The Great American Road Trip: Arizona

We got up early on July 25 to pack up our campsite in St. George, UT and cross the border into Arizona. We drove the two and a half hours to Page, AZ to meet the bus that would take us to the foot of the Glen Canyon Dam. For the next four hours, we floated down the Colorado River and through Horseshoe Bend on a motorized raft (No whitewater rafting for me! Too scared because I'm a weak swimmer).

Glen Canyon Dam. Fun fact: when walking down the ramp to the river, the rafting company made us wear hard hats, because if anything fell from the top of the canyon and hit us on the way down, it's a long enough drop that we could actually get a head injury.

On the Colorado River

One of very few non-selfies from this entire trip

As per usual, this video is loud, so beware

Part of our floating tour included a stop at a beach to see ancient petroglyphs carved into the canyon wall by ancestral Puebloans. Experts guess these are anywhere from 700 to 2500 years old. It was quite hot, so when the raft stopped at this beach, we also had the opportunity to take a dip in the river--which stays around 50 degrees all year round. It was too cold for me to get my head under, and I only got wet up to my shoulders, but Jule dove all the way in, to her credit!

At the end of the tour, a bus picked us up and drove us back to our cars, so we drove out to Horseshoe Bend to see it from above. To get to the overlook from the parking lot was a little over a mile roundtrip, and it was late afternoon when we got there, so the sun would be beating down on us the whole time--and we had already spent the whole day in the sun on the river. I was afraid if I pushed myself to do it that I might trigger a migraine, so I decided to wait in the car while Jule made the trek out to the overlook, and clearly from her photo below, it was worth it!

We had rafted around this bend earlier in the day, so even seeing the photo from above was really cool!

We were headed for the Flagstaff KOA, but we stopped at a Navajo-owned roadside stand where we both bought several stunning handcrafted items, including jewelry and pottery, that were worth every penny. We also got to visit Wupatki National Monument, which "preserves dozens of ancestral Puebloan villages," according to their National Parks website. We only stopped to see the main one, Wupatki Pueblo, which is right behind the visitor center, but you could easily spend a day exploring and hiking if you wanted to.

Wupatki Pueblo at Wupatki National Monument. Pictures really don't do it justice for how well preserved this is. There are intact staircases and everything.

Our route from Wupatki to Flagstaff took us through Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, which houses the Sunset Crater cinder cone, the youngest in the San Francisco volcanic field (which erupted in 1085). Fun fact: the area around Sunset Crater is full of ponderosa pines and other growth, unlike the surrounding desert, because the ash that erupted from the volcano and settled in the area created nutrient-rich soil.

Sunset Crater

We checked in to our KOA campsite, then went to have a steak burger at Matty G's in downtown Flagstaff. Apparently, a steak burger is supposed to be leaner and have higher quality meat than a normal hamburger. I can't say I noticed a difference in the quality/taste of the burger itself, but we both enjoyed them, so no complaints from me!

Downtown Flagstaff

We spent the night at the Flagstaff KOA, then had a really delicious breakfast at Brandy's Café before heading over to the Grand Canyon.

We entered through the South Entrance Station and headed for the visitor center. Our first view of the Grand Canyon was at Mather Point, and it was, of course, breathtaking.

Mather Point. Full disclosure: I edited this photo because the colors looked so dim compared to real life. You can see what it looked like before editing in our selfie below.

We then hopped on the Blue Shuttle to get out to the Bright Angel Trailhead, which is the trail that will take you into the Grand Canyon. I'm not dumb enough to try to hike the Grand Canyon, thank God (apparently people overestimating their fitness level is a relatively common problem at the Grand Canyon; they have to airlift people out who can't make it back out with some regularity) but I did want to hike down a little just to get a sense of being "in" the Canyon, which was very cool.

On the Bright Angel Trail (Julia decided to stay at the top)

Views from the Bright Angel Trail

We then took the Red Shuttle route, which follows the rim of the canyon, to see a few more viewpoints before we headed back towards the visitor center to get set up at our campsite for the evening.

I think these three photos are from Hopi and Powell Points, but one of them might be from Mohave Point. One thing I know for sure is that they all overlook the Grand Canyon!

