Utah and Arizona – We are Coming Back!

In April we are heading out to Utah and Arizona again. My dream was actually to visit Mexico during Spring Break, but we had to push that plan forward. In November we had to say good bye to great gramma while we visited some family in Utah, and now we are going back scatter her ashes. On that trip in November, we visited Dead Valley, Las Vegas and several other places in Utah. This time we have one week for our road trip, so we thought we could drive around in Southern Utah and Arizona. Our travel plan is mostly ready, but we also have some free days there, so our plan is flexible.

ST. GEORGE and snow CANYON STATE PARK

We will head out from San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday after school, and try to get as far as we can. The school days before holidays are usually shorter, so hopefully we get on the road by early afternoon. The next day we will drive through Nevada, passing by Las Vegas, to Arizona and then on to Utah. We are scheduled to be in St. George, Utah, Friday evening. We will be staying in the same town where we stopped at Severn Wives Inn on our last trip.

On Saturday we will be visiting Snow Canyon together with our extended family. That will be Gramma’s final resting place. I had never heard of this place before, but it looks absolutely beautiful! It actually reminds me of Zion National Park. It is said, that if Snow Canyon would be in any other state, it would be a national park. But Utah already has so many national parks that Snow Canyon just didn’t fit on that list. For that Sunday our schedule is still open, and we hope to spend some time with the family. Maybe we can also visit Zion and do some hiking together, or we can do that on Monday, since we have always wanted to return there.

ANTELOPE CANYON, HORSE SHOE BEND AND RAINBOW BRIDGE

From St. George we will head towards Kanab and make a quick stop at Pipe Springs National Monument. Pipe Springs is an area that has a rich history of American Indians and Mormon pioneers. In Kanab we will probably visit Little Hollywood Museum which is like a little western town, and where they have filmed many old television shows and movies. I am looking into booking a hotel over in the Kanab area. There are so many cool hiking places close to this town, but some are too difficult to go with kids. My ultimate dream is to visit The Wave someday. Unfortunately, we had to rule that out since we were already late for the permit lottery, and it is too challenging to hike with kids. Hopefully someday we can return to see it, since it is truly amazing!

Then we will continue to the city of Page. On the way there, there are some cool hoodoos — statue like rock formations, which we would like to see. A hike to Toadstool Hoodoos is not very long, so it should be something fun for the whole family. We will stay the night in Page and for Thursday we have booked a tour at Antelope Canyon. Antelope Canyon is a slot canyon formed by rain runoff, and is absolutely beautiful. Since the canyon is very popular, and it is located on the Navajo Indians’ land, people can’t just walk around there by themselves. One must book a tour to visit Antelope Canyon. It is also a safety concern. In case of a storm close by, the water might run through the canyon with huge force, and give you an unpleasant surprise. In fact, people have died visiting Antelope Canyon on occasions like these. Therefore, they wont let people in without a guide. Now we are just hoping that there won’t be rain while on our visit!

Then it is time to go check out Horseshoe Bend which I have seen so many photos of in the last years. It is an amazing viewpoint to the Colorado River in a spot where the river makes a u-turn just like a horse shoe. We will also visit Lake Powel, and secretly I am dreaming about a trip to the Rainbow Bridge, which is the biggest rock arch in the world. It too, is on Indian land, so you can’t just go see it. You must have a permit or take a boat tour. We are still considering wether to do it or not.

FROM GRAND CANYON TO THE DOCTOR’S OFFICE AND HOME

We have never visited the Grand Canyon’s south rim, so we want to go there, since we are this close. We did visit the north rim in 2014. After that we will start our long drive back home. We will first drive to Southern California to take our youngest daughter for a small procedure, and then drive to our home in Northern California. We are incorporating this procedure on this trip, since there were no doctors close by, who could have done it. After the surgery we still have about six hours drive back home. Hopefully it will go without too much pain.

Since we will be driving along Route 66 for a while, I’m sure there will be something to see there as well. One interesting place to stop is a Bottle Farm where one can see over 300 trees made out of old bottles. What a bizarre but interesting place that must be!

Oh wow, that should keep us busy. We are in for a busy, fun week. This is what we have planned, but we still have to set up most of the reservations. And if you have been following my blog you probably know, that our trips will never go quite as planned. So we will see where we actually end up this time!

Have you been to any of these places? Do you have any recommendations what to see or do?