Being The Top Dog, I should have more input on our vacations, but all I keep hearing is “Sagebaby you’ll have so much fun, road tripping in a hipster van, you just wait!” So, off The Parents go to pick up our ride.

The Hipster Van

Home away from home? I don’t think so. Looks like a big blue box on wheels. Could be mistaken for an Amazon delivery truck. What are my sweet, but goofball parents thinking? Hipster Van? And to top it off, they said we are going to the City of Rocks. What’s up with that? We live in the bodacious City of Trees, what could be better?

So, The Parents load up the Hipster with food and hiking gear, but they forget my bed. Mama looks at me and says, “That’s right you get to sleep with us!” OK, major bonus points. So maybe the trip won’t be so boring. Apparently, The Parents found the Hipster Van through Outdoorsy, think Airbnb for campers. Our crib on wheels is a 2022 Mercedes 22’ rig with all the bells and whistles.

Usually, I get the whole back seat in Mama’s car, but in the Hipster it is hard to know where to go, so I just stand between The Parents looking goofy cuz I can’t see out the windows. Finally, I shimmy over in front of Mama, so I can hang my head out the window. Don’t tell The Parents, but I was getting all teed-up for a big messy barfatolla! Having a view of the country-side calmed the kibble and made the three hour drive enjoyable. Yeah, Mama loving me up helped too.

Castle Rocks State Park

We make it to camp at Castle Rocks State Park and thank goodness there are some trees, pinion pines, which I quickly anoint. Tomorrow we are hiking around Castle Rocks and then head to City of Rocks National Reserve just a few miles away. I had my doubts, but it was true. That night I got to sleep with The Parents in their queen-sized bed. I really should have a king bed, but this will do. I’m getting to like this Hipster thing.

Our hike around Castle Rocks is super cool and the rocks are fun to climb on.  In fact, there are people way high on the rocks with ropes, rock climbers so I’m told. I can hear them hollering at each other, something like “belay on”, whatever that means. We run across a few groups of really friendly dirt bag climbers who have a keen odor I can’t quite place. Humm. Kinda smells like The Parents backpacking gear. Anyway, I digress, there are massive granite spires and domes, with the oldest rocks reaching 2.5 million years in age. After our perfect hike, we pack up the Hipster Van and move on to the City of Rocks.

City of Rocks National Reserve – Rocks

Our campsite has a view beyond belief, but unfortunately few trees. This area was originally home to native Shoshone, Paiute, and Bannock people. In 1849, James Wilkens, a pioneer on his way to California described the dramatic landscape as “City of Rocks”. The name stuck, as well as hundreds of pioneer inscriptions on boulders using wagon wheel grease, deep wagon ruts, and journal accounts of the nearly quarter-million pioneers who traveled west through the area on the California Trail between 1843 and 1882.

All around were cool rock formations we could see from our elevated camp.  In the morning we went hiking down into the canyon and were surrounded by spires, steeple rocks and a kazillion trees. Lots of climbers were on the granite faces. It seems there are over 700 climbing routes in the Reserve, but we stayed on the trails and explored the area over the next few days. Who knew rocks could be so interesting and smell so different.

Each night we watched the Milky Way move across the clear sky and it was beautifully silent, except for my occasional toot. And then, at bedtime, we all cuddled-up in our queen bed and counted kitty cats jumping over a rainbow.

I could really get used to this…