Thanks! We ended up booking a site near Flagstaff. We won't get there till the afternoon and I never know how popular dispersed/FCFS sites are so didn't want to risk it with the holiday.

Thanks! That's what we ended up doing.

Yeah we're coming from Vegas, we're used to the heat. That's why I was looking for something a bit away from Phoenix, more in the mountains in a forested area.

7 days is a decent amount of time for both parks. I flew into SLC because the flight options were much cheaper and more flexible. I also saved a lot of money getting a rental car from SLC, they were significantly more expensive from Bozeman/Jackson etc. I enjoyed the drive, it's fairly scenic. If the kids are old enough to tolerate it, it's not a bad drive imo. Make sure you get reservations for lodging and rental car before booking your flights. You'll be there during peak season and it can be difficult to find hotels near the park this late in the game.

Can you provide a source for this? Now I'm curious how other states rank

When are you heading to the park? I'd be worried about leaving a nice instrument baking in the heat of the car, it can cause significant damage.

I personally haven't had issues with break-ins in the park but all it takes is one shitty person, unfortunately. Definitely keep it covered at the very least.

Woah, the acoustic trapeze tailpiece/floating bridge is a whole new concept I've never considered. I will definitely keep this in mind if the bridge placement isn't right!

I just checked old photos and confirmed that I do have a bridge plate. My kit came with the bridge plate, x brace, and bracings already installed. So the plate placement should be correct. I just hope the bare unfinished spot I left on the soundboard is right.

The guitar is currently on the other side of the country, I left it at a family member's house when I moved. I'm planning to bring it back home with me over the holidays to get it finished, and I don't have any tools out here. Maybe if I'm lucky I'll find a luthier who would let me assist with/observe the finishing touches.

Thanks again for your input, I really appreciate it!

Cooler climates, I love my blundstone boots. They work with everything except formal wear.

Warmer climates, the comfiest white sneaker you can find. I like leather because it cleans more easily and feels more versatile, and I personally choose a more casual look instead of a runner but you could go either way. I am liking my On shoes, I have the Roger in all white and they also go with most outfits except formal wear. People seem to really like ultra boosts or similar.

Whatever order you choose will be great, it's an awesome itinerary. Zion is likely the busiest so I agree it makes sense to aim for the weekdays. So maybe Saturday - head to Bryce, grab dinner and watch the sunset. Sunday hike in Bryce. Head to Zion Sunday afternoon/evening and spend all of Monday there, and some or all of Tuesday. Valley of fire is beautiful but can be brutally hot in June, and some popular trails close for the summer months due to heat danger.

If you get a chance to hike the Narrows, take it. The hike is very dependent on weather/water flow conditions so if you get a window of opportunity I'd recommend it, even if you just go from the bottom up and go part way to turn around. I know many people that have been to Zion on multiple occasions and have not gotten to do the hike due to flash flood risks.

Thanks! I'm mostly concerned about the proper positioning of the bridge plate because if it gets placed incorrectly it will impact tuning, correct? I guess I need to find an actual luthier vs. standard guitar repair tech.

The neck is just bolted on, not glued, so hopefully a pretty straightforward fix there.

You're so kind, thank you! I definitely won't attempt it at home because I know if the bridge pin holes got messed up it would be a huge pain to fix.

I think it was Stew Mac but I unfortunately didn't save any receipts or documentation. I was 17 when I started the project so I definitely wasn't thinking this far into the future.

Thanks! I like it enough cosmetically, I'm just not sure if getting the bridge set will require someone with specific experience or if that's something any typical guitar shop repair person will be able to handle?

I'm not knowledgeable at all so apologies if my answer doesn't make sense! I'm sure we made a lot of mistakes along the way.

The kit came with a bridge plate, and my mentor helped me carefully measure the proper distance (from the nut I think?) and we temporarily taped it in place, because a friend of my mentor offered to professionally apply a finish to the body and neck for me, and I wasn't going to turn down that offer. So that's why you can see an outline of the bridge plate on the face of the guitar now. Theoretically the bare spot without finish should be in the right place but could be off.

Mine also wants you to use the barcode for produce. But then it also wants you to weigh the produce. And without fail when you put the item on the scale, it sees the barcode and scans it a second time. Then I have to call the attendant. Makes me unreasonably angry.

I was there 2 weeks ago and drove from Vegas. The roads to the main parts of the park were fine, but some park roads are closed. Check the NPS website before heading out for road status.

I was there 2 weeks ago and drove from Vegas. The roads to the main parts of the park were fine, but some park roads are closed. Check the NPS website before heading out for road status.

My pure bred pit has the same!

Are these overnight prices? I have out of town guests staying with me this weekend and stupidly booked cirque du soleil tickets for tonight, not realizing it was a festival weekend. Heading to the strip around 3 and leaving after our show around 9... Will it be cheaper to Uber to and from Henderson (right now $30 to the strip, I presume it'll be $50 ish or more by 9pm) or do you think I'll be fine to find a spot for 6hrs at the mirage?

They forgot to add that iced coffee often has ice cream in it

I can usually handle a fair amount of outside/street noise, but I lose my mind when the heat/AC unit alternates between totally silent and insanely loud all night long. The last hotel I was in had the unit behind a metal vent/grate and every time it kicked on the grate would vibrate like a jackhammer. Tried shoving wash cloths in the gap between the grate and the wall to no avail, made me unreasonably angry.

I was there on the same dates in 2022. We had one cold/rainy/foggy day where we couldn't see anything further than ~50 feet away (including the mountain right in front of us), and spectacularly clear sunny fall weather the following day. The rainy day was absolutely gorgeous, great for atmospheric photos, and I remember it very fondly. The sunny day was one of my favorite days in the mountains ever.

It depends what your expectations are going into it. If you're going to be crushed if you don't get to see the top of Rainier, I'd say there's a high risk of being disappointed if you're only there for 2-3 days. The weather is unpredictable, but even in the rain and fog it's beautiful up there if you're willing to gear up and get outside.

I'm also not sure about the smoke conditions from nearby fires so that's definitely worth considering.

I was at Yosemite in mid September 2 years ago and it was a bit smoky with nearby fires (just visually, the AQI was fine) but the weather was perfect.

This comment just saved me like $20 worth of hair and skin care products. I just washed and refilled my silicone bottles today in preparation for an upcoming trip. I get so frustrated that certain things seem to get really thick/dry in them but filled them up anyway. I didn't even think about the products reacting to the silicone... Switching over to hard plastic ones now! Thank you!