Our campsite at the Grand Canyon was one of the nicest of the trip. It was perfectly clean, we were close to the bathroom without being too close, and there was ample space between us and the next campsite. It was also probably the largest campground we stayed at, as they had literally hundreds of campsites, and it only cost us $15! Camping in the National Parks is such a bargain.

I had a funny experience checking in, because the park ranger who assigned us our spot told me no less than 3 times to be very careful of our trash or leaving food out. Having just come from bear country, I assured her we would, but she reiterated that we'd be asking for trouble if we left anything out because the ravens, of all things, at the Grand Canyon are incredibly destructive. She showed me a photo of a trash bag an unkindness of ravens ripped open and littered all over a campsite. Point taken! (Also that's the first time I've had a reason to use that term! How often is a person talking about a group of ravens??)

We hung out at the campsite for much of the late afternoon, and cobbled together dinner from our remaining provisions, because our time with our rented camp stove and tent would shortly be coming to an end. We took relaxing too seriously, clearly, because we lingered at our campsite too long and had to hustle back to Mather Point to catch the last of the sunset colors on the Grand Canyon, but the canyon at dusk was still stunning.

Dusk at Mather Point

Mather Point is recommended more for sunrise than it is for sunset, but we decided we didn't want to deal with really crowded shuttles or drive far away to get the famous sunset points. No regrets, because the photos really don't do the dusk colors justice. Because of that, however, we got up while it was still dark to watch the sunrise over Mather Point, which was well worth it.

Sunrise at Mather Point

I think this took 15 or maybe 20 minutes to capture in a time lapse. So fortunate that it was such a pretty sunrise!

We didn't have to check out of our campsite until late morning, so we saw the sun come up, went back to our tent and promptly fell back to sleep.

We checked out of our campsite a few hours later and headed towards the east gate to exit the park, stopping at several viewpoints along the way. We particularly liked the Desert View Watchtower overlook.

Moran Point

Near Julia's left shoulder, you can see the Colorado River snaking through the canyon. It blends in because flash flood season turns the water a muddy brown.

Desert View Watchtower. Completed in 1932, it was designed by architect Mary Colter to blend in with the desert surroundings (I personally think she nailed it).

We turned south and headed past Flagstaff to Sedona. We stopped at a FedEx in Sedona and said goodbye to our rented tent and camp stove, which we returned to Dick's Sporting Goods via an included return label (We did have to buy a box because we didn't keep the one they sent us, as it was bigger than the tent and we just didn't have room for it in our little Nissan Altima). I highly recommend using this service if you want to camp but don't want to bring all the stuff, especially if you're flying like we were.

We had lunch at the Golden Goose then explored the Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village. Most of the stores there were well beyond our modest budget, but the window shopping was a ton of fun, and it's such a pretty area that it was fun to walk around regardless.

Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village

We also explored downtown Sedona, which had more touristy stores (read: more affordable!), before checking into our Airbnb. The view from our Airbnb of Sedona's famous red rocks was stunning.

View from our Airbnb

We had a really nice dinner that night at The Hudson restaurant, which had glass on all sides so we could watch the stunning sunset over the red rocks. Highly recommend if you find yourself in Sedona!

In the morning, we drove down to Montezuma Castle National Monument, which is described on Google as "cliff dwelling ruins of the Sinagua people dating back to the 12th century." It was only about 30 minutes away and absolutely worth the stop.

Montezuma Castle

Our time in and around the Grand Canyon was a nice break from long drives, but we were back on the road that day. Our final destination was Albuquerque, but we were going by way of the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks, which was about 6.5 hours total. We stopped at the Rainbow Forest Museum in Petrified Forest National Park first to see the petrified wood up close.

Petrified Forest National Park

So pretty! It looks more like a geode than wood.

We then continued driving through the park, which connects to Painted Desert National Park.

Jasper Forest overlook (so named because all those brown lumps behind me are pieces of petrified wood)

Agate Bridge (also petrified wood but reinforced with concrete)

Both of these photos are from the Blue Mesa area of Petrified Forest. Lots of people were hiking here but we stuck to the overlooks because of the heat.

Kachina Point in Painted Desert National Park

Tawa Point

The Painted Desert is only about an hour from the border of New Mexico, so we crossed into a new state in the late afternoon, but we still had a couple more hours to drive before we reached Albuquerque.