With the summer coming to a close, and my recent trip out West fresh in my mind, I thought now would be a good time to do a how-to article, so you can start planning for next summer. In addition to building anticipation, early planning is important for accumulating credit card miles. Please skip that winter break in Florida and save your miles for a fantastic jaunt to the American West.
Where Are You Going?
The first and most obvious thing to do when deciding on a trip is to pick the destination. As I have written in the past, I am a huge fan of our national parks. Folks, our Creator has given us a beautiful world. To me, it seems almost like a religious obligation to see as much of it as we can.
I recommend checking out books on the national parks from the library. Then use the internet to continue your research. There are endless resources, such as reading other people’s reviews on TripAdvisor.com and watching their vacation videos on YouTube. The cabins in the parks fill up early – and you can cancel with no penalty – so when in doubt, reserve a cabin.
Once you settle on a destination, you can decide which airport to fly into, and then plan your driving route. I spent hours studying maps to make it all logical: Where do I want to go first? What is the most efficient route to all the places I want to see? How far can I travel each day without spending too much time in the car? Where will we stop for meals? For the night? Luckily for you, if you want to copy my trip, I have done that work for you. But first, let’s discuss some travel nitty-gritty.
West by Southwest
I love Southwest Airlines. Because it does not charge you a fee to cancel or change your itinerary, you can look for deals many months in advance and book when you see a good price. If you need to cancel, you get your points or a monetary credit back to be used for a future flight. This makes a huge difference, as you do not lose your money if you change your dates. (You do have to pay any increase in fare.) Furthermore, Southwest still allows two suitcases for free – very helpful when you are bringing food and food supplies. Finally, signing up for a Southwest Visa card immediately gives you 50,000 free miles!
Food, Glorious Food
As frum Jews, we face a logistic challenge called Food. This is the sticking point that causes people to avoid exciting destinations, because it necessitates transporting kitchen supplies and refrigerated items. This should not prevent you from these experiences. Once you learn the method, it is simple to go kosher. Here’s how I assemble my traveling kitchen: Suitcase #1 is designated for food and preparation supplies, and it can be packed way in advance. It contains:
- plastic plates, bowls, cutlery, and napkins.
- metal cutlery allowing you to handle and flip food on the grill.
- a fleishig pot and a very small milchig frying pan.
- can opener, cloth towel, matches, zip-lock storage bags.
- canned tuna and canned vegetables.
- matzos, salt, sugar, and spices.
- small barbeque grill, camping stove, and leather work gloves (this stuff gets hot).
- bread, for places where you cannot find it with a hechsher.
The second piece is a soft-sided ice chest, which I check in as luggage. (Make sure your ice chest is soft-sided with a hard plastic insert. Without the insert, it is sure to spring a tiny hole, and you will have leaking water everywhere.) This is filled with vacuum-packed meat, such as deli (no cooking required), hamburgers, hot dogs, and even steaks. You can also pack soup in plastic containers. All these are frozen rock solid. Packed like this, the meat will stay frozen for hours. When we arrive at our destination, we buy ice twice a day. The key to keeping food cold is not just being in an ice-chest next to the ice. Rather, as the ice melts, your chest fills with water, and the food will actually be submerged in ice water. Since ice water is always 32 degrees, your meat is kept at a constant 32 degrees even in the trunk of a car in 100-degree-plus weather. It might sound complicated, but it is really simple.
Our milchig ice chest is small, so we put it inside a suitcase and fill it with supplies so as not to lose space. When we arrive, we take it out and, voila, it is ready to go. It holds the milk – we bring empty small water bottles to transfer the milk into – and a few small orange juice bottles, which stay well preserved underwater. We also keep our eggs in this ice chest.
We bring a small “camping stove,” a burner that uses the common 16-ounce propane tanks that are sold everywhere. It sounds daunting, but it is simple and small, and having it allows you to boil water, fry eggs, warm soup, etc.
When we arrive at our destination, our first stop is a supermarket. We buy charcoal, orange juice, milk, eggs, fruits and veggies, and water in gallon-size containers. (We save one of the empty water bottles and refill with water to wash for bread on the road.) You can either buy or bring along peanut butter, jelly, ketchup, and mayonnaise, etc.
More Packing Hints
Southwest Air allows two free suitcases per person, so each family member takes his or her own small personal suitcase. Remember, though, whether you are driving or flying, to pack light. This is not a fashion show.
