OUR EPIC SUMMER JOURNEY: What I Would Do Differently

OUR EPIC SUMMER JOURNEY: What I Would Do Differently


When the conversation came up to take a summer Southwest trip with my beau's family, I was super stoked! From great-grandparents to grandchildren, his entire family has always loved traveling out west and his dad even lived there for a few years as a child (same as my own dad and grandparents). Now, I've only been to a few states on the West Coast a handful of times and outside of visiting Vegas once, I'd never been to any states in the Mountain region. It's a trip that has been at the peak of my bucket list since I was little. The beau? Well... he's been to ALL but 2!!

While I was so excited about this "first" for me, the reason for the trip was bittersweet. Sadly, we lost my beau's dad to the awful "c" word in July of 2018... and the family was eternally reuniting his ashes with several of his most favorite spots.

Once we settled on dates, the most difficult part of the process was creating an itinerary. We took several things into consideration:

1) How many days did we want to travel?
2) Where did we want to fly into and out of?
3) Which parks did we want to visit and spend the most time?
4) Where did we want to lay our heads at night?
5) The biggie: How "budget-friendly" did we want budget-friendly to mean? Because... let's face it, we ALL want to be conscientious of how much we're spending while traveling.


After several days of phone calls, texts, messages and a family meeting, we decided that 10 days (#1) should give us ample time to see the most popular parks between Phoenix, AZ to Bozeman, MT (#2). We decided right away the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches National Park and Yellowstone were absolute must-visits. Anything else would be gravy (#3).

Originally posted HERE.

After we plugged our arrival and departure destinations into Google Maps, we were able to get a better idea of other attractions along the way. From there, it was figuring out where to lay our weary heads at night (#4 & #5... hand in hand!!). We found very quickly that hotel accommodations: 1) book months {sometimes up to a year!} in advance and 2) aren't cheap if you're staying in or very close to the parks.

The amount of research we put into the places we decided to include was ridiculous (in a *fantastic* way!) and it took us a couple of weeks to put an itinerary together. We all gave input as far as what to do and where to stay and it ended up looking like this:

Originally posted on Day 1. 

As you can see from its detail, we attempted to be as organized as possible. Not having an itinerary on a family vacation such as this can be a recipe for pure chaos!

In the end, this is how we decided to spend our days:

DAY 1: Phoenix to Slide Rock State Park to Grand Canyon to Page
DAY 2 - Part 1: Lower Antelope Canyon
DAY 2 - Part 2: Horseshoe Bend and Zion National Park
DAY 3 - Part 1: Bryce through Escalante and Capital Reef to Arches
DAY 3 - Part 2: Scenic Byway 12
DAY 3 - Part 3: Arches National Park near Moab, UT ("The Adventure Capital of the United States", in the heart of the Colorado Plateau!)
DAY 4 - Travel Day: Driving from Moab to Thayne
DAY 5 - From Thayne to Jackson Hole on to Grand Teton National Park and finally to Island Park, Idaho
DAY 6 - Yellowstone Part I: Lower Loop
DAY 7 - Yellowstone National Park Upper Loop ~ Grand Canyon Area {P1)
DAY 7 - Yellowstone National Park Upper Loop ~ Mammoth Hot Springs {P2}
DAY 8 - Bozeman, MT
DAYS 9-10 - Big Sky, MT back to Bozeman for 1 More Night... Then Homeward Bound 

As you can see from the map and our itinerary, we had a LOT of windshield time. The trip was perfect in every way, so I'm not sure that there are any *real* things I'd do differently... outside of maybe flying into Bozeman and out of Phoenix.

Day 1: We made it! Slide Rock State Park.

Reason #1 I say this is because by the end of our trip, we had a full day of cold rain in Bozeman and gray skies the next day in Big Sky as well {in July!!}. Had we started in Montana and worked our way to Phoenix, we might've had an extra day of exploration (but of course, who knows). Not to mention, there was a huge temperature difference between Arizona and Utah than in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. I think I would've rathered started off in the cooler weather and finished up with the warmer ~ but that's just me.

Reason #2 is simply because our tour of the Lower Antelope Canyon on Day 2 was absolutely incredible! I think I would've preferred to have completed our epic journey with that tour rather than start with it... ~ kind of like the grand finale. If this tour isn't within the Top 5 on your bucket list, it should be!

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We covered a total of 5 states and over 2,000 miles in essentially 9 days {we flew out the morning of Day 10} and if I could do it over, I would've loved to have had at least 2 more days in this part of the U.S. It is ridiculously gorgeous... there are absolutely no words or photographs that can adequately describe {nor document} it. Or... even spreading it over a full 2 weeks would've been grand! At any rate, we did our best to be detail-oriented, organized and stick to the schedule as much as possible without feeling rushed, but the time literally flew by anyway. There are sooo many things to see and do that it's impossible to attempt them all in a single visit. And I learned so much in those 10 days... lessons that will last me through my lifetime!

I've also decided the next time we head west to visit the Mountain states, I want to split the trip up if we only have 10 days. Essentially, 10 days in Arizona and Utah... and the next trip, 10 days in Wyoming and Montana. In fact... I'm already working on itineraries!

Stay tuned to check them out!!

In the meantime... if you haven't checked out the Lower Antelope Canyon Tour post yet, here's a sneak peek. Enjoy!!

Cheers, y'all!!

xoxo

"Travel is the best teacher. The only way to an open mind is by taking a plane out into the open world." ~ C. Joybell C.