Preparing for Vacation: Moab, UT

Vacation is approaching fast! We planned this trip in February and before I knew it April was here. We leave in 1 week for Moab, Utah! What's in Moab? Two National Park, Arches and Canyonlands, beautiful scenery, and a plethora of activities for outdoor enthusiasts like us.  

This week I am preparing our schedule, budget and shopping list. We are all about inexpensive vacations so being prepared is key for staying on track and ensuring we have a great time everyday.

Vacation Cost Breakdown
Hostel Cabin $280
Gas $300-350
Groceries for meals/snacks $130
Fee to enter national parks $10x2 $20. Passes are good for 7 days
We have an individual spending budget of $100 each. This includes any eating out, souvenirs, and equipment rentals (we don't plan on renting anything, except maybe a rope for rock climbing)

Total vacation cost for 7 nights: $1,000 which includes the high end for gas and if we both spend our entire $100 vacation money.

Road trip itinerary:
My aunt is watching our dog while we are gone so we will be dropping her off Friday morning in McMinnville.

Depending on Wayne's work schedule we will drive 3 hours to my grandmas and stay the night. That will only leave us with a 12 hour drive on Saturday. We will leave her house around 4:00 or 5:00 am. Get to our cabin, relax, grab dinner somewhere in town.

Sunday: Sleep in (sleeping in typically means getting up at 7:00) eat breakfast at the cabin, the whole day is reserved for Arches National Park. Pack in a lunch and enjoy the day exploring. They say you can see the entire park in a day. Then chicken fajitas for dinner at our cabin.

Monday: Head back to Arches for anything we wanted to see but didn't have time for. Eat lunch at cabin or pack out a lunch. Then find bike trails we can both do, then some for Wayne for later on. Burgers for dinner at cabin.

Tuesday: Wayne will mt. bike this morning on trails just for him. While he's gone I'm going to explore town and a few shops (window shopping, a budgeters best friend!). We'll meet in town for lunch somewhere. Then take a hike to Mill Creek and head to the waterfall/swimming hole. Tacos for dinner at the cabin.

Wednesday: Head to Canyonlands Island in the Sky District (N area), pack a lunch. On the way home go to Dead Horse Point State Park. Eat out for dinner.

Thursday: Head to Canyonlands Needles District (SE area). Pack a lunch and probably pack dinner too. Its an hour and a half away from Moab.

Friday will be a low key day. Wayne can Mt. bike in the morning. I may go but I will probably arrange our stuff for the next day for when we leave. I may go to the aquatic center or if there was something I wanted to check out on my own go and do that. If we can find a place that rents climbing ropes we will go rock climbing, we have all the other equipment already. We will have lunch at the cabin then plan for dinner out.

Saturday: Planning to leave no later than 9:00am to get to my grandmas around 9:00pm and stay the night.

Sunday: sleep in, have breakfast and head home. Then go pick up our pup!

We will have so much to do, plus downtime to rest and relax. Will be seeing so much but I know this vacation will fly by!