Southwest US National Parks

From May 8–15, the Webber family (plus Mackenzie, the soon-to-be Webber) took a fantastic family vacation to the Southwest United States to celebrate Luke and Mackenzie’s recent graduations, and my upcoming one! We started in Las Vegas, then began a large national park-centric loop that took us to Zion, Bryce, and the Grand Canyon National Parks. Along the way, we also made meaningful stops in Page and Sedona, both being towns in Arizona. It was an incredible trip that took us to some places unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Rather than focusing on the day-by-day (as I did in my Bahamas Spring Break post), I’ll talk about the highlights on a location-by-location basis.

Warning in advance, this post will be very photo-heavy, as everywhere we went was beautiful and incredibly photogenic!

Las Vegas, Nevada

We started with 2 nights in Las Vegas, and spent the days walking from extravagant casino to extravagant casino, in awe of the excessive decoration and the endless rows of slot machines. I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough to fit the two fulls days in the city, but it was perfect!

• Staying in the Luxor (Luke winning $40 on 5 hands of blackjack, pools in the morning with cool entry/exit doors, good Mexican restaurant, brunch)
• Incredible Bellagio & Venetian (two favorites, fountains, beautiful conservatory, Chihuly glasswork, incredible canals)
• The dozens of other casinos (Flamingo w/ flamigos, Caesar’s Palace, New York New York being massive, Excalibur)
• Cirque du Soleil Mystere (incredibly strong two men, the couple swinging around like Tarzan)

Zion National Park

We next drove three hours eastward into Utah through incredibly dry landscapes which slowly morphed from plains of arid shrubs to red rock formations as we drew closer to Zion. We arrived at Zion in the middle of Day 3 and spent the next day and a half there.

• Hiking Emerald Pools on the first evening (climbing to top of big rock, meeting UNCW grad from Seeley Lake, incredible views down the valley from offset)
• Hotel at park’s edge (incredible comfort for Mackenzie, eating at Oscar’s across the street, relaxing by fire pit)
• Incredible Narrows Hike (up to waist deep water, Wall Street, fun offshoot towards the end, losing Luke)
• Leaving the park driving up the side of the valley (seeing the Bighorn Sheep & bison)

Bryce National Park

After the incredible drive out of of Zion the next stop was Bryce Canyon, a brief two hours away. We followed a similar itinerary as Zion and spent a day and a half here. While cars weren’t allowed in Zion (we took a shuttle bus within the park), they were allowed at Bryce, which altered the format of our visit. We still did lots of hiking, but the main content was an end-to-end drive of the park with brief stops at every overlook.

• The first view of the incredible Ampitheater (hoodoos everywhere)
• Waking up at 6:30 to view the lackluster sunset from Sunset Point back at the Ampitheater
• The short Bristlecone Pine Trail (seeing 1600 year-old trees, very cold)
• Driving the 18-mile length of the park with stops at every overlook (Natural Bridge arch, countless views over valleys of hoodoos)
• Hiking the Queen’s Garden / Navajo Trail through the hoodoos (incredible, steep and difficult end, walking through the doorways in the rock)

Page, Arizona

Our next stop was Page, a small town in the middle of a Navajo Indian reservation just over the border into Arizona. Surrounding the town was a splattering of diverse and incredible natural wonders. We spent another day and a half in Page.

• Seeing the picturesque Horseshoe Bend on arrival
• Visiting the most picturesque place in the world: Antelope Canyon (tour guide Chad, Navajo using it to trap animals & hide from heat)
• Mother’s Day brunch on Lake Powell (largest floating restaurant in the world, awesome food w/ macarons)
• Hiking to the Second Wave (only ones in sight, cave in the distance)
• Surprising poverty on the Reservation (just recently got power, no running water, tires on roofs to keep from blowing off)

The Grand Canyon

Our final National Park of the trip was the most famous, and with that brought lots of people! The Grand Canyon was busy, but for good reason, as the views were absolutely breathtaking — it was almost impossible to get a scale of the vastness of the canyon. We spent another day and a half along the South Rim here, mostly spent driving between viewpoints with one quick hike.

• Stopping at the easternmost viewpoint of Mary’s Tower overlook
• Fun in the hotel pub for tasty dinner & drinks (Mack’s makeshift bed)
• The hike down to Ooh Aah Point (beginning of legendary rim-to-rim Kaibab Trail, constant views)
• Taking buses between points along the western half of South Rim (Hopi Point with panoramic views, Powell Point with memorial to John Wesley Powell)

Sedona & the Final Drive

Our final stop of the trip was the lovely hippy town of Sedona in north-central Arizona. We stayed in a cute AirBnB and spent the day there exploring the downtown, with it’s boutique shops all selling local handicrafts or advertising the town’s unique energy-rich “vortexes”. It was a great last stop and a spot that Mack and I agreed we could live in. From Sedona, we took a long route back to Las Vegas with a few fun stops on the way.

• Stargazing in the backyard of the AirBnB
• Visiting the local stores (art gallery where Mack got earrings, small booth with unique handmade candles and friendly artist)
• Stopping at ruins of pre-Colombian Sinagua civilization (Tuzigoot with its interesting town layout, incredible Montezuma’s Castle cliff dwelling w/ local volunteer park ranger helper)
• Wine tasting in the vineyards of the lush valleys pocketing the otherwise arid landscape

After a failed attempt to check out the Hoover Dam (it apparently is off-limits at night), we arrived back at the Las Vegas Airport, from where Mack flew back to school (as she was still in the middle of her Spring Term) and the rest of us flew back to Wilmington. It was the end of a fantastic trip!