UTAH - May 14-21. 2016

We have had a very busy year, especially fall of 2015 to present. Our daughter traveled abroad last semester and of course we took full advantage of that opportunity and flew to Switzerland in October for a short visit with her, venturing into Italy and hiking the Swiss Alps. My wife and I were trying to sneak a spring getaway into our busy work schedules, but that didn't pan out. Our daughter spent spring break in Guadalupe, I was starting to think I would have to live my vacations vicariously through my daughters lens.

FINALLY, in April we discovered all of our schedules had a common gap to fill, our "family vacation" would happen May 14-21st. We had less than a month to plan and discussed many different destinations from the Caribbean to Iceland and then my wife and daughter said how about Utah? I said "really? Utah?" I am so glad that they decided on this wild west adventure! Planning started first with flights, we chose a direct flight to Vegas from Dulles Virginia. Then planning the driving itinerary began, this took a week or so to come up with since we've never travelled this part of the country before. The only "given" for this trip was starting and finishing at the Vegas airport, everything else was dependent on lodging and drive times. Moab was on our daughters bucket list, so we plugged that northern most point into the plan, now how to fill in the rest? We found that hotels and resorts were almost completely booked up, how strange since we were now just 2 weeks out, DUH!!! Not to mention that 2016 is the National Park Service Centennial! We were fortunate to find great lodging for every night, except we left the last night open to allow a little flexibility at the end.

Our United flight to Vegas was long and cramped, my knees touched the seat in front of me ugh! Once safely on the ground we shuttled to the car rental area and found the Avis line had about 30 customers waiting, so I anxiously took my place in line. My wife saw a sign directing preferred customers outside to the garage, not knowing if we were "preferred" or not she left me in line to check it out...YES Preferred! Our brand new Ford Expedition was waiting for us and 10 minutes later we were on the road!








We decided to make a big counter clockwise loop starting at the Grand Canyon. My wife visited here as a kid, but it would be a first for my daughter and me. I have driven from Phoenix to Vegas before and remembered the long open stretches of breath taking desert scenery, it really is a big country out there. We departed Vegas without stocking up on drinks and snacks, so after an hour we stopped at a tiny roadside store in Grass Hopper Junction where they offer just enough junk food to properly stock up for a road trip, corn chips, Twizzlers and of course sarsaparilla! Along the way we saw signs for part of Old Route 66, YES we must see this! We made a late lunch stop in Seligman Arizona, a great funky little town. There were just a couple of choices here and we chose the RoadKill Cafe. They had great BBQ and burgers and sweet tea served in mason jars, perfect!















With lunch and some side tracking it took us about 5 hours to reach the Best Western Premier, Grand Canyon Squire Inn. This hotel sits just outside of the South Entrance to the canyon. They have great amenities including a bowling alley inside, but we were too exhausted to play. We grabbed a few Grand Canyon IPA's and ice cream from the hotel store and settled into our nice clean room for the night.

We woke bright and early on Sunday, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to the rim. FYI, we experienced our coldest night time temps of the trip here, the windshield had a little ice on it! 10 minute drive and we were in the National Park. I had purchased an annual National Parks pass in the Shenandoah's before we left Virginia and that proved helpful and saved a couple dollars by the end of our trip. Leaving the hotel shortly after sunrise we were able to grab a front row parking spot, nice! I recommend entering the park early if you want to avoid crowds. The first hour or so we had the trail that runs along the rim all to ourselves. Skies were a little overcast at first, temps rose into the 60's rather quickly and by the time we left the sun was bright and I think we saw 70 degrees.



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My daughter has an adventurous spirit, which I love. My wife and I witnessed this firsthand when she bungy jumped 220 meters off the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland in the fall. Once at the south rim she was jumping for joy when she saw the enormous wonders before us. She did not hesitate to scramble to the breath taking ledges that made the butterflies awake in my gut! My wife would also show her comfort zone around great heights at times, even though she could often be heard saying "be careful!!" My daughter and I are also never without our cameras and I can honestly say that there is a photo-op around every corner in this majestic place. It was amazing to watch the birds soar in the quiet surroundings and we were even lucky enough to watch a large grey fox work its way up a canyon wall just a few yards away from us, priceless.

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Once the crowds started gathering around the South Rim and Mather Point we decided to move over to the East side to explore a little. Before leaving the main South Rim area we stopped at the very nice grocery store there and stocked up with plenty of snacks and drinks (BEER!). Heading towards the East side we saw a large Elk feeding along the way, but didn't have the cameras ready dang it! The next stop was at the Desert View Watch Tower area, spectacular! Unfortunately the crowds and selfie sticks had already gathered so we took a quick peek inside the beautiful tower then moved on. There are many overlooks tucked away on the east side offering a different incredible perspective. We found local artists at one stop and I wanted to talk with them, but you could tell that they were enjoying the peace and quiet, the cool breeze and the incredible light that was shining down on the canyon walls.

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It was mid afternoon, we had a few hours to travel so we had to bid farewell to the Grandest of Canyons. Next stop Monument Valley!

Cheers!