In 6 days, we crushed the state of Arizona (and some surrounding areas) on an epic road trip! We saw three national parks (Grand Canyon, Saguaro, Petrified Forest), two national monuments (Sunset Crater Volcano, Wupatki), two national recreation areas (Glen Canyon, Lake Mead), a state park (Coral Pink Sand Dunes), a national historic place (Hoover Dam) and many cities too! We take our daughter everywhere we go and this trip was no different! At only 13 months old, she has seen quite a few national parks as we continue our adventures to catch them all!
Saturday, November 9
In July we found less than $200 direct flights each on Spirit to Las Vegas over Veterans’ Day weekend in November. Of course we booked them. Las Vegas is one of those ideally located cities for so many awesome adventures. My sister-in-law flew from Detroit and we flew from Baltimore and were able to meet up without too much waiting. Vegas’ airport requires two shuttles to certain car rental places, but luckily it was easy, well-labeled and a short trip. We found a deal ($151 for pre-pay) with Fox Rent-a-Car.
Coral Pink Sand Dunes | TeamTravelsBaby 
Our first stop was Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park ($10/car). Since our evening destination was Page, Arizona, this was great because it was a place to stretch our legs after about 3 hours in the car. At the park, you can climb onto the sand dunes and walk the ridge. There were very few people there and we watched some cool recreational vehicles as they rode up the hills and flew to their landing. It was a great stop to spend an hour or two. We made our way to Page after the sunset, so we went to Wal-Mart for some water and snacks before checking into our hotel. There are so many good ways to find last minute hotel deals. This time we used Orbitz and booked America’s Best Value Inn for $45! It was an okay hotel with a nice coffee machine in the lobby.
Sunday, November 10
Lake Powell at Glen Canyon NRA | TeamTravelsBaby 
We woke up early to enjoy sunrise at the Hanging Garden in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. We found the turnoff near the bridge and had the hike to ourselves. It’s only a mile round-trip and I would highly recommend it. The views from the top were gorgeous! You end up above Lake Powell, which is beautiful. From here we headed to our pre-booked tour of Lower Antelope Canyon at 8:45 am (about $40 each). Make sure you book ahead of time as there is free cancellation available and you do not want to miss this! Due to the nature of the hike, deep into a slot canyon and the possibility of flash floods, you have to sign a waiver before entering. Our tour guide was a Navajo Indian and extremely passionate, engaging and stopped at different points to use our camera and take pictures of us/pose us for memorable keepsakes. He also gave us the best photo tip to use the “vivid warm” filter to brighten the red in the canyon. Since there are many tour groups going through the slot canyon, it’s important to adjust your expectations and expect to keep it moving.
We headed to the Dam Overlook next. There is very limited parking here, but we were lucky enough to get a spot. It’s a very short walk and has great views of the bridge. From here we made the quick drive over the bridge to check out the Carl Hayden Visitor Center and view of the bridge. Plus, as a national (fill in the blank-park, monument, rec area, etc.) stamp collector, you can get your national recreation area stamp here.
The other place that can’t be missed is Horseshoe Bend. The national park pass does not work here, but it’s only $10 to park the car. There were quite a few people enjoying the 1.5 mile round-trip walk to this photogenic icon. A wide view lens is recommended if you want to get the entire horseshoe bend in the photo. We found lots of great places to take pictures, climb and get away from the crowds.
Since we started our day so early, we made it to the east entrance for the south rim of the Grand Canyon. There are actually two distinct sections of the Grand Canyon that are accessed separately – north rim and south rim. If you’re interested in the north rim, check out my article called The Grandest Canyon of Them All! The east entrance is a popular drive called Desert View Drive. Our first stop was Desert View Tower. It was cool to climb the tower and also super windy at this stop. Make sure to look out and take in the views of the Colorado River. Luckily since we entered here the park before sunset, we were able to enjoy the rim from multiple points of interest like Navajo, Lipan and Moran Points. After this great end to our day, we made a drive through the park to Williams, Arizona to stay at the Grand Canyon Inn and Motel. We had a large room and a great coffee machine in the room, but no free breakfast here.
Monday, November 11 (Veterans’ Day/federal holiday)
We crushed and woke up super early to make the half hour drive to the Grand Canyon visitor center parking lot before sunrise (at 7 am) via the south entrance. We were amazed to find lots of other people had the same idea. People spread out along the rim to take in the sunrise. From here, we packed our hiking bag and walked along the rim to the South Kaibab Trail. We hiked down into the canyon to Ooh Ahh Point. This was a beautiful and rewarding hike. People told us they were amazed we were hiking down and up with our 13-month-old in tow.
