Category: Travel

If you missed the previous two posts, you can find them here:

• Family Travel, Part 1: Vegas, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire State Park, Red Hollow Slot Canyon
• Family Travel, Part 2: Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Kanab, Glen Canyon Dam, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon X

This is the last post in the series, so let’s move on to day 6.

Day 6: Belly of the Dragon, Cat Stair Canyon

Day 6 was Easter, so I knew we wanted to do some of the smaller local hikes, rather than one of the bigger national parks. We purposely went to the grocery store the day before so that we had food on hand for breakfast, lunch and dinner in case the entire town closed down for the holiday.

Belly of the Dragon: The first local hike we did was Belly of the Dragon, which is only about 20 minutes from Kanab. You start the hike out by climbing into the cave, and then come out the other side to hike through a sandy wash until you finally get to a little waterfall and have to turn back around. It’s a pretty great hike for kids and the ‘dragon belly’ is super neat too. While we enjoyed the hike, it was crazy crowded with people and kids.

Cat Stair Canyon: On the whole other side of the spectrum was our hike to Cat Stair Canyon, which was completely deserted. We didn’t see another human until we were leaving, it was so quiet and beautiful and then you round the corner and there was a huge section of stacked, crushed cars!

Apparently back in the 1960’s they used cars to fill a gap in the highway and it is super cool to see. One thing to keep in mind, is only do this hike if it is dry, dry, dry. When we were there, the entire area was sandy but apparently just a few weeks earlier there was a river running through it.

Oh and my favorite “review” on the link above says “Meh, big rocks, water. And rusty old cars.” Travis and I could not stop laughing about it and throughout the rest of our trip whenever we saw something absolutely beautiful we’d say, “Meh. Big Mountains. Lots of Rocks.” or “Meh. Mountain Views. Not Enough Fast Food.”

Day 7: Zion National Park

Next stop was Zion National Park — we used our America the Beautiful annual pass here too. We had so much fun riding e-bikes in Austin (you can read about it here), that we decided it would be a great way to enjoy the sights of Zion. However, when we arrived by driving through the mountains, Travis said that even if he didn’t get out of the car the trip would have been worth it. THAT is how mind-blowing the sights are here!

We did a full-day e-bike rental through Zion Guru with one rad runner for me ($79) and one rad wagon for Travis and Jack ($99). They provide helmets and each bike has a basket for carrying your stuff. The basket was big enough on my bike to carry our backpack with waters and packed lunch.

We spent the day zooming around on our e-bikes and stopped at the Zion Lodge to lock them up and eat our packed lunch. From there, we walked over to the Emerald Pools Trailhead for a hike to a waterfall and back. Once again, the hike was rather crowded so if you like a little less people when you’re exploring, you might want to stick to just e-biking around. By the end of the day, Travis’ allergies were killing him and we were all exhausted from biking and hiking so we headed home.

Day 8: Kanab to Vegas

We had to be out of our condo by 10am, so we woke up and packed up the house. From there, we grabbed some breakfast to go from Sunny Creek and hit the road for Vegas. Since our rental was through Turo, we filled it with gas and went through a car wash on our way into town.

It was only supposed to be in the mid-70’s, but we were surprised with a 93-degree day. So, we pretty much just grabbed some food and enjoyed the air conditioning of the miracle mile shops.

This time for our hotel we upgraded a bit and stayed at the Signature at MGM Grand ($213 for a night). This room was SO MUCH nicer and we even had a gigantic whirlpool jacuzzi. And yes, Jack had the very best time splashing around in there. We aren’t really big Vegas people, so honestly a cold hotel room was a pretty great end to an absolutely ridiculously beautiful vacation.

Day 9: Home

We woke up at the terrible hour of 3am to take an Uber back to the airport and head home.

Worth it though. 100% worth it.

If you missed yesterday’s post, you can find it here: Family Travel, Part 1: Vegas, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire State Park, Red Hollow Slot Canyon.

We’re up to day 4, so let’s get on with it!

Day 4: Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Kanab

Bryce Canyon is about 1.5 hours from Kanab, so we decided to go on a day trip. I had been warned that it would be colder there, but I wasn’t prepared to see so much snow on the ground in April! We first went through the Red Canyon area, which had this really cool natural bridge for cars.

Then we continued on to Bryce Canyon Park (we used our America the Beautiful annual pass here). This is where I learned about Hoodoos. Hoodoos are irregular columns of rock and Bryce Canyon has the largest concentration of Hoodoos found anywhere on earth. (You can totally nerd out like I did and learn more here.)

