Road Trip : Utah, Arizona, Nevada | 01/02/2018 – 01/06/2018
Reliving Memories of a Road Trip 2018
Destinations : Zion National Park, Lake Powell, Navajo Bridge, Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon, Las Vegas
I am sharing it all with you, just because my road trip last year was by far one of my favorite and want to recollect all the moments. 🙂
It was the holidays and my family and I wanted to do some traveling. It didn’t take long for us to decide the road trip, as I had always wanted to visit Antelope Canyon. I thought why not tackle other places along the way. After looking up some areas around Antelope Canyon, we found some great locations and our road trip was made.
( get a glimpse, view UT|AZ|NV highlights on my Instagram account @alifestylevolume )
There were about 7 locations on the list and we could not be more excited to visit them all: Zion National Park, Lake Powell