I think it’s a record – a third blog post in one day. We knew going into the trip that this would be a marathon day, and it didn’t disappoint.

We had lunch in Kanab UT at Wild Thyme Cafe and the food was excellent. Wish I took a pic of my curry dish.

We crossed back into Arizona and then back into Utah again, about 45 minutes outside of Zion National Park for our final stop of the day.

At Sandy Hollow State Park we met Rob from ATV & Jeep Tours for a four hour sunset drive through a protected section of the Mojave desert reserved for off road vehicles. Established in 2003, there was twenty thousand acres of sand dunes, hoodoos, and rugged terrain. It. Was. Awesome.

With Big D as my copilot, and Miss M riding with Paul, we diligently followed our guide who took us speeding over rocks and up and over sand dunes. We stopped a few times to take in the scenery — at one point the kids climbed the hoodoos, at another spot we could see as far as Arizona to the right and Nevada to the left.

At points it felt like we were exploring Mars. Miss M spotted two jack rabbits, Big D saw a lizard, and I’m happy that we’ve made it through the trip (so far) without seeing a snake. (Yay no snakes!)

Miss M loved today (with the exception of waking up early) and exclaimed she loved walking through Antelope Canyon but the ATVs were her favorite part of the trip.

Big D loved everything about today too, but it’s now 10pm and we’ve been on the go since 4:15am, so he’s exhausted!

In another 30 minutes, we’ll reach Springdale and can finally check into our hotel — tomorrow begins the fourth and final part of this summer adventure.