And yes, I bought a “hoodoo you love” sticker because it makes me giggle.

There is a free hop-on-hop-off shuttle at Bryce Canyon, but we decided to enjoy our car’s bum-warmers and drove around instead. We drove up to Inspiration Point and ate our packed lunch while overlooking the most amazing views. Unfortunately it was too snowy for us to hike without snowshoes, so we enjoyed the views from the overlooks.

On our ride back, we stopped at a couple little shops for souvenirs. We also drove back into Kanab and walked around the main shopping area, poking our head into pretty much every shop there. It’s all quite walkable and there are plenty of friendly people to talk to as well. My favorite shops were: Denny’s Wigwam & Curio and Nature’s Showcase Rock Shop.

That night we did eat in Kanab, but our dinner was kind of ‘meh’ so I’ll just skip over that…

Day 5: Glen Canyon Dam, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon X

The time change between Utah, Arizona and the areas of Arizona that don’t recognize daylights savings is super confusing! We had a tour planned for Canyon X, but I messed up when I did the math, so we were super early. It worked out great though, because it gave us plenty of time for a sit-down breakfast and to see some additional sights!

Glen Canyon Dam: We drove over the bridge and followed the directions to the overlook, only to be totally surprised by the amazing sight of the Glen Canyon Dam. It is the second highest concrete-arch dam in the US (second to the Hoover Dam) and produces power that goes to Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska.

Besides being hard-working, it’s pretty nice to look at. There are a billion steps to get down to the viewing area, and once you’re down there are lots of rocks to climb around on. Just don’t get too close to the rim!

Horseshoe Bend: Horseshoe Bend is one of the most recognized and visited places in Glen Canyon and an “instagram hotspot.” To park in the parking lot, you’ll have to pay the $10 fee.

The hike to the overlook is an easy 1.5 miles round-trip over a hardened path (very accessible and I saw people with strollers having no difficulties). Keep in mind when you get up to the actual overlook, most of the rim is exposed so you need to be careful not to fall to your death. Just saying.

Antelope Canyon X: I did a bunch of research into Antelope Canyon to determine between an Upper Canyon or Lower Canyon tour (you can only go with a tour group). However, I found another option… Canyon X. It’s a little less popular, tours are less expensive, and it’s less crowded. WINNER!

I booked the Antelope Canyon X Hiking Tour by Taaddiin Tours, which was pretty reasonable at $39.62 per adult and $30.19 per child. The tour lasted 1.5 hours and our guide took us through the entire Canyon X, we turned around at the end and then came back through.

It. Was. Amazing. However, also lots and lots of stairs here — you need to go down a million stairs to get to the canyon, and then back up them at the end of your hike.

Between our three hikes (to the dam overlook, to Horseshoe Bend and to Antelope Canyon X) my iWatch said we climbed 30 flights of stairs. Which I fully believe because we were exhausted at the end of the day!

Food Stops on Day 5:

Ranch House Grille (Page, AZ): A great diner breakfast kind of spot with some delicious French toast, bacon and eggs. And that put-some-hair-on-your-chest diner coffee that I love too. A wonderful start to our day!

Fiesta Mexicana (Page, AZ): An authentic Mexican restaurant with huge portions and delicious food. Jack and I split a meal and there was plenty of food to go around.

I’ll stop here for now, but be sure to come back to the blog tomorrow for Family Travel, Part 3: Belly of the Dragon, Cat Stair Canyon, Zion National Park.

Before I left for our Spring Break Trip, I very naively scheduled to write and publish a blog post this week. A blog post. Meaning ONE. Yeah, we shoved SO MUCH fun into our trip that instead of one gigantic, massive blog post, I’ve actually written three. So, this week will be all about our spring break trip to Nevada, Northern Arizona and Southern Utah!

Today’s post — Family Travel, Part 1: Vegas, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire State Park, Red Hollow Slot Canyon

Tuesday’s post — Family Travel, Part 2: Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Kanab, Glen Canyon Dam, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon X

Wednesday’s post — Family Travel, Part 3: Belly of the Dragon, Cat Stair Canyon, Zion National Park, Vegas

Before we get into it, if you’d like to read my planning post, you can find it here: Planning a Family Trip to Arizona, Nevada and Utah

Okay, buckle up and let’s start!

Day 1: Fly to Vegas.

