Nina’s friend came to visit us from Thailand for a month and when we asked her what she wanted to see in the U.S.A., she said Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, and Bryce Canyon. So we made some plans to do a road trip down to Arizon. AZ was absolutely sizzling hot! Pretty sure you could have literally cooked eggs on the pavement. I saw something online saying Arizona had seen 110º+ for 12 consecutive days which was during our visit. And, when in Arizona and you mention that it’s so crazy hot, people will say, “But, it’s a DRY heat.” I don’t care how “dry” it is, 110º is HOT!
After 8 or so hours of driving and a stopover in Vegas for a late lunch/early dinner at the Venetian, we landed in Meadview, AZ. at the Canyon’s End Motel where we stayed for two nights. This is close to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. This was the middle of nowhere. There is nothing, literally nothing in Meadview. Except for a Family Dollar across the highway from our little motel, and they had ice cream. It’s the little things 🙂 We were told we had to spend some time on the West Rim so we stayed over here for two nights and planned to go to the West Rim bright and early to beat the heat.
The West Rim of the Grand Canyon
Bright and early ended up being about 8:30 and it was already 85º, cooler than 110º though. So this Sky Bridge thing that we HAD to see… If we could do it over, we’d skip it! They charge $58/person to visit the Sky Bridge and they will NOT allow you to have your own camera or phone to take any photos. That’s ridiculous! I voiced my opinion to them about it and was told, “Don’t worry, there are photographers out there!” And they charge another $50 dollars for a photo. Needless to say, we weren’t wasting any more money on that. SKIP IT. Just an entry fee is only $25/person.
Guano Point on the other hand only cost the entrance fee to see, and it was full of beautiful views. Great views, even better than the Sky Bridge. You still have to park at the main entrance and be bussed in, but it was cool – worth the time to visit.
After we finished up here, it was close to noon so we decided to drive all the way back to Vegas (2 hrs each way) for lunch, because again, there is nothing out in this area! Not even fast food. We ate at one of our favorite Vegas Thai restaurants, Weera Thai, so the drive was worth it!
South Rim of the Grand Canyon
Monday, we headed off to the South Rim from Meadview, which was about a 4 hr drive. The South Rim is much prettier, more to see, and a bit higher in elevation so it wasn’t quite as hot as the West Rim. But still hot, and I forgot sunscreen so I got a little cooked.
We spent a few hours at the South Rim and hiked along the canyon rim trail. It was pretty out there! And, I forgot to put any sunblock on so I got cooked. We hiked (more like walked) about 2 miles starting from Mather Point and then we took the shuttle bus back to the parking lot
Next stop, Horseshoe Bend
From the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, we continued on our journey and landed in Page, AZ, in the evening where we stayed in an AirBnb for the evening. Quick dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, a few minutes of relaxing, and then we rushed off to see Horseshoe Bend for sunset, or I should say “post” sunset because we almost missed it altogether. But, we caught it and it was purty. I’m pretty sure Horseshoe Bend was my favorite of the trip, it was beautiful.
We didn’t spend too long here as it was technically after sunset when we arrived. It was nice to finally see it! After that, we called it a night and just hit the sack. Honestly, at this point, we were ready to just be home. A lot of driving on this trip! Just over 1600 miles total.
We talked about getting up bright and early and getting out of town before 7, but that never happens with this crew! We were on the road by 8ish, not bad actually. These roads, driving across the AZ desert, are so boring. Really, the landscape all looks the same.
Bryce Canyon, Utah
Our next stop was Bryce Canyon. We’ve lived in Utah for 6 years and we have never been to Bryce, so it’s nice to finally check this one off! It was essentially right along our route to get home. We planned on doing a little hike in Bryce, maybe 2-4 miles. Nothing crazy. We got there, drove through the entirety of the park, and stopped at a few of the viewpoints. On the way back out, we stopped at the main visitor area where many of the hiking trails start, snapped a few photos and walked along the trail down to the top of the Wall Street trail and decided that a handful of photos was all we needed on this stop since it was 100º out there.
Bryce did not disappoint, super pretty! Would love to come back and see this place in the wintertime, both for the contrast with the snow and the cooler temps. We’ll definitely come back again! After Bryce, we had about a 4.5 hr drive to get home and we were ready to get that over with. This was one hell of a long road trip, we put on just over 1600 miles and we did it all in Nina’s new Porsche Macan. 4 people and our gear/baggage driving at anywhere from 75mph to (undisclosed) 😉 haha, and we got about 23 mpg. Super impressed with that little thing.
We got back to SLC only to experience more blazing temps! But, we’ll try not to complain when it hits 100-105º here since it’s still 10 degrees cooler than what we were experiencing in Arizona. Thanks, AZ, we’ll never come again in the summertime!
Enjoy more captures from our road trip below.
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