Instead of retracing our steps to the visitor center, we took the free shuttle bus back to maximize our time at the national park. We got in our car and luckily found parking by Maswik Lodge. Most people travel using the shuttle system since parking fills up quickly throughout the park. From here, we walked the Bright Angel trail. We spotted big horn sheep, which was a great treat. They would have been super easy to miss, so keep your eyes peeled if you hike this trail.
We drove about two hours to Cathedral Rock in Sedona. This hike was largesse and stunning. There were definitely some challenging parts with front carrying Addy, but we made it to the top where we saw an engagement and wedding photo shoot taking place. We followed the cairns and handful of other hikers, barely making it down before it got pitch black. A tip from a fellow hiker was to check out the view from the Church of the Holy Cross on a future trip.
Phoenix was our sleeping destination with an easy highway drive and cheap hotels. We actually stayed in our favorite hotel here called Red Lion Inn & Suites in Tempe. This hotel seemed like it had recently been renovated and had the most delicious coffee and hot breakfast in the lobby. They also had a cute fake grass open area and a pool.
Tuesday, November 12
We drove to downtown Scottsdale (suburb of Phoenix) first. We found free garage parking and then stumbled upon Berdana’s, which made the perfect honey lavender latte. Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden was our next step because it was FREE on community day (the second Tuesday of each month). This place is normally pretty expensive. The layout was lovely and we even spotted a hummingbird in the hummingbird garden. Before entering, they had a Chihuly display as well as Cracking Art’s Wild Rising colorful animals inside and outside the gardens. The different animals like meerkats and bears, made for fun photo ops.
As someone who loves visiting State Capitol buildings, we would be remise if we didn’t stop at the one in Phoenix. Arizona’s State Capitol ended up being one of my least favorite, but I’m still glad we went. We have started a thing where Addy gets a picture on Mike’s shoulders in front of each capitol building. It was important that we planned ahead since this building is only open Monday through Friday from 9 am – 4 pm.
Saguaro National Park was one of the national parks we planned to see on this trip. The saguaro is the type of cactus found here and they’re pretty iconic. This park is split into two distinct sections – Tucson Mountain District to the west and Rincon Mountain District to the east. We started in the west and made it to the Visitor Center for our stamp. Luckily, with the America the Beautiful National Park pass, we got in for free ($80 annual pass for all national parks and a variety of other places like national monuments) versus a $20 fee for this park alone. We got a recommendation from a ranger to hike the Kings Canyon trail, which we did before we drove to the east side for the sunset. Finding a saguaro to photograph for our sunset pics was a top priority for us.
In an effort to do it all, we made the long drive (almost 4 hours) to Show Low. This town has a fun story behind its name and was in decent proximity to Petrified Forest National Park. We checked into the Quality Inn, which was nothing fancy at all, but again, offered good coffee and fresh eggs, so it worked for us.
Wednesday, November 13
We drove to Petrified Forest, which is not a 24-hour park like many of the others and costs $25 if you do not have an acceptable pass. During the last quarter of the year, they’re open from 8 am – 5pm. We entered from the south and stopped at the Rainbow Forest Visitor Center. There was a nice short path with examples of petrified logs. If you look closely you see the colors. We made a point to see all of the points of interest like Crystal Forest (gorgeous colored stone logs) and Newspaper Rock (petroglyphs), but the absolute highlight was Blue Mesa. This mile long loop has absolutely stunning mini rock mountains with blue stripped colorings. If you can only do one thing at this park, this is your spot! In some ways it made me feel like an outer space scene should be filmed here. Before heading to our next destination, we headed to the north side of the park and stopped at a few of the points which exhibited sweeping views of the painted desert. Overall, this park exceeded our expectations and we had it nearly to ourselves. As a note, the park road is approximately 28 miles, totally doable with only a few hours or half a day and only has short hikes.
From here we actually headed back to Sedona. We heard we couldn’t miss Devil’s Bridge. The first half of the hike was very straightforward with incredible views of the gorgeous red rock you picture when you think of Sedona. We did eventually have to climb up until we made it to the natural bridge. From across the way, the bridge looks SUPER narrow and intimidating. We didn’t let that stop us and we got the pictures we wanted and enjoyed the views. It was however, insane to see people attempting handstands and holding their friends on their backs while on Devil’s Bridge. We made it back to the car in the dark without incident and loved seeing so many stars in the sky.
