This trip was a long time coming! We initially planned it as a roadtrip in the early months of covid, but then state infection levels kept increasing and knocking out states we wanted to visit. We re-planned it twice to go around the worst states, and then ultimately canceled it. This past Fall, we were looking for places to go near the holidays, but now flights are so expensive, we decided to do a roadtrip. We dusted off our initial itinerary and booked hotels along the way. As we got closer to the departure date, we realized it was a bad idea to drive through Colorado in the dead of Winter and nearly canceled the whole trip again. At the last minute, we decided to fly into Las Vegas and have a roadtrip loop from there. We canceled and rebooked hotels to accommodate our new plans, and then realized that my sister-in-law had to be in New Orleans for different plans at the end, so we reversed the itinerary and tweaked it a little so she could still join us. Whew!
We arrived late into Las Vegas and then powered through the nearly 3 hour drive to Zion to get the trip started. We were a bit groggy in the morning but it was worth it to have a full day at Zion National Park. We started off driving through an old famous tunnel there and stopping at a couple overlooks. The main road is just for park shuttles so we thought we could drive around the outside. It started to snow a lot and the roads got very icy so we decided to turn back and figure out the shuttle system. Apparently the shuttle system is the only way to do anything in the park! There are about a dozen stops along the route. We started off at the Zion Lodge and took the Emerald Pools Trails hike from there. It was a nice hike and the multiple waterfalls at the end that you can walk behind were incredible. Back at the lodge, we ate lunch at the restaurant there named Red Rock Grill. From the north end of the lodge there’s a small trail that leads up to another shuttle stop at The Grotto. There wasn’t too much to see there so we got back on the shuttle to the stop furthest into the park, named Temple of Sinawava. That’s where the most popular hike down the Riverside Walk departs. It’s a gorgeous hike along a river (obviously) with several waterfalls and stunning views throughout. At the end of that trail, you can see the start of The Narrows, which is the adventure hike IN the river itself. We took a break there for some photo ops and to take in the scenery. Heading back on the trail it started hailing and we took it all in stride. We took the shuttle back and then drove into town for dinner at Zion Brew Pub and then nearby ice cream. On the way back to the hotel we still had a little bit of sunlight left so we made a quick stop at the Grafton Ghost Town a bit off the beaten path.
The next day we took a day trip out to visit Bryce National Park. It’s a little bit far for a day trip but we didn’t want to switch hotels every day. It was still pretty snowy though the roads were passable. We stopped at a few overlooks on the way out there and stopped for a frozen hot chocolate break. When we arrived at Bryce National Park, we learned that they had just shut down most of the roads due to a new storm that was coming into the area. Luckily, the main amphitheater area near the visitor center was still open, but unluckily they said we needed special spikes for our shoes if we wanted to hike down to the bottom. We parked at Sunset Point and walked along the rim to Sunrise Point, taking in the views along the way. It’s a beautiful sight to see even though it was a relatively quick visit. On the way back to Zion, we stopped for a late lunch at Archies Food To Die For and bought some souvenirs at Zion Rock & Gem on the outskirts of town. For dinner we picked up pizza from River Rock Roasting Company and ate it at the hotel.
The next morning we went back to River Rock Roasting Company for some coffee and quiche before continuing onto the small town of Kanab, Utah. The town has a variety of landscapes which draws movie productions into the area and gives the town the nickname of Little Hollywood. We stopped at the visitor center and then had a fantastic lunch at Rocking V Cafe. We tried to go for a hike at the nearby Sand Caves but it was too icy and we turned back pretty early on after talking to other hikers. Instead, we went back into town to go shopping at Willow Canyon Outdoor store and Nature’s Showcase for rocks. Our main attraction was a slot canyon tour to Peek-A-Boo Canyon, which was amazing. It was snowy and quiet as we nearly had the place to ourselves. After the canyon, our guide took the long way back to show us a massive animal rescue place named Best Friends, and an equally huge animal cemetery full of hundreds of wind chimes. We then meandered through the countryside as he pointed out houses where different movies were filmed, and the biggest one I knew was an iconic shot of a horse on a cliffside in Hi-Yo Silver. Once we got dropped off, we continued onto Page, Arizona and had Big John’s Texas Barbeque before heading to the hotel for the night.
