Flagstaff, Arizona
Our first stop on this grand adventure was to the charming little town of Flagstaff, which served as an excellent base for exploring the surrounding area during this portion of our trip. For a small town, Flagstaff was rich with the amenities of a large city such as an airport, railroad, highways, museums, malls, theaters, name brand retailers, excellent restaurants, ample nightlife and even a major university.
Slide Rock State Park
Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona
Driving down the scenic Highway 89A on a daytrip from Flagstaff, we made our way to this hidden treasure and local favorite in the heart of Oak Creek canyon. Slide Rock State Park is known by that name because of a natural waterslide that cuts through a channel of red rock where you’ll often find locals sun tanning, picnicking, swimming and sliding down the creek’s smooth surface. It also happens to be the site of the historic Pendley homestead and apple orchard. We had so much fun walking around the orchard while gazing up at the impressive mountains and spending some time to appreciate the simple pleasures of this natural wonder. Most exciting of all was that during our visit to Slide Rock State Park, we received the news from the genetic testing lab that we were to expect a healthy baby boy! (Prior to that we didn’t know the sex).
A huge thanks to our friend Katy from Flagstaff for this recommendation!
After we finished our visit to Zion National Park, we headed back south towards the Utah/Arizona border. As we got closer to the Arizona border town of Page, we caught a glimpse of Lake Powell, a huge lake that was formed by the damming of the Colorado River at Glen Canyon. Driving over the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge, it was quite a site to see a lake on one side of the bridge and a deep canyon on the other side. We also took the opportunity to visit the lakeside town of Wahweap and stop at several overlooks. It was incredible to see such a vast desert with absolutely no vegetation bifurcated by a deep blue river and lake.
While staying in the town of Page, Arizona, we took the opportunity to see the famous Antelope Canyon. Most of the canyon is actually located in Navajo territory and due to the ongoing COVID situation, visitors to the reservation (and Navajo section of the canyon) were not allowed. Because of this, we ended up visiting Antelope Canyon via a kayaking tour through Lake Powell. As we paddled our way past yellow/beige canyon walls in the early morning, we eventually landed at a beachhead deep in the heart of Antelope Canyon. Afterwards, we walked for about 15 minutes before the walls started to change colors from yellow and beige to purple and pink, decorated with the most beautiful swirls as if the walls had been painted by the wind. We took as much time as we could to appreciate Antelope Canyon, owing to the fact that this was a bucket list destination and we had just kayaked 2.50 miles (4 km) just to get here! In total, it was a 5 mile (8 km) round trip of kayaking but that made the trip so much more worth it. Almost as if we had earned the right to see Antelope Canyon.
For anybody interested in kayaking to see Antelope Canyon, we highly recommend Lake Powell Adventure Company. Our guide Briton was super friendly and knowledgeable, not to mention very patient since due to Nina’s pregnancy, we had a little bit of trouble keeping up with the rest of the group.
The next stop on our trip was to the much renowned overlook of Horseshoe Bend. After hiking for almost a mile from the parking lot in the unforgiving desert sun, we arrived to the lookout point situated on the cliff’s edge and caught a remarkable view of the Colorado River below. Had it not been for the infernal heat, we could easily have spent an entire afternoon here, watching the boats circle around the peninsula and taking in the majestic views of the river and canyon below. It was amazing to see such a dichotomy between the arid landscape of our immediate surroundings and the fertile environment with trees growing on the river banks way below.
Please note, entrance to the parking lot at Horseshoe Bend costs $10 per vehicle and the only bathrooms available are located in the parking lot.
This UNESCO World Heritage Site is so vast, its imagery so poetic and its grandeur so physically imposing that it was impossible to capture it on camera as our human eyes perceived it to be and even now we struggle to capture it with our words. As such, we earnestly believe that everybody should make this trip at some point in their lifetime (circumstances permitting) so as to marvel at the magnificent beauty of the Grand Canyon for themselves. Click here to read helpful tips if you are planning a visit.
Our trip to the American Southwest in the spring of 2021 brought us to a beautiful corner of the world called Zion National Park. Being here feels like you are visiting the mythical Jurassic Park; a forbidden area of exotic beauty and possible danger whose stunning natural scenery can only exist in a movie or science fiction novel. Waterfalls cascade down from the red and white rocky mountains, feeding into the Virgin River and its tributaries. Fertile canyon walls reach high into the sky, becoming ever more ethereal than they already seemed to the humble traveler. Being the adventurous spirit, it came as no surprise that Zion National Park was Julian’s favorite stop along our grand road trip through Arizona and Utah.
Come along as we share some helpful tips and insights from our trip.
Located in a very remote part of southern Utah, Bryce Canyon National Park was an adventure that we would never forget. Walking up to the very first overlook with much anticipation, we braced ourselves for what we would soon behold. Indeed, never before had we seen such poetry in stone until we gazed down upon the endless rock spires known as “Hoodoo” that dotted the landscape of Bryce Canyon. Orange and beige spires reached up from the ground by the thousands, greeted by white snow on the canyon walls slowly melting as the sun continued rising. Like the terracotta army of Qin Shi Huang, each rock was unique in both expression and feature. As an artist, it was no surprise that Bryce Canyon was Nina’s favorite stop along our grand road trip through Arizona and Utah.
Come along as we share some helpful tips and insights from our trip.
Nestled in a fertile red rock valley and completely surrounded by the some of the most beautiful mountain ranges, Sedona came highly recommended by several people that we befriended while in Flagstaff. Originally, we weren’t even planning on visiting Sedona, but we were curious to see what all the hype was about. Indeed, its reputation was well deserved and we ended up loving Sedona so much that we we actually came back on two separate day trips.
Our road trip began in Phoenix (Arizona), inside a desert valley tinged with the quintessential beige and yellow setting that was to be expected and decorated with the most peculiar breed of cacti (Saguaro). Driving north from Phoenix, we were enchanted by the way that the landscape transformed in what can only be described as a blend of both desert, forest and fertile rock valleys. Bears, deer, elk, pine trees, snow capped mountains and rocky creeks were the norm in Flagstaff (Arizona) and the surrounding area as was the much cooler temperature. However, further north as we approached the Grand Canyon, the land reverted to a quasi-desert, with rocky ground and thorny shrubs dotting the landscape. Continuing north along the border and into Utah the land turned once more into a desert, with not a tree in sight. Finally, after some hours of driving into Utah at an elevation of 8,000 ft. (2.40 km), the land changed once more to a series of flat plains, interrupted by vast and fertile canyons.
Come along for the ride as we share some helpful tips while recounting our epic road trip throughout Northern Arizona and Utah.