We ended our night in Hotel Aspen InnSuites in Flagstaff, the first International Dark Sky City in the world at nearly 7,000 feet in elevation. Our hotel was good with a separate building to house the hot breakfast and before we settled in, I got a delicious latte at Wicked AZ Coffee (isn’t the name clever!). While we didn’t go, I read the Lowell Observatory is cool if you’re looking for something else to do in Flagstaff.
Thursday, November 14
After we stuffed our faces, we drove to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Flagstaff. The amazing thing about national monuments is they are covered by the America the Beautiful pass. This monument normally costs $25 to see this one and the one adjacent (Wupatki)! After talking with the park ranger, we hiked the mile long Lava Flow Trail and boardwalk near the picnic area. From here, we continue to Cinder Hills Overlook. We had this place to ourselves! If you like volcanos and you’re traveling the U.S., you may also want to check out Capulin National Monument in New Mexico or Mount St. Helen’s National Monument in Washington.
By continuing along Loop Road, without backtracking, we arrived at Wupatki National Monument. We stopped in the visitor center, showed our pass and then got a little book that explains the Wupati Pueblo. The pueblo is in good condition and is fun to walk through and read about. From here we went to the Lomaki Pueblo and Box Canyon dwellings before starting our long drive back to Vegas.
We decided to stop at the Hoover Dam. If you pass the parking garage, there are free parking lots. The Hoover Dam was SO COOL! Way cooler and pretties than any of us expected. Plus as a bonus, we got ice cream to enjoy here. We also made the drive to a separate parking lot to walk across the bridge itself. Once we got our fix here, we pulled off to take in a view of Lake Mead National Recreation Area before continuing our drive to Las Vegas. We found free parking near the Las Vegas Strip at the mall. The casinos, lights, displays and music were fun to take in. The highlight for me was seeing the Fountains of Bellagio dance to All That Jazz from the Broadway hit, Chicago.
We had an easy car rental return and airport experience before taking our red eye planes back to Baltimore and Detroit. This is definitely a great hub to consider if you’re hoping to see national parks! We will definitely be back so we can explore more of Nevada like Great Basin National Park and nearby Death Valley National Park! If you’re considering a trip like ours, I can’t recommend the America the Beautiful annual national park pass enough. This trip along without the pass would have cost $100 compared with $80 for the pass that gives access to so many places. And honestly, having the pass turns into motivation to plan more trips and further maximizing the annual benefit! Thanks for reading! And while you’re on my blog, feel free to check out some of our other national park adventures like the Everglades (Florida), the Badlands (South Dakota) and Zion (Utah). You can also read about all of our national park adventures by click on the National Parks topic button.
This walk along the canyon rim is relaxing and takes you past birch trees, campgrounds and eventually crosses the street for Bridle Path. From here you will find the North Kaibab Trailhead. The downhill walk into the canyon is much easier than the steep return walk out of the canyon. It’s super important to bring lots of water, a hat and start early because it gets hotter the closer to the center of the earth you get. Our first stop in the canyon was Coconino Overlook. Binoculars or a good camera come in handy here. There’s also some shade if you bring a picnic lunch to eat here.
We talked to nice volunteer who recommended that we stop at the tunnel instead of continuing to the Redwall Bridge because it was already 95 degrees at the Supai Tunnel. We heeded his advice and stopped at the tunnel. The walk through the tunnel is really cool and from the other side you can see the bridge, which is the next point of interest. 
Dehydration here is a REAL thing, so bring water, Gatorade or 
We continued by following the Bright Angel Point signs. This is not for the faint of heart as there are some very narrow parts, it can be windy and you’re high on the canyon rim. This was quite a popular spot.
Next, we got into the car and drove to Cape Royal. This is an approximately 22 mile drive that’s one lane in each direction with minimal room for error. Soon after passing the Cape Royal sign, we were stopped mid-drive for deer and turkey playing in the street. We enjoyed this unexpected moment before continuing to the parking lot at the end. There is a lot to explore up here and if you time it close to sunset, you will not regret it. On one side we got to see the sun start to set, changing the colors on the rocks while on the other side, we saw a rainbow from the clouds over the canyon. 
This was an absolute highlight of the trip, so be sure to enjoy Point Imperial! The only downside was driving back 22 miles on the road, in the dark, with deer and other animals lurking. It was shocking how fast some people wanted to drive the road.
Treat Yourself to Travel 