Category: Travel

Planning Another Family Trip to Sedona

I was so, so, so happy to see the calendar switch over to April, because spring break is almost here. And the best part of spring break… planning this year’s return trip to Sedona! We visited once before for a four-day weekend, but it wasn’t nearly enough time so we are excited to have a whole week for our vacation.

I mentioned some tips on using ChatGPT to help plan a vacation (you can find the post here), so I created this year’s itinerary from a combination of place/things we liked before, stuff we wanted to do but didn’t have time for, and recommendations from ChatGPT that felt good to us.

Here’s our current plan:

Day 1: Fly to Phoenix and drive to Prescott, AZ

Last time we visited Sedona, we flew into Phoenix and stayed in a hotel overnight before exploring Phoenix and Scottsdale. This time, we decided to fly into Phoenix a little earlier, get our rental car and drive straight out to Prescott, AZ. Why Prescott? Well, we wanted to be within easy driving distance to Phoenix and Sedona, but not pay the sky-high Sedona prices. I found a cute VRBO to rent in Prescott and we are excited to make it our home base.

Day 2: Explore Prescott

After a day of work, airplane and then driving to our home base, we want the first full day in Arizona to feel a little lazy. So we will stock up at the grocery store, explore the town, and go on some local hikes. I have a few restaurant recommendations, secondhand/antique stores, and even a popular rock shop on our list, thanks to ChatGPT.

Day 3: Explore Sedona

 The drive from Prescott to Sedona is about 1 ½ hours, so we will make our way there after breakfast. Once we get to Sedona, we definitely want to revisit the local donut shop Sedonuts for a morning snack, because they are awesome! We’re going to do a hike, stop somewhere for lunch and then visit the Tlaquepaque Arts & Craft Village, since we ran out of time on our last trip.

Day 4: Explore the Grand Canyon

Will we ACTUALLY make it to the Grand Canyon on this trip?! The chances of being snowed out are certainly less in April than when we failed back in January 2023, so this time we may actually make it to the South Rim. The drive from Prescott is about 2 ½ hours, so we are planning to drive there, hike part of the Rim Trail and check out a bunch of the scenic viewpoints. On my ChatGPT recommendations was to drive along the Desert View Drive with stops at Grandview Point, Lipan Point and Desert View Watchtower. Depending on our hunger, we will either stop in Flagstaff on our way back for dinner, or eat somewhere on the way home to Prescott.

Day 5: Explore Prescott

Another day to explore Prescott, this time with some hiking, e-biking and maybe even some kayaking around the Dells at Watson Lake!

Day 6: Explore Sedona

Back to Sedona for another day of hiking! Some possible hikes on our list include: Bell Rock Loop, Cibola Pass to Jordan Trail, Cathedral Rock Trail, Boynton Canyon Vortex, Scorpion Trail, and Fay Canyon Trail.

Day 7: Slow Return to Phoenix

We will wake up, clean up and leave the VRBO by noon. Then, we will either hang around Prescott for the morning, or we will make the drive to Phoenix and spend the morning there – possibly at the Desert Botanical Garden. We will eat a yummy lunch somewhere in Phoenix and then do the whole return the car, check into the airport, and hop on a plane to come back home.

I can’t wait! If you have any recommendations for places we shouldn’t miss – whether it be food options, hikes, stores, or views – let me know!

How I’m Going to Use ChatGPT to Plan the Perfect Vacation: Hidden Gems, Itineraries & More

Last week, I took a really cool course on how to use ChatGPT for business and WOW my mind is blown! One of the biggest surprises, is how it can help me personally with trip planning. I’m already excited to put my new skills to work for our next vacation – a return trip to the Sedona area. We visited once before for a four-day weekend, but this time we will be staying longer.

Since we’ve already seen some of the more common sights, I’m planning to use ChatGPT to uncover any must-see places we may have missed last time. It’s like having your very own AI travel agent – minus the commission fees and awkward small talk.

Here’s how I’m planning to use ChatGPT to make this trip even better for our family:

1. Finding New Must-See Spots:
We already explored some of the popular tourist spots on our last trip, so I’ll ask ChatGPT for hidden gems and lesser-known experiences in the Phoenix and Sedona areas. I’m hoping to find some cool trails, unique local eateries, and interesting shops that we didn’t have time for before. I can even give it our preferences (like secondhand shopping) and budget, to make sure that the suggestions align with our needs.

2. Building an Itinerary:
Once I gather some ideas, I’ll ask ChatGPT for a sample itinerary that helps us maximize our extra time. Whether it’s scenic drives, family friendly hikes, or casual breakfast spots, the AI can put the time in to figure out what makes the most sense, so I don’t have to draw out my own maps and check Google Maps a dozen times for expected driving times. I can even ask it to choose activities based on user reviews and list sources, such as the best place to rent an e-bike based on 5 star reviews.

3. Updating my Packing List:
If you don’t already have a packing list, you can ask ChatGPT to create a list based on your number of days, activities and family members. However, I already have previous packing lists I’ve used for trips. So, I can upload a previous list (or a few lists) into ChatGPT and ask it to create an excel spreadsheet updating my packing lists for our number of days and activities for this trip. Isn’t that INSANE?! It can even make you a shopping list for travel sized items that you can just print out and take to the store with you.

I absolutely LOVED taking the course on ChatGPT and find it absolutely fascinating on how I can use AI to make my life a little easier. Let me know if you’re interested in me writing more about what I’ve learned in my class!

