Wow! I’ve been trying to figure out how to share my crazy road trip from Phoenix to the Grand Canyon with you all and I don’t know if I will ever be ready, but I figured I shouldn’t wait any longer! My sister and I traveled to Phoenix for spring break this year as a little sistercation and decided that we must do ALL the things we possibly could while there. While this did not lend itself to a relaxing trip, it was definitely an experience to remember!
When we originally started mapping out our trip we knew that we were going to need to set aside an entire day for the Grand Canyon. We figured that since we were already cramming a 3 hour (each way) road trip into our vacation we should probably stop and see everything in between as well! This should have only added a couple of hours to the trip, but inevitably traffic got the best of us.
We started out early in the day and marked Montezuma’s Castle as our first destination. It was a short walk through the slightly elevated desert valley once we got there, and although the actual remains are, I’m sure, amazing, it was a bit too far up the cliffside to really get to see. Luckily there was a model set up for us to take in the incredibly design of what was once a booming community!
Next up, and only a few short miles down the highway was Montezuma’s Well. This neverending aquifer provided all the water for the people, plants, and animals of these fledgling societies. So cool!
After that we settled back into the car for the jaunt over to Tuzigoot National Monument. This was a pretty awesome experience as we got to walk through the ancient buildings. The sun was hot and the earth was dry, but inside the buildings the air was cool and conditions were amazingly livable. It was easy to imagine kids running and playing while men and women tended to the daily chores…just like today!
After climbing to the top and seeing what there was we headed north toward Sedona. We were cruising along, making good time, when we ran into our first hiccup. Traffic. We spent a solid hour traveling into downtown Sedona, and another hour traveling out of it. Luckily we had a sweet ride with air conditioning, a killer sound system, and all the comforts you need on a long road trip.
We tried to hit Bearizona before they closed for the day, but sadly we were too late to drive through the wildlife park. We did however take some pictures under the Bearizona archway!
After Bearizona it was straight through to the Grand Canyon!! I’m not going to lie, by this point in the journey I was hot, tired and a little bit over being in the car, but still we persevered. We made it to the Grand Canyon in time to watch an epic sunset and have our breath taken away by nature’s beauty. It was an experience to remember!
Heading back to Phoenix that night I was grateful for a couple of things, but mostly the dynamic adaptive cruise control that came standard on our car. People if you haven’t experienced this feature, let me tell you now, it is life changing for long road trips!! My biggest gripe about using cruise control is having to disengage when I run into slow pokes on the road. Setting, canceling, and then resetting your speed is a pain in the booty when you are traveling long distances. Dynamic adaptive cruise control automatically slows when you approach vehicles going under your set speed, and speeds you back up when they move on out of your way. Seriously life changing!! It made the ridiculously long drive back to Phoenix a breeze and allowed me to worry more about any stray wildlife than fiddling with the cruise control.
All in all a day trip to the Grand Canyon isn’t totally crazy, but definitely not for everyone! Enjoy at your own risk! 🙂