In the morning we went to the family-owned (and extremely friendly) Hot N Sweet Coffee and Donut Shop for a yummy breakfast. We then drove south down the main road to the furthest attraction we wanted to see and worked our way back. On the drive, you go through a gap in the mountains and then it opens up into a massive valley. It was a quick but pretty mind blowing view. On the south end, we started at the Cliff Dwellers Stone House where a couple’s car broke down around the Great Depression and they just decided to build a house into large stones along the side of the road. Heading back, we stopped at the Navajo Bridge and walked across it and back, and then continued onto the more famous Horseshoe Bend. We got there with only about 30 minutes before closing so we had to rush the hike a bit to make sure we had time to enjoy the bend itself. It was much larger than I expected and there were people everywhere hanging out along the ridge line. Next up was the even more famous Antelope Canyon across town. There are actually several different slot canyons in the same area that are all part of Antelope Canyon. We decided to do the newer “X” canyon (it was private until 2016) by Taadidiin Tours. They had a strict masking policy which was a little surprising in this part of the country, but the indigenous people here are extra cautious. We started on the north end of the canyon and then circled back to go through the south end. We were a little worried we had spoiled it by going to a slot canyon the day before but it was incredible and well worth the stop. Back in town, we had some of the best chicken of our lives at BirdHouse, and then went to explore the north side of the city. We started with a quick hike at the Glen Canyon Dam Overlook and then went to the nearby Glen Canyon Dam Bridge. Heading north, we went to the Lake Powell area and stopped at multiple overlooks. The water levels seemed extremely low while we were there. We drove through a small town called Wahweap on our way back around to Page. There we had dinner El Tapatio before heading to bed.
Continuing east into native reservations, we pulled over for some photos at an abandoned gas station that was covered in beautiful graffiti and then drove deeper into the desert. It was perfectly flat for a long time until we came across Agathla Peak, standing over 7,000 feet from the desert around it. It’s sort of an introduction to the main attraction, Monument Valley, just up ahead. Once we entered the official Monument Valley area, we pulled over every few miles for photos that just kept getting better and better. We didn’t realize there was a visitor center right in the center and extremely close to the most famous monuments. We did some shopping there and then tried to drive deeper into the valley but Valley Loop Drive was closed to non-residents. We felt defeated briefly until we saw a sign for Monument Valley & Mystery Valley Guided Vehicle Tours. It seems like it’s a collective of local tour companies that take tourists into the valley. We talked to the first person we saw and then waited for their driver to come back from lunch. They were called Dineh Bekeyah Tours, and they not only went down the road we wanted to do personally, they took us offroading much deeper into the valley with a lot more sights to see. The monument rocks all had stories and/or animal shapes. There was an elephant, a camel, three sisters, a dragon, etc. We stopped at a native hut where a woman showed us their traditional weaving techniques. Deeper into Mystery Valley there were lots of arches being formed wherever you looked. My favorite sight was Ear of the Wind, a large hole blown through a mountain. There were more holes at nearby formations, and we were caught in a quick sand storm while checking them out. On the way back there were more formations that looked like a totem pole and a thumb. The tour was a bit pricey though we were very glad we did it. North of Monument Valley, we stopped at “Forest Gump road” where he eventually stops running in the movie (and of course I took a running video of myself). Continuing east, we made a quick stop at the Sand Island Petroglyphs, which you can drive right up to! They were a little hard to see with your eyes, though they came out crystal clear in our photos. Our last stop of the day was Four Corners, on the borders of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. It was dark, snowy, and rainy when we arrived and it was actually closed! I thought it was just a monument in the desert and I couldn’t believe we came all this way to be blocked by a closed gate. We went back to the highway and ended the day with pizza at Three Rivers Eatery & Brewhouse in Farmington, New Mexico.
Farmington was just a sleeping spot for us, so we got up and headed out pretty quickly. We saw Aztec Ruins National Monument on our route and decided to stop. It was a great impromptu visit, and the kids enjoyed walking around the ruins doing a scavenger hunt. Afterwards, they were sworn in as junior rangers! Our main stop of the day was Mesa Verde National Park a couple hours north. As we drove, the snow kept getting worse, there were less and less cars, and eventually it felt unsafe to drive when we were about an hour away. We discovered we were actually in a Winter Warning area and decided to give up and start heading east out of the storm. We passed by Chimney Rock and then stopped for lunch in a cute small town named Pagosa Springs, CO. The first place we tried was packed, so we ended up at Riff Raff Brewpub and Eatery down the street. It was delicious! Back on the road for a few more hours before we checked into our retro RV at Hotel Luna Mystica in Taos, New Mexico. We had wanted to go here for many years and finally made it happen! It was so busy that each time we re-planned the trip, we kept the same dates here for fear of losing our reservation. Our RV was named Soy Capitan right near the check-in building. After checking out the place and dropping off our luggage, we went into town at had dinner at the Adobe Bar in the locally famous Taos Inn.
