National Parks Road Trip – Page, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Bryce, Zion, Las Vegas, Death Valley Claimed

Day 1:

3 of us fly to Page, AZ and meet up with my husband and son who had driven down, camping en route in Kings Canyon and Death Valley. Direct from airport went to Horseshoe Bend and a tour of the slot canyons in Page. BEAUTIFUL. Then drove to the Grand Canyon (about 2.5 hours) and stayed at Holiday Inn Express just outside the canyon.

Day 2:

As we didn’t get overnight passes ahead of time we tried that morning but were too late. So three of us did a big hike down the canyon and two of us did a smaller hike and explored around the south rim, had lunch in the lodge, went to the museum on the rim etc. Beautiful day! Night at Holiday Inn Express.

Day 3:

Drove to Sedona. Beautiful drive with the open vistas and then the canyon as you approach Sedona. About 2 hour drive. Stayed at Sedona Inn Real and Suites (ok, not great. ). Went on a great hike that took us to a great lookout point and then down to the river to take photos of sunset on the rocks.

Day 4:

In morning did hike to the arch which was great. Then drove to Flagstaff so John and Carter could fly home for work/school. Will, Taber and I went on and spent the night in Page at Days Inn & Suites and had great BBQ for dinner. We weren’t able to get on the river trip unfortunately – it sounds great but I didn’t book it soon enough.

Day 5:

Early morning we headed out the to visit the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that a friend has told me about. We had booked a tour there as it’s in Kanab, which is en route from Page to Bryce (and Zion). The tour was great and worth a stop. Then drove on to Bryce. What an amazing spot! We did a circular hike that was terrific – what scenery. Like the moon. Really incredible. The weather was starting to change though so we headed out and on to Zion, about 1 hour 20 mins away. Spent night at Novel House Inn, a house with rooms they rent – like a B&B except they give you vouchers to take your breakfast at a cafe in town, which is just a half block away.

Day 6:

It snowed overnight, which was a surprise and changed our plans a bit. No going down the river or for a big hike as the snow prevented that. We hopped on the bus that took us up the canyon and did some shorter hikes and then decided to cut Zion short by a day due to weather and in the afternoon drove on to Vegas. Stayed at Luxor Hotel. Quite a shift from the scenery we’d been around the past few days! We got tickets when we arrived at half price ticket booth for Cirque de Soliel and saw that, followed by wandering, hotel viewing and a casual dinner.

Day 7:

Took Will to airport to get home and Taber and I continued road trip to Death Valley. Once there we went out to Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation point in the country, to the very cool Devil’s golf course and drove the Artist’s Pallet (all those things are on the same Badwater Road). We visited the park center, drove out to where we were planning to spend the night camping in Stovepipe Wells but when we got to the campground it was super windy and not very nice so we just kept on going! We drove all the way home instead…..so it was a looooong day in the car but such great scenery that day…and every day of the trip. Put a couple thousand miles on the car – what a road trip is meant to be!