring that people's hearts are in the right place, politics, especially like on the liberal side has just become a morality contest. Like it's like who can be the better person rather than just like, okay, we're all fighting for the same things. It's just been like really bothering me that like we could have so many people on our side if we didn't nitpick apart literally every little thing. Like I feel that way about like getting independent people to want to like vote liberal is really important in like this day and age. And yet when they come in and like try to be on our side, because they're like, what's going on over there? It's crazy. We're like, actually, you're a shitty person because you're doing this or you don't believe this one little thing that we believe. And it's like, we actually need to like embrace these people and bring them in or we're never going to win anything ever. So that was like a really random rant. I can talk more about that later, but I was just posting the video about it. So that's why it was on my mind. Okay. I might not be able to film this for you guys actually, but I will insert some pictures when I get back and then I'll show you guys where she went when we go there, but I'm actually going to have to leave you guys here. See you soon. Do you want to say bye? See you soon. Bye-bye. He's so animated every time I turn the camera on. It's kind of busy. This kind of stuff is so fun. It's also like a little bit touristy for what I would normally do, but I feel like it's just stuff that you have to see at one point in your life. So taking you guys with me, there's like one spot right here where you can get a picture and you can kind of see the whole horseshoe. So I'm waiting in line for it, obviously. This is what we've got going right now. It kind of extends out to this side. You ready? I'm ready. The walk wasn't that far, like maybe three quarters of a mile. We're going to walk back. We're going to drive to the Grand Canyon. My dad is camping tonight. We're going to cook dinner. Do you want tacos or do you want to do ramen? Or we could do spaghetti or raviolis. I say ravioli or tacos. Ravioli or tacos. Cooking dinner. Dad's out here setting up his tent for the night. This is dad's house. And this is my house. Tough question. Where would you rather live? My dad said that I got the better end of this bargain. But I did build it myself. So, you know, what are you going to do? Swiveling this seat so we have somewhere to sit and eat. Perfect. Okay. I'm putting some of the beefless ground, a little bit of dairy-free cheese, and marinara sauce. We're doing it all in one pot because I'm lazy. Final products. Merry Christmas. Mmm, yummy. Cheers. My dad's out exploring and I'm going to start making us some lunch. I'm starving. I ran seven miles and then I realized that I was two miles away from my van. So, I just walked back. It's like 11.30 right now. But I was thinking about making us sandwiches, but we've had those so much. I was like, maybe I'll like actually cook us ramen. And then I'm going to shower and then I think my dad and I are going to go rent bikes and ride along the Rim Trail because that's part of my Grand Canyon trip. Obviously, we're here checking everything out. My dad isn't back yet, but I can't wait to eat because I'm starving. Need a sparkling water. I feel so accomplished after that run. I'm going to add a little bit more sauce. I love sauce more than the average person, so whenever I'm cooking for other people, I never add as much of it to the actual food as I'm going to want, and then I just add more onto mine. I can't understand people that don't like a ton of sauce on their food, but I respect it. Crafting the perfect bite. Oh my God. So good. I would enjoy solo traveling. I think you would love solo traveling, and I think you would love having a van. I love solo traveling. We're going to drive, and I'm going to go shower, and then we're going to go to the store. Let's go to the store. You want to go to the store first? Oh, yeah, because then you can go from there, and I'll go shower. Yeah. Okay, let's do that. We could get some firewood, too, if we want to do a fire tonight. Yeah, they have it at the store. That would be fun. Yeah. Okay, let's go. Good morning. I ended up filming for Short Form last night, and it's really hard for me mentally to do both at the same time, so I'm picking up the vlog here. It's been really chaotic. That's kind of my YouTube style. I think because it's new for me, and my main job is Short Form stuff, that then YouTube sometimes just becomes the chaotic snippets of my life in between that, which is kind of fun. It's a little bit more real and raw. My dad went for a hike this morning. I edited my video, got that posted, and now I'm going to pack up everything, and then I need to go get water and dump my pee jug before we drive today. So let's get after it. Oh, my God. That bird is crazy. Dad is back. I did all the chores. Got everything taken down. Water is full. Pee jug is dumped. Everything's good. We have like a two-hour and 15-minute drive. We're going to Sedona. We're doing a hike today that I've never done, but it's on the trip. Unfortunately, with the trips in Sedona, they closed the wilderness area to commercial use, so we had to change some of the hikes, and we changed those based off of reviews. So we're going to go do the hikes that we picked for the new ones that had good reviews, and then obviously, if we don't like them, then we'll regroup and switch them again. But we have to go try them. I've got some frozen cherries going. My obsession has been frozen fruit. Like, I can't stop eating it. I've been going through like a bag a day. Here you go. Sandwiches, and then we're going on a hike. It's only like three miles. These never get old. You ready? Ready. It's so nice out. I'm going to miss the warm weather. I guess I'm going to San Diego after this, so it's going to be warm. This trail is really cool. I'm actually so excited because I like it better than the one that we had planned before. And that just goes to show you that everything really does happen for a reason. The wilderness area got closed to commercial trips because we were supposed to find this trail and take you all on this. It's fun. I've been to Sedona like five times, and I haven't done a new hike here in a while, so. And you get a lot of like bang for your buck. Like, this hike is only three miles. It's really not that difficult. You have stunning views the whole way. It's awesome. What he said. If it isn't the best view of the day. I don't know if that really counts when you only do a three-mile easy hike, but that was really fun. Nothing like a cold drink after a hot hike, I will say. I love the warm weather though. I needed that. That like brought me back to life. Cherry. He's got lime. Cheers. We're going back to the hotel. I'm excited. It has a little fitness center. I might do some weights. I've been trying to do weights like at least a few days a week because it's been really helping with my knees running. And on trips like this, it's hard because I'm not going to like Planet Fitness as much. So I'm going to take advantage of that and then find a pizza place for dinner. So would you forgive me if I said that it's been three days since my dad left and I completely forgot about this vlog? I feel like sometimes I just get so caught up in my short-form content. But I really wanted to finish this vlog because I feel like it captured a lot of the moments that I don't necessarily put into my short-form content. And I kind of just want it for my own memories anyway. I promise. I have ideas for long-form content and they're going to be much better than this vlog was. But I love you guys so much. Thank you for watching. I feel like it's so special when my parents and I get to travel together just because I know so many people on the road that have been on the road for a really long time and their parents have never come visit. And I just feel really lucky that one, my parents want to. Two, they're physically capable of doing all the things that we do together. My parents are in their 60s. We do crazy hikes together. They camp. They sleep in tents. They do all of the things. And I'm just incredibly, incredibly lucky that I get to spend this time with them and make these memories with them. I love you guys so much. If you made it to this point in this chaotic of a vlog, you are really a real one. Thank you, thank you, thank you.