We had two nights in the RV, which gave us a full day to explore Taos and the surrounding area. We started with a great breakfast at a nearby hotel restaurant named Golden Pinon and then continued north to visit the Earthship Biotecture. This was a community of ultra-efficient, off-the-grid homes (or more like mansions). Walls were built out of bottles, and there were elaborate rain capturing and water filtration devices to reuse the same water four different ways. There are several hundred of these that dotted the landscape, and they sell the architecture plans, so these are sprung up all around the world. On the way back towards town, we stopped for photos at Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, and then started our downtown shopping at Taos Rockers Mineral & Fossil Outlet. We then strolled through the John Dunn House Shops and had some fancy hot chocolate at Chokola. Walking across town, we had lunch and beer flights at Taos Mesa Brewing (which has another location at Hotel Luna Mystica, but it was closed for the season). We wandered back across town and then drove to yet another rock shop named Taos Gems & Minerals. Back at the campground, we walked around and explored all of the other RVs. They were all different shapes, sizes, and colors. We took a break at the RV for a bit and then went back to town for dinner at Stella’s Italian Restaurant. I’m not sure why but we were fascinated with getting a fire going in the freezing cold and snow-filled fire pit. We were hoping the person running check-in would help us, though we didn’t ask explicitly. Instead, my sister-in-law went to purchase firewood and simply said “wish me luck” on her way out. It worked! He came out and helped get the fire going. We quickly drank some local beers while enjoying the fire.
We awoke at dawn and quickly jumped out of bed to enjoy the sunrise coming over the mountains and nearby campers. We had our longest day of driving ahead of us, so we loaded up and hit the road. We made it all the way to Santa Fe before stopping for a yummy breakfast at The Pantry. We grabbed drinks at Agapao Coffee and hit the road again. We stopped briefly in the Laguna reservation. We browsed the Indian Arts Center though it was extremely overpriced. They had tasty fried bread for sale outside which we indulged. Passing through Gallup, we made a photo stop at the last Route 666 sign and continued west. We saw that we were near another national park and decided to stop. It was the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert. It’s a lengthy road where we made lots of stops and took short hikes. There’s an old Route 66 stop where an old rusted car marks where the road used to be. One of the stops had some cool ruins and two stops had petroglyphs. In the middle of the park, there’s a short loop through the stripped mountains of Blue Mesa. Several stops had petrified trees too of course. At the far end of the park, we stopped at the other visitor center and the girls were sworn in as junior rangers again! We rushed to get there right before it closed but the girls felt very proud so it was worth the hustle. Continuing west into the sunset, it seemed to last forever since we were driving straight into it. We stopped for dinner at Tiki Grill in Flagstaff, and finally made our way to our hotel in Grand Canyon Village.
Even after that long day, we decided to get up before dawn and rush to Grand Canyon’s Mather Point to watch the sunrise. It was really amazing and totally worth it. We circled back to the hotel to pack up and grab breakfast before heading back into Grand Canyon National Park and following the South Rim to the east. We started at the farthest stop and made several stops on the way back. At the first stop, there were other tourists there that said it was their favorite view of their trip, so we thought it was all downhill from there, but each stop had a unique and gorgeous view to take in. We even saw an elk taking its time crossing the street and then disappearing quickly. We stopped at the visitor center to grab some stickers, and then went back to Mather Point to see a different view later in the day. After our morning at Grand Canyon, we headed out towards Las Vegas and saw a huge double rainbow along the way. When we made it to Vegas, we dropped off my sister-in-law at the airport for her to meet friends in New Orleans. We stopped for a fish-shaped waffle filled with ice cream at Somisomi and then went to Downtown Vegas to check in at the Golden Nugget. I’ve always wanted to take the waterslide through the shark tank there but it’s always closed, and of course it was closed yet again this time. We went to Le Thai for dinner, and while we were waiting for a table, we stopped at the nearby container park and saw a quick show with the flaming preying mantis there. After a delicious dinner, we went back to the main drag where Jaime and the girls did the Slotzilla zip line over the busy streets below. Strolling the street, we did a quick fish spa (which we’ve done in Cambodia and Malaysia before) and enjoyed a couple Imagine Dragons songs at the top of the hour with videos covering the digital canopy. After that, Jaime and the girls went to bed. I stayed out and wandered around looking for cheap roulette. I couldn’t really find any so I ended up playing poker for a few hours at Golden Nugget.
Our last day of the trip began at the Donut Bar for some Simpsons-themed treats and then wandering several different colorfully graffitied back alleys. We then met up with an old friend of mine for lunch at “eat.”. From there, we strolled the downtown strip one last time and got light-up hats to remember our time here. The journey home was uneventful from there.