If you are staying in camping cabins, linens are probably not provided. (Some camping spots will rent you linen.) You will therefore need sleeping bags. We own down-filled sleeping bags. Their advantage is not so much the extra warmth but their light weight and the ability to pack them into a very small bag, which we place in a designated suitcase.
You also need flashlights (the very small LED ones) and a first-aid kit with band-aids, antiseptic cream, and any necessary medications.
The “Big S” Decision
Yes Shabbos or no Shabbos: That is the question. If you have the time, you could plan a two-week trip that includes a Shabbos. Depending on where you are going, you will either spend Shabbos near a shul in a Jewish community or in a remote location where there is no shul. But if you don’t have the time, I will now demonstrate a very worthwhile five-day trip, which was done to get home before Shabbos.
An American Zion (and More)
This summer, we visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, combining it with southern Utah and its two famous parks: Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. In Bryce you are up high looking down into a canyon with strange rock formations. In Zion, you’re inside the canyon looking up at sheer walls of vertical rock. You have to see the pictures to appreciate them. (Google it.)
We also visited Page, Arizona, which is famous for four sights: 1) Glen Canyon Dam, on the Colorado River, which is similar to Hoover Dam. It is really remarkable to see the Colorado on the two sides of the dam. On one side, the river is high, and on the other side, it is low – a wonder. 2) Lake Powell. We only saw it from a distance, but people do a lot of boating there. It is not cheap. The cost of renting a power boat can greatly exceed $500 per day, when you figure in the gas. 3) Antelope Canyon with its Navajo Indian tours. For $28 you get a two-hour tour in an underground canyon. The tour is well recommended, and you should make reservations in advance. 4) Horseshoe Bend. This half-mile walk from the highway leads you to an amazing view of the Colorado River as it forms a natural loop. Google it for pictures.
From Page, we drove two hours-plus to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. What can I say? Watching the sun go down over the Grand Canyon while sitting on the porch of the lodge is one of those ooh-aah moments in life. Our last attraction was Zion National Park. It is a very easy park to tour, as the bus takes you along a route, and you can hop on and off and do easy or hard hikes.
Our Itinerary
We took a 7:00 a.m. flight from Baltimore to Las Vegas on a Sunday morning. We rented a car, shopped in Las Vegas, and drove North to Bryce, staying at the famous Ruby’s Inn in a camping cabin. Door to door was 17 hours. Wow!
We spent all day Monday in Bryce, hiking, etc., barbequed for supper, and then drove to Kanab, Utah, an hour-and-a-half away. I picked Kanab because it was right on the road. We arrived at 10 p.m. and went right to bed.
On Tuesday, we drove to Page (75 miles) and saw the dam, Antelope Canyon, and Horseshoe Bend. We drove to the Grand Canyon, and stayed until dark. We ate deli for supper in the car and drove two hours to Mt. Carmel, Utah. Stopping along the way to see the stars on a moonless night, we were astounded. What we saw must have been the Milky Way; it was just the most amazing starry sky I have ever seen. We arrived at our cabin at about 1 a.m. Utah is on a different time zone, so we lost an hour on that drive.
Wednesday morning, we took a short drive from Mt. Carmel and spent the day hiking in Zion National Park. We spent Wednesday night at a motel in St. George, Utah (35 miles from Zion).
Thursday, we visited Valley of the Fire State Park in Nevada and saw more red rock formations. We then headed to Las Vegas, staying in a motel near the airport, since our flight home took off at 5.20 a.m. Friday morning.
This was a compact trip with no Shabbos stay. If time allows, you could stretch it to two weeks. Fly into Phoenix and see Sedona on the way to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. You could also see Hoover Dam and then spend Shabbos in Las Vegas’s Jewish community. After Shabbos, head to southern Utah, and see its five national parks.
Matters Mundane and Lofty
It is quite possible for a family of eight to spend 12 days out West for the same price as sending one child to sleep-away camp for half a summer ($2,500) and possibly much less. Yes, it requires planning, but the payback is very worth it. This country is blessed with amazing national parks, and they are very accessible. With some credit card miles and a little thought, you can be on your way (possibly even for free!). So, dear reader, start your journey. As some wise man once said, your thoughts become your dreams, your dreams become your aspirations, your aspirations become your actions, and your actions become your destiny.
