Lakeside RV Campground – Provo, UT

Lakeside RV Campground – Provo, UT

A big part of this journey we are on is figuring out and settling into our duties when it comes to set up, break down and sharing the driving.  After our first few stops, Kandace gravitated toward the set up and breakdown of the inside of the camper which consists of clearing off the counters, making sure all the cabinet doors are latched, windows are closed and all the extra items like our outdoor rug, olive tree, cooler, external grey water tank, lounge chairs, umbrella and umbrella stand are secured for travel or set up at camp.  My duties consist of everything on the outside of the camper like connecting / disconnecting the electrical, water and sewer line, leveling the camper, setting up the stabilizers, checking the windows from the outside and making sure all outside compartment doors are latched and locked.

The two duties that are shared are hooking and disconnecting the camper and the driving.  Although I do most of the driving, it has become a bit comical that each time Kandace takes the wheel, there is some sort of difficult or challenging situation that arises like the narrow bridge in Hood River, the tire blowout we had when we first bought our Airstream and on our way to Provo, Utah we hit a snow storm which fortunately dissipated once we got over the grade but it was still a bit unnerving to drive through.  When I drive, it’s smooth sailing so Kandace is pretty sure that I have developed some sort of sixth sense and have figured out when not to get behind the wheel.

When we pulled into Lakeside RV Park in Provo it was beautiful, green and lush with huge trees and lots of shade but it was certainly not lakeside, it’s more “lake near” as Utah Lake is about a half mile drive down the road – but Lakenear wouldn’t be as sexy of a name to entice RVers to book a stay 😉.  The Provo river runs alongside the campground though, so perhaps a more appropriate name would be Riverside RV Park?

Lakeside RV park also has a fascinating neighbor, a storage facility with several vintage gas pumps and signs. I wonder how much gas prices were when these signs and pumps were fully operational?!!

Provo is home to BYU and we were not too far from the campus.  Really cool area and definitely feels like a college town as we passed through.  Salt Lake City is just a 45 min drive from where we stayed and we took a day trip to check out the state capitol and the city.  Salt Lake City is a busy city and despite the stereotype that alcohol is not really a thing in Utah, downtown is a hip and happening area with lots of cool bars and restaurants. We paid a visit to the capitol which is an impressive building and sits on top of the hill, with fantastic views of the city and beyond.  One interesting side note about the streets in Salt Lake is that they are all numbers – I guess that makes for easy directions and navigation or perhaps the powers that be had a meeting of the minds and couldn’t agree on names and just said screw it and went with a numbering system instead!

After driving around the numbered streets for a while we decided to hunt for the best bar to visit in the city – after a quick google search and a longer search for parking, we finally settled on Alibi for a couple of over priced drinks! For dinner we found an incredible vegan restaurant called Zest. We sat at the bar and indulged in some of the best tasting vegan food we have had since our visit to Porto last summer.  The stuffed mushrooms and the mashed potato soup topped with grilled veggies were to die for and the carrot cake for dessert is a must!  Our bartender / server was super cool too.  She recently bought a vintage camper van and is planning on traveling and living the vagabond life for a while so of course we hit it off, shared traveling stories and became fast IG friends 😊

Our main dog friendly exercise / hiking excursion was a trip to Stewart Falls, one of the most scenic and photographed waterfalls in northern Utah, so of course we had to add this to photo bucket list.  The trailhead was a short drive from camp with ample parking.  We paid a small parking fee and headed out on the trail which is an easy to moderate hike with some elevation in the beginning and is about 4 miles round trip.  Once we reached the river and the end of the trail, we gazed up at the 200 foot two-tiered waterfall and walked right up to it for a refreshing and cold misting. Other hikers were a bit more brave and stood right under the falls for an icy drenching! We hung out for a bit while Sato napped on the rocks, had lunch, snapped a few pics and talked it up with the other hikers about our journey and theirs.

We had a great time exploring Provo and the surrounding area but the national parks of Utah and Arizona which will be coming up in our next couple of posts, simply blew us away!