May 22 Day 1 : Dallas to Las Vegas (McCarran Airport)
May 23 Day 2 : Las Vegas to Grand Canyon via Route 66
Another long but hectic trip planned. But i decided no more hectic plans after this. Will take additional days if required but we need to be travelling much more relaxed.
A long cherished plan to visit the West Coast. We are in United States for last 3 years in the East Coast (NY & NJ states) during 2016-2019. Visited few of east coast nearby places if not all but were not able to cover West coast anytime. With a break of around 1.5 years when we were back into the country by end of 2020 both times for my work related assignments we decided to cover one part of it.
First big trip planned was few parts of West coast covering 4 states - Nevada, parts of California, Arizona & Utah. But yes it was hectic even with the minimum places we had planned to cover. West coast overall is huge and needs minimum 3 weeks to 1 month time to cover most of it. So we are calling our current trip as Part-1 of it, hopeful enough to cover 2 more times for rest of the places. This trip was to cover the Canyon states Arizona & Utah having the wonders ( Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon, Horse shoe Bend, Lake Powell, Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park ) and covering ever happening LAS VEGAS and nearby places to it in parts of California - The Death Valley.
This was the summer after the 2019/20 uncertain and unfortunate pandemic time when things are just getting bit stabilized and business are returning to normal, with most of the places/states removed mask mandate specially if you are fully vaccinated. So this is a trip to remember with its own uniqueness.
Due to the restrictions the famous Antelope Canyon tour was closed indefinitely by the Navajo Nation local tribes ,so we planned our trip without it adding Arches National Park into the list as there was no timing confirmed when Antelope Canyon tours will open up.
Itinerary goes like this in a nut shell:
Day1 : Dallas to Las Vegas and overnight stay
Day2: Las Vegas to Grand Canyon visit via Route 66 - Drive and Stay near Page (Antelope Canyon)
Day3: Glen Canyon, Lake Powell & Horse Shoe Bend visit - Drive and Stay near Moab (Arches National Park)
Day4: Arches National Park visit - Drive and Stay near Bryce Canyon
Day5: Bryce Canyon & Zion National Park visit. Drive and Stay at Las Vegas
Day6 : Death Valley trip and Las Vegas(Strip view Helicopter Ride).Continue stay at Las Vegas
Day7 : Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Seven Mountain Rock and Las Vegas
Day8 : Las Vegas Day view & back to Dallas
I discussed Day 1 here though we were not visiting any place just to let know that what we plan & what we can execute is always different. So we should have enough buffer times for pre-requisites, food, if with baby enough time to get his/her stuff completed etc. but also to add unforeseen circumstances
Day 1 was like transiting to LAS Vegas, picking up the reserved rented car, staying in a nearby hotel, get all travel pre-requisite stuffs from nearest Walmart to get ready for a early morning next day start. But we had an initial hiccup at the very start of the trip. Our flight to McCarran airport (Las Vegas) was scheduled for a 6:30 PM departure but it got delayed by 3 hours jeopardizing all pre-plans for next day. Even after having a 2 hours time zone difference we were not able to complete the Walmart part on the night itself as we crossed 11 PM to reach to our hotel.
Day 2 start also got delayed as we have to take around 1-1.5 hours extra for Walmart pickups. It was a 4 hour 30 min drive to Grand canyon without stopping so took another hour with breaks and onway stay for an hour at the historical Route 66, Seligman, Arizona.
When you are with a 3 year old kid you have to be equipped with all possible supports & pre -requisites along with you. Ready to use milk, juice, biscuits, snacks, water, fruits and ice container to mention a few.
Historical Route 66
We were finally about to leave from Las vegas towards Grand Canyon by around 11-11:30 am PCT.
First plan was to to spend an hour into the historic Route 66 which will be falling on the way after 2.5 hours of drive stretching around 2 places - Kingman & Seligman.
We stopped at Kingsman for a break but was not able to see much of the route 66. While we lost few minutes searching for it near Kingsman we got a fair view of it near Seligman up ahead where 3 to 4 nice souvenir shops who kept the historical touch within display as shown below pictures
We were happy atleast to see some of it .We all spent sometime snapping some pictures and also buying few of the souvenir magnets before starting again for the Grand Canyon visitor center.
Grand Canyon
We reached Grand Canyon at around 5 PM which was quite late and was by 2/3 hours from our estimated time. Quickly visited the Visitor center for enquiries & timings of the park which is normally 24 hours open. There were 2 parts to cover having few view points in the park - one near the Mather point & the others towards the Grand Canyon village.
It was still sunny while the sun is to set by next 2 hours. At the Mather point we have to park our car & cover a short 0.5-0.7 mile walk to reach the Canyon side finally. Deep gorges and awesome mountain scape was what was waiting for us. It was just and just awesome.
Being the later part the deep gorges down were more of having shadows of the adjacent mountains. Had we reached earlier we could have viewed the greenery down there. I would recommend from my experience while visiting any places for the canyons - start from the morning till the day end, that will give you a better satisfaction of covering all the minimum points in a relaxed manner. This is the very reason i stated at beginning that trip was hectic, should have had another 2 days at a minimum in hand.
Anyways you have to always improvise as per the time you have. We strolled from Mather point till Yavapai point which took around 30-45 mins roughly.
Next was Yaki point but it was restricted for private vehicle and only accessible using shuttle buses running in the park. We were not prepared for this, took sometime to understand which also took some of our time. Finally we decided to not go to the Yaki point & headed for few more points as its soon going to be dark.
Next we went to the Grandview point & Sunset point on way after which we ran out of time. It was sunset & dark and also chilled now at Grand view point.
Alas no time to visit the Grand Canyon village side - we missed a good list of the below targeted view points -
Moran Point
Lipan Point
Desert View Watchtower
Grand Canyon Village
Hermit’s Road include Hopi, Maricopa and Pima points.
The Abyss
We were not having next day option also to cover those places as today only we have to move for our hotel at Page, another 2.5 hours from Grand Canyon. It was already around 8:30 PM while we started for day's final destination to our hotel in Page - Best Western Lake Powell view. We reached there around 11:15 PM.
Day 3 awaits for Page - Horse shoe Bend, Lake Powell, Vermillion Cliffs & drive to Arches National Park (5.5 hours drive non-stop with a catch)
A hectic first day to start, quite a few targeted points missed due to timeout but still a eventful thrilling day - covering Route 66 & awesome Grand Canyon mountain views.
Tips to note:
1.Plan to reach Grand Canyon a day ahead for utilizing full next day. A on the way 2/3 hours will never be enough
2. Need to be much more pre-planned with buffer timings considered on covering targeted view points
3.Even with kid & family, had to start early of the day.
4.Two driver in family will help. I was the only driver. Little support from a second driver helps retaining energy and enthusiasm.
Photo Gallery:
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