Go West Young Man
How to Plan a Great Vacation
by Eli Pollock
With the summer coming to a close, and my recent trip out West fresh in my mind, I thought now would be a good time to do a how-to article, so you can start planning for next summer. In addition to building anticipation, early planning is important for accumulating credit card miles. Please skip that winter break in Florida and save your miles for a fantastic jaunt to the American West.
Where Are You Going?
The first and most obvious thing to do when deciding on a trip is to pick the destination. As I have written in the past, I am a huge fan of our national parks. Folks, our Creator has given us a beautiful world. To me, it seems almost like a religious obligation to see as much of it as we can.
I recommend checking out books on the national parks from the library. Then use the internet to continue your research. There are endless resources, such as reading other people’s reviews on TripAdvisor.com and watching their vacation videos on YouTube. The cabins in the parks fill up early – and you can cancel with no penalty – so when in doubt, reserve a cabin.
Once you settle on a destination, you can decide which airport to fly into, and then plan your driving route. I spent hours studying maps to make it all logical: Where do I want to go first? What is the most efficient route to all the places I want to see? How far can I travel each day without spending too much time in the car? Where will we stop for meals? For the night? Luckily for you, if you want to copy my trip, I have done that work for you. But first, let’s discuss some travel nitty-gritty.
West by Southwest
I love Southwest Airlines. Because it does not charge you a fee to cancel or change your itinerary, you can look for deals many months in advance and book when you see a good price. If you need to cancel, you get your points or a monetary credit back to be used for a future flight. This makes a huge difference, as you do not lose your money if you change your dates. (You do have to pay any increase in fare.) Furthermore, Southwest still allows two suitcases for free – very helpful when you are bringing food and food supplies. Finally, signing up for a Southwest Visa card immediately gives you 50,000 free miles!
Food, Glorious Food
As frum Jews, we face a logistic challenge called Food. This is the sticking point that causes people to avoid exciting destinations, because it necessitates transporting kitchen supplies and refrigerated items. This should not prevent you from these experiences. Once you learn the method, it is simple to go kosher. Here’s how I assemble my traveling kitchen: Suitcase #1 is designated for food and preparation supplies, and it can be packed way in advance. It contains:
- plastic plates, bowls, cutlery, and napkins.
- metal cutlery allowing you to handle and flip food on the grill.
- a fleishig pot and a very small milchig frying pan.
- can opener, cloth towel, matches, zip-lock storage bags.
- canned tuna and canned vegetables.
- matzos, salt, sugar, and spices.
- small barbeque grill, camping stove, and leather work gloves (this stuff gets hot).
- bread, for places where you cannot find it with a hechsher.
The second piece is a soft-sided ice chest, which I check in as luggage. (Make sure your ice chest is soft-sided with a hard plastic insert. Without the insert, it is sure to spring a tiny hole, and you will have leaking water everywhere.) This is filled with vacuum-packed meat, such as deli (no cooking required), hamburgers, hot dogs, and even steaks. You can also pack soup in plastic containers. All these are frozen rock solid. Packed like this, the meat will stay frozen for hours. When we arrive at our destination, we buy ice twice a day. The key to keeping food cold is not just being in an ice-chest next to the ice. Rather, as the ice melts, your chest fills with water, and the food will actually be submerged in ice water. Since ice water is always 32 degrees, your meat is kept at a constant 32 degrees even in the trunk of a car in 100-degree-plus weather. It might sound complicated, but it is really simple.
Our milchig ice chest is small, so we put it inside a suitcase and fill it with supplies so as not to lose space. When we arrive, we take it out and, voila, it is ready to go. It holds the milk – we bring empty small water bottles to transfer the milk into – and a few small orange juice bottles, which stay well preserved underwater. We also keep our eggs in this ice chest.
We bring a small “camping stove,” a burner that uses the common 16-ounce propane tanks that are sold everywhere. It sounds daunting, but it is simple and small, and having it allows you to boil water, fry eggs, warm soup, etc.
When we arrive at our destination, our first stop is a supermarket. We buy charcoal, orange juice, milk, eggs, fruits and veggies, and water in gallon-size containers. (We save one of the empty water bottles and refill with water to wash for bread on the road.) You can either buy or bring along peanut butter, jelly, ketchup, and mayonnaise, etc.
More Packing Hints
Southwest Air allows two free suitcases per person, so each family member takes his or her own small personal suitcase. Remember, though, whether you are driving or flying, to pack light. This is not a fashion show.