We decided to fly into Vegas this time (rather than Phoenix), since most of the places we wanted to visit were in the Northern Arizona/Southern Utah areas. Our airplane landed at 10pm on Tuesday night, so I really just wanted a hotel on the strip that was cheap and not too disgusting so we could get a good night’s sleep and hit the road in the morning.

I found that at the Excalibur Hotel & Casino – it literally cost us $74 for the night. And it was fine. Just fine. The room was clean – but in that “don’t look too close” kind of way. There was yuck in the corners of the bathroom and wallpaper was peeling. With that being said, it was $74. We saved more than that on plane fare by flying in a night earlier. So, I’ll call it a win.

Day 2: Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire State Park

As planned, we checked out of our hotel, picked up our rental car and hit the road. Our VRBO condo was in Kanab, UT, so we decided to take the scenic route and hit a few amazing spots on the way.

Lake Mead: We ended up purchasing an America the Beautiful National Parks Annual Pass ($80) when driving through to Lake Mead. This was super helpful, because we used the pass throughout our trip (and I think we will be able to use it at Assateague over the summer). Getting out of the car at Lake Mead felt like we were in another world. It was absolutely silent and there was nobody around for miles. I could have set up a hammock with a book and been quite happy there for hours.

Hoover Dam: We saw that the Hoover Dam was nearby-ish, so we decided to make a little detour to go and check it out. Totally not worth it. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of people there and it was just overcrowded and horrible. We took in the views from the car, made a short stop at a park-and-ride pullover and then got the heck out of there.

Valley of Fire State Park: This stop was planned on our itinerary and a million times worth it! It cost $9 to enter and we first parked at the Visitors Center parking lot. The Visitor Center was closed, but we were able to refill our water bottles at the nearby pump and also do the short hike to the Balancing Rock.

Jack absolutely loved his first taste of climbing on all the rocks. After our short hike, we hopped back in the car and followed the road to the Fire Wave. There is a rocky parking lot by that hike with lots of cars. We also saw a bunch of people getting pulled over by the police, so make sure to pay attention to the speed limits! Once parked, we climbed up the rocks to overlook the canyon.

This must be one of those “Instagram spots” because OHMYGOD the ridiculousness of the people up top posing was too much. My husband and I could not stop laughing and I have a photo of him giving his best “Instagram model” pose, lifting his shirt and sticking out his tummy. I won’t share it here, but believe me when I say it’s hilarious.

Once we climbed back down from the popular area, we decided to do our own detour. Heading back towards the parking lot, we took a right and just hiked out a bit. It was so much more beautiful with basically nobody around. We hung out a bit, climbed on some rocks and enjoyed the scenery. This spot was the perfect place to view the canyon of red rock formations that are made from Aztec sandstone. When the sunlight hits, the formations look like they are on fire, giving the park its name: Valley of Fire.

Food Stops on Day 2:

Inside Scoop (Overton, NV): We were getting hungry on our way to Valley of Fire, so we stopped at Inside Scoop for sandwiches, fries and ice cream. I recommend the French Dip.

Mo’ Bettahs (St. George, UT): This may have been one of our favorite meals from our whole trip! We absolutely loved Mo’ Bettahs and stopped there on our way to Kanab. My favorite was the kalua pig and rice, Jack loved the shrimp tempura, and Travis’ favorite was the teriyaki chicken. We actually meant to stop here on our way back to Vegas too, but accidently passed the exit by a half hour before we realized it!

Day 3: Red Hollow Slot Canyon

On our first day waking up in Kanab, we decided to check out the Red Hollow Slot Canyon near Orderville. The trail takes you through a sandy wash through an absolutely beautiful red and white slot canyon. It’s a little off the beaten track, so we only saw a couple other families hiking around while we were there. There was still a little bit of ice and some melting icicles, but it wasn’t too difficult to climb over them into the canyon. Jack found his name carved there, so he insisted on taking a photo with it.

Food Stops on Day 3:

Sunny Creek Coffee (Kanab, UT): We actually stopped by this little food truck most mornings for breakfast, because it was so good. My daily order was the bacon, egg and cheese ‘basic’ on a croissant. YUM!

Havana Cubana (Kanab, UT): We loved this cute little Cuban restaurant in Kanab. Both Travis and I enjoyed the Cubano sandwich.

I’ll stop here for now, but be sure to come back to the blog tomorrow for Family Travel, Part 2: Red Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Kanab, Glen Canyon Dam, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon X