Why Chase Sapphire

I think everyone that travels should have a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserved. Why? Let me tell you a story of why the Chase Sapphire card is my number one recommendations. A lesson we learned the expensive way. The Chase Sapphire cards have this awesome travel delay/cancellation benefit. If you pay for your flights (even just the 911 fee of $5.60) you have travel delay/cancellation benefits. 

It was a stormy Wednesday in Orlando, we were having our final treat at Universal Studios, passing time while we wait for our driver to arrive. Just 45 minutes before his arrival we receive a notification that our flight (scheduled to depart in 3 hours) had been cancelled and we were rebooked to on a  SATURDAY flight! Due to weather delays, airlines aren't responsible for food or lodging expenses. No big deal, after a long wait we manage to get on a flight for the following day, we just needed to find a hotel room for the night. We were staying at one of Universal Studios' Premier hotels at about $300+ night, could we swing another night there? Sure, but we didn't need to stay there since we wouldn't be needing the front of the line benefits, but it would be easier than moving to another less expensive hotel. As a Sapphire Reserve card holder I figured we could stay there to make things easier, and we would be flying out the following afternoon, so why not? With the Reserve card Chase will reimburse us up to $500/person for food, lodging and transportation. I check our original Southwest reservation, turns out I didn't use the Reserve to make the reservations, I used our Southwest card. No big deal, we used the Southwest Priority card (annual fee of $149), that has to have some sort of travel delay benefit right? The Priority card's annual fee is more than the Sapphire Preferred fee ($95), why wouldn't it have trip delay benefits? You see where this is going? Yup, you guessed it, NO travel delay benefits. Now we are on the hook for all additional expenses. Turns out that the following day also had massive flight cancellations due to the storms, we didn't get home until Friday evening, that delay cost us about $500. That would have been closer to $0 if I had used our Chase Sapphire Reserve to book the flights. 

The Reserve has better benefits than the Preferred, but the annual fee is $550. We prefer the Reserve, but I know that the fee is a lot, for this benefit the Preferred is perfectly fine. 

Zion, The Narrows and Angels Landing

Zion National Park had 3.6 million visitors in 2020, which is about 1 million less visitors than in 2019, we knew that Zion would be busy but thankfully it wasn't as busy as in recent history. 

The drive from Bryce Canyon to Zion is about 2 hours. We had an uneventful drive, cell services was good in some places and almost no service at the parks, which ended up being a problem. I had forgotten to print out our Zion Lodge reservations, which you needed to enter the road the leads to the lodge and all the good hikes. Eventually my phone did load the reservation and we were able to enter. 

We checked in to our little cabin, 2 double beds and a bathroom no TV or Wifi, only the main lodge had Wifi. Our reservation was for 2 nights for a total of $481.14, this was the most expensive reservation. I actually planned our trip around these dates, when I booked I was already late to the game and these were the only 2 consecutive nights available, of course COVID changed that and we could have changed dates but everything was already planned. After unloading our stuff we headed into town to eat dinner and pick up our boots for our Narrows Hike the following day. 

We had dinner at Bamboo Chinese Restaurant, the food was okay nothing special,  then picked up our Narrow's gear from Zion Outfitters. 

We returned to our little cabin (no TV or Wifi) to rest before our 2 a.m. wake up call. During the summer of 2020, Zion park wasn't running their shuttles, the park needs the shuttles because the parking lots at the trailheads are small, less than 200 spot at the Narrows trailhead. In order to hike the Narrows you had to drive, bike or walk to the trailhead (about 6 miles from Zion Lodge). If you wanted to drive to the trailhead you needed to be one of the first 200 cars in line, the line started at Zion Lodge and they let vehicles start lining up at 2 a.m., Jackie and I woke up at 2 a.m. to move our car to the line. At about 6 a.m. we were headed to the Narrow's parking lot. 

The reason we decided to rent boots was because we didn't want to get our boots wet, I would highly recommend you rent boots, unless you have your own water boots, water shoes will work but there are lots of rocks. 

We hiked from about 7:30 a.m. (after we arrived in our parking spot we had some breakfast) until about 12:00 p.m. We could have stayed there all day if we weren't hungry. Our total mileage was about 10 miles. It was cold when we started, less than 40 degrees but warmed up to about 75 when we finished it was an unusually cold day for summer. 

It wasn't crowded when we started, but when we finished it was very crowded, there were private companies offering shuttle services. I can't imagine what the trail looks like during on a normal year. This was our favorite hike of the entire trip. 

We headed straight into town to eat lunch, after the super early morning we needed a big warm lunc. We had lunch at MeMe's Cafe, it was just what we needed after our 10 miles. 

Back at our little cabin we showered and napped. After our nap Dave and I decided to hike the Angel's Landing Trail. The girls stayed back, I'm glad we didn't take them because it was a tough out and back hike. It is a 4.4 miles out and back hike and 1,604 feet of elevation gain. The Chain Section of Angel's Landing was closed, due to COVID, but that is only .3 miles of hike. 

This is the easy part of the trail.  

The views from the start of the Chain Section are spectacular.

Proof that we made it to the start of the Chain Section. 

The picture above is the start of the Chain Section, it doesn't look scary at first, but I imagine it's scary. Starting April 2022, you'll need a permit to hike the Chain Section part of the trail. It has become so popular that it is always crowded, people have actually fallen and died from this part of the trail.  You can apply for a permit. 

Picture from Zion NP webpage:  

We were exhausted after our two big hikes, we headed back to the lodge to get some food and pack up because we were headed to Moab the following morning, but not before one final hike. 

Zion Canyon Overlook Trail, it is a super easy hike that ends with this awesome view: 

The only problem is that parking is even more limited. The trailhead is right off Highway 9 on the east side of the Mount Carmel Tunnel, there is one parking lot with less than 10 parking spaces. There are additional pull-outs on Highway 9, but there aren't any sidewalks and you'll be walking on the shoulder. We had to park at a pull-out and walk on the shoulder. 

If you can find a parking spot it is totally worth it, the hike is easy 1 mile round trip, with small elevation change. 

It was a super short stay at Zion, but it was the perfect amount of time only because a lot of the good, short hikes were closed. In normal times I think 3 nights would have been the perfect amount of time. 

Wrap up:

Lodging - Zion Lodge $482, a little on the pricey side but inside the park

Hikes: Narrow's, Angel's Landing & Zion Canyon Overlook Trail
Restaurants: Bamboo Chinese Restaurant & MeMe's Cafe

A day at Bryce Canyon National Park

 

Our time at Bryce Canyon National Park was short. We could have spent more time there but I felt like a day there was plenty. 

We checked into our hotel Best Western Plus Ruby's Inn, it is a big motel but it was convenient and the right price. I always request ground floor rooms because we have to unload our car, we never leave anything in the car, the last thing I want on vacation is to deal with broken car windows. I booked this room on the Chase Travel Portal for 6,703 points or $101.50, included free breakfast. Our room was ready when we arrived around 4PM, we unloaded, showered and went to dinner. We ate at the hotel restaurant, Ruby's Inn Cowboy's Buffet & Steak Room, there is nothing special about this place we were hungry and didn't want to go far. 

After dinner we headed into the park, just a 10 minute drive from the hotel. We got our National Park Pass at the gate, stopped at the visitor's center for our stamp and souvenirs then headed to Sunset Point. 

Sunset Point

It was chilly on this overcast evening (06/27/2020), but beautiful. We headed back to the hotel to rest our legs since we had a 5 mile hike planned the next morning. 

Ready for our figure-eight loop

Our goal was to hike the Navajo Loop Trail & Peek-a-Boo Loop, which is about 5 miles. You start the hike at the top and hike down the canyon, which of course means your hike ends with a climb. The elevation change is 500 feet. 

Wall Street, amazing way to start our hike. You can see the switchbacks leading into the canyon. 

We started the hike right at 8AM and finished right around 11AM, just in time for our tailgate sandwiches in the parking lot. I wish we could have seen more of Bryce Canyon, but we needed to head over to Zion for the hike we were most excited about. 

Another great way see part of Bryce Canyon is by horse, they have horseback riding tours that take you down in the canyon. 

Capitol Reef National Park in 1.5 days

How we spent 1.5 days at Capitol Reef National Park

This post gets really long, recap at the end.

Lodging

There aren't many lodging options near the park entrance, and the only lodging option inside the park is the Fruita Campground, as much as I enjoy camping that's not something I want to do during big trips. 

We drove 3 hours from Salt Lake City to Torrey, it is the town closes to the entrance of Capitol Reef. It was completely dark when we arrived at Broken Spur Inn & Steakhouse. I didn't spend too much time researching where to stay for our time at Capitol Reef, because there aren't many options but as soon as I saw the wagon pictures I knew that's where we wanted to stay.  Sleeping in a wagon sounded like a fun way to start our big trip, spoiler alert it wasn't that much fun. The best part was that breakfast was included with our stay, I'm not a big breakfast person but having a meal before big hikes is always nice. 

Hikes

After our continental breakfast we started off with a an easy 1.8 mile hike to Hickman Bridget. The parking lot at the trailhead is very small, you must arrive early to get a spot. When going to National Parks, it is important to get up early, to get a good parking spot and enjoy the trail. We were usually one of the first 10 families on the trails. 

Not a bad way to start off our Mighty Five trip. 

We then headed back to the Visitor's Center to start our second hike of the day. We hiked part of the Sulphur Creek Trail. The Sulphur Creek is best done as a point-to-point hike, starting at the top of the trail and ending at the Visitor's Center. For that you need a second vehicle or someone willing to walk back to the starting point, which is right off Highway 24, this isn't safe or recommended. Since we didn't have a second vehicle we hiked to the first/last pool. The girls jumped off the side of the canyon and we had our first trail/roadside sandwich of the trip. 

Tip: Pack your cooler. Medium size coolers can be checked in, as long as they don't have dry ice. We have an RTIC 45 QT cooler. I had an American Express Delta Gold card, a benefit of the cards is that every person on my reservation is allowed one checked item for free. Check your airline policy, but so far our cooler has flown Delta and Southwest as a regular checked luggage. 

The Sulphur Creek Trail was an easy hike, but do your research as it is a creek and flash-flooding can be an issue, we encountered some flooding that evening. Here is a better report on hiking Sulphur Creek.

After spending the morning on our legs it was time to take a scenic drive along the Scenic Drive road.  It is a short 7.9 mile drive on a paved road. Remember when I mentioned flash floods? It started pouring rain during our drive, I don't have pictures because I was driving but Dave did manage to get a video. 

It was a quick downpour, by the time we made it back to the start of the road it had stopped raining. The rain had cleared some of the crowds so we stopped at Gifford House to eat some pie. Capitol Reef National Park has a very interesting history, there once was a small settlement that included an orchard with apple, apricots, peaches, pears and cherries. 

We were tired and ready to relax after a busy day. We headed back to our wagon to get cleaned up before grabbing dinner. There weren't many options due to COVID, we drove to town to one of the few places that was open, Slackers, they had decent burgers.  After dinner the girls spent some time at the pool. 

Day two

We still had another big hike before we left Capitol Reef National Park. We packed up, had some breakfast and headed to the Cassidy Arch trailhead. This is a must do trail, it is a 3.1 mile out and back trail. It is a moderate trail, with no shade. 

10 out of 10, don't miss out on Cassidy Arch

We had one more trail at CRNP, Grand Wash trail. The trail is 5 mile point-to-point but we didn't have time to do the entire trail, we spent about an hour walking the trail before we turned around to head back to the car. 

We then drove to Bryce Canyon National Park, but on the way there we pulled over to eat our lunch: Turkey, cheese, peperoni and pickle sandwiches. This was our lunch view.

And that concludes our tour of Capitol Reef National Park. Here is the quick recap:

• Lodging: Broken Spur Inn & Steakhouse
• Activities:
• Hickman Arch Trail
• Sulphur Creek - starting at Visitor's Center
• Scenic Drive 
• Pies at Gifford House
• Cassidy Arch Trail
• Grand Wash Trail
• Food:
• Continental breakfast at hotel
• Trail/roadside sandwiches 
• Burgers at Slackers

Link to my recommendation

Utah's Mighty Five - The Plan

I'm not sure how this trip came to be since it took place many moons ago, June/July 2020 to be exact, wow that's actually only last year but feels like forever ago.  I remember seeing beautiful pictures of Utah's Mighty Five on Instagram and Facebook, a Facebook friend had recently visited Utah, which probably lead to the planning of this trip. I was in the beginning research stages when Delta Vacations announced a new promotion. The promotion was that every Delta Mile was worth 2 cents if you booked a flight, car rental and 2 night hotels. I already had 77,000 Delta miles and over 100,000 American Express Membership Reward points, at that time I didn't have plans for those miles and points. I like to accumulate a variety of points and miles, you'll never know when you'll need them. 

The original Delta Vacations package:
4 round trip tickets from Tulsa to Salt Lake City June 25,2020 to July 04, 2020
9 day Jeep Wrangler rental
2 nights in Salt Lake City - arrival and departure days - we weren't going to use the hotels so I picket the cheapest hotels I could find. 

Our package "cost" $3,142.34 or 157,117 SkyMiles.

This was our original trip

But then COVID-19 happened. We actually benefited from COVID-19. We missed out on visiting Antelope Canyon (closed due to COVID) in Arizona, but were able to make changes to our trip that resulted in $1,575 Delta Vacations Travel voucher. We ended up changing our return flight to July 5th, adding another day to our rental car and cancelling the 2 hotel nights, which resulted in the $1,575 credit. The price of our flights and rental car dropped which made the credit so large and we weren't charged any change fees, thanks #COVID19.

The Final Plan: 

Arrive at Salt Lake City Airport at 3PM, pick up rental car, drive to In-n-Out for an early dinner (I always research In-n-Out locations), grocery pick-up at Wal-Mart then drive 3 hours to our first "hotel," Broken Spur Inn & Steakhouse to visit the first of the five National Parks in Utah, Capitol Reef National Park.  

A couple days later we would drive 2 hours to Bryce Canyon National Park to spend one night at Best Western Ruby's Inn. 

After just 24 hours in the BCNP area we would spend 2 nights in Zion National Park at the Zion NP Cabins. 

My original plan was to drive from Zion to the Lake Powell area for one night to visit Antelope Canyon, but the Navajo Nations which owns Antelope Canyon was hit hard with COVID, therefore it was closed (just opened 7/12/2021 after being closed for 1.5 years). 

Then we would cross the state and drive 5 hours to Moab to visit the last two of the Mighty Five. Staying 4 nights at the Hyatt Place Moab, and visiting Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. 

The final Delta Vacations package:
4 round trip tickets from Tulsa to Salt Lake City June 25,2020 to July 05, 2020
10 day Jeep Wrangler rental
$1,575 Delta Vacation Voucher  

This was our itinerary, I will go in details in future posts.

Utah's Mighty 5
6/25/2020	Thursday	3PM Arrival at SLC
6/26/2020	Friday	Capitol Reef
6/27/2020	Saturday	CRNP/ Bryce Canyon
6/28/2020	Sunday	BYNP/Zion
6/29/2020	Monday	Zion
6/30/2020	Tuesday	Zion/Moab
7/1/2020	Wednesday	Arches
7/2/2020	Thursday	Arches
7/3/2020	Friday	Canyonlands
7/4/2020	Saturday	Arches
7/5/2020	Sunday	2PM Departure SLC

As I recap and plan trips you will notice a common theme on our travel dates, I like to book trips that include holidays because it's a free vacation day. 

Why "The Murrays Travel" Blog

Why start a travel blog? Well you all know I love to travel, and as much as I love to travel I really enjoy the planning part of the trips. I also love sharing our adventures, via Instagram and Facebook. Friends are always asking for travel tips and recommendations. I figured this would be the best way to share all my research. 

I will be going back in time, starting with our 2020 adventures, I won't recap all of them in detail. I will focus on the big trips that take a lot of  research and planning. I won't be sharing any Disney planning details as there are plenty of blogs that do an excellent job. 

We use miles and points to pay for all of our flights & hotels, most of our miles/points come from credit card sign up bonuses, referrals & promotions. I'll share my favorite cards and give you some tips on earning extra points/miles. I am happy to answer any questions regarding earning & using points/miles via email. You can find our referral links on the sidebar, thank you for supporting our travel.

Wild Goose Island - Going to the Sun Road - Glacier National Park