If you are staying in camping cabins, linens are probably not provided. (Some camping spots will rent you linen.) You will therefore need sleeping bags. We own down-filled sleeping bags. Their advantage is not so much the extra warmth but their light weight and the ability to pack them into a very small bag, which we place in a designated suitcase.
You also need flashlights (the very small LED ones) and a first-aid kit with band-aids, antiseptic cream, and any necessary medications.
The “Big S” Decision
Yes Shabbos or no Shabbos: That is the question. If you have the time, you could plan a two-week trip that includes a Shabbos. Depending on where you are going, you will either spend Shabbos near a shul in a Jewish community or in a remote location where there is no shul. But if you don’t have the time, I will now demonstrate a very worthwhile five-day trip, which was done to get home before Shabbos.
An American Zion (and More)
This summer, we visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, combining it with southern Utah and its two famous parks: Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. In Bryce you are up high looking down into a canyon with strange rock formations. In Zion, you’re inside the canyon looking up at sheer walls of vertical rock. You have to see the pictures to appreciate them. (Google it.)
We also visited Page, Arizona, which is famous for four sights: 1) Glen Canyon Dam, on the Colorado River, which is similar to Hoover Dam. It is really remarkable to see the Colorado on the two sides of the dam. On one side, the river is high, and on the other side, it is low – a wonder. 2) Lake Powell. We only saw it from a distance, but people do a lot of boating there. It is not cheap. The cost of renting a power boat can greatly exceed $500 per day, when you figure in the gas. 3) Antelope Canyon with its Navajo Indian tours. For $28 you get a two-hour tour in an underground canyon. The tour is well recommended, and you should make reservations in advance. 4) Horseshoe Bend. This half-mile walk from the highway leads you to an amazing view of the Colorado River as it forms a natural loop. Google it for pictures.
From Page, we drove two hours-plus to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. What can I say? Watching the sun go down over the Grand Canyon while sitting on the porch of the lodge is one of those ooh-aah moments in life. Our last attraction was Zion National Park. It is a very easy park to tour, as the bus takes you along a route, and you can hop on and off and do easy or hard hikes.
Our Itinerary
We took a 7:00 a.m. flight from Baltimore to Las Vegas on a Sunday morning. We rented a car, shopped in Las Vegas, and drove North to Bryce, staying at the famous Ruby’s Inn in a camping cabin. Door to door was 17 hours. Wow!
We spent all day Monday in Bryce, hiking, etc., barbequed for supper, and then drove to Kanab, Utah, an hour-and-a-half away. I picked Kanab because it was right on the road. We arrived at 10 p.m. and went right to bed.
On Tuesday, we drove to Page (75 miles) and saw the dam, Antelope Canyon, and Horseshoe Bend. We drove to the Grand Canyon, and stayed until dark. We ate deli for supper in the car and drove two hours to Mt. Carmel, Utah. Stopping along the way to see the stars on a moonless night, we were astounded. What we saw must have been the Milky Way; it was just the most amazing starry sky I have ever seen. We arrived at our cabin at about 1 a.m. Utah is on a different time zone, so we lost an hour on that drive.
Wednesday morning, we took a short drive from Mt. Carmel and spent the day hiking in Zion National Park. We spent Wednesday night at a motel in St. George, Utah (35 miles from Zion).
Thursday, we visited Valley of the Fire State Park in Nevada and saw more red rock formations. We then headed to Las Vegas, staying in a motel near the airport, since our flight home took off at 5.20 a.m. Friday morning.
This was a compact trip with no Shabbos stay. If time allows, you could stretch it to two weeks. Fly into Phoenix and see Sedona on the way to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. You could also see Hoover Dam and then spend Shabbos in Las Vegas’s Jewish community. After Shabbos, head to southern Utah, and see its five national parks.
Matters Mundane and Lofty
It is quite possible for a family of eight to spend 12 days out West for the same price as sending one child to sleep-away camp for half a summer ($2,500) and possibly much less. Yes, it requires planning, but the payback is very worth it. This country is blessed with amazing national parks, and they are very accessible. With some credit card miles and a little thought, you can be on your way (possibly even for free!). So, dear reader, start your journey. As some wise man once said, your thoughts become your dreams, your dreams become your aspirations, your aspirations become your actions, and your actions become your destiny.