Family Travel: Our November 2024 Trip to Arizona, Nevada and Utah

We are back and from our latest family adventure to Arizona, Nevada and Utah and I’m so excited to share about our November trip! If you follow along with our family travel adventures, you may remember when we went on a spring trip in April 2023 (you can find the three bite sized posts here: Family Travel, Part 1, Family Travel, Part 2, Family Travel, Part 3). Well, we loved that trip and the convenience of having Kanab as a home base, so we decided to go again.

You would think it would be repetitive and boring to return to the very same town as before, but there are so many things to do that we had a very different trip. Let’s get into it:

Day 1: Fly to Vegas

Our evening flight into Vegas worked out so well that we decided to do it again. We landed in Nevada around 11pm local time (2am Maryland time) and took an Uber straight to our hotel. Last time, we stayed at the Excalibur Hotel right on the strip because it was incredibly cheap and looked ridiculous. However, it was a little icky, so this time I picked a different hotel. We stayed at the Downtowner Boutique Hotel, which was kitschy, very clean and was reasonably priced. We would absolutely stay there again.

Day 2: Vegas to Valley of Fire to Kanab

In the morning, we walked to a nearby breakfast place and OHMYGOSH did we find a fantastic place right around the corner. Parlour Coffee Shop was super eclectic and had a really robust coffee and breakfast menu. When we got there, the place was pretty empty, but by time we left there was a line out the door.

Jack had the crème brulee French toast and it was so, so good:

Oh and I mentioned that our hotel was kitschy… but did I mention that it had a mini golf course right outside our door and AstroTurf in our closet?!

From there, we picked up our rental car and then stopped off at a sub place to grab a picnic lunch to take with us. I HIGHLY recommend this, as it is a long, long drive from Vegas to Kanab (by way of Valley of Fire).

This time, we skipped Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam and went straight to Valley of Fire State Park.

Valley of Fire State Park: This is one of my absolute favorite stops and if you are in the area, make sure to add it to your itinerary! It costs $9 to enter and we started by checking out the Visitor Center (which was closed last time we visited). From here, we did a whole bunch of different stops/hikes from our last trip, including: Elephant Rock, Rainbow Vista, Fire Canyon Road, and White Domes Loop. We also had a nice little picnic at the Seven Sisters Picnic area, which we had completely to ourselves.

From Valley of Fire, we continued on to Kanab to check into our house that we rented for the week.

Day 3: Coral Pink Sand Dunes

On our first full day in Kanab, we visited the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. The cost to visit is $15 per vehicle and we also paid $25 to rent a sand sled for the day. It was chilly and sandy and so much fun to hike up the giant sand dunes and then sled down. And then hike up again.

We all shared one sand sled, which gave us the opportunity catch our breath after the dune hike before barreling back down it again. We were considering renting two sleds, but for our family the one sled worked out great.

I had actually planned for us to take a lunch break and then go back out to a different hike, but we were all exhausted so we took a trip to the local grocery store to stock up and then relaxed around the house.

Day 4: Tom’s Canyon Trail

For our second Kanab day, we decided to do a local hike. VERY local. The Tom’s Canyon trailhead was literally within sight of our rental house! We decided to let Jack have some TV/video game time and Travis and I went on a ‘date’ hike by ourselves. It took us around 2 hours and it was absolutely breathtaking.

Once we returned, warmed up and showered, we went into the Main Street area of Kanab and did a little souvenir shopping. One of our favorite rock shops in Kanab is Nature’s Showcase Rock Shop, so we made sure to stop by again. We also purchased some t-shirts at Gifts of the West.

Day 5: Zion National Park

Last time we visited Zion National Park, it was much warmer and we rented e-bikes. This time, it was a bit chillier, so we decided to do more driving and hopping out at overlooks. We purchased the America the Beautiful annual park pass ($80) which allows us to visit Zion, as well as a ton more parks for the next year.

After some sightseeing, we stopped off for lunch The Hangry Goat. Then, we walked around a bit and looked in and out of some shops. From there, we got back in the car and drove around a bunch more, jumping in and out to oooh and ahhh on our way back out of the park.

That evening, Travis and I bundled up and did some stargazing from the roof deck of our house. It was absolutely silent and beautiful and I 100% want to revisit that again in the summertime!

Day 6: Kanab to Pioneer Park to Vegas

We had to be out of our rental home by 10am, so we woke up and packed up the house. Since we drive through St. George on our way to Vegas, I did a little research and found a fun little park for us to visit on our way through: Pioneer Park and the Red Hills Desert Garden. Both were completely free and a great place to get out and stretch a little!

We will absolutely schedule some extra time to explore Pioneer Park more on our next trip. There are so many little hikes you can do throughout the 52-acre park.

Since it was Thanksgiving Day, I did a little googling on our way into Vegas and got us dinner reservations at Carmines. Once we arrived in Vegas, we dropped off our rental car and checked into Caesers Place for the night. The place was absolutely PACKED with people, where it felt like high-stake Frogger getting from one side of the casino/hotel to the other for the registration area. Thankfully our room was large, clean and quiet… with a gigantic whirlpool tub and walk-in shower.

We had a delicious dinner at Carmines and then enjoyed our room and went to sleep early, since we had a very early wake up call for our flight.

Day 7: Home

We woke up at 2:30am to take an Uber to the airport and head home. Yes, it totally sucks to wake up that early… but with the time change it’s nice to get home in the early afternoon.

 We absolutely loved our Thanksgiving trip and can’t wait for our next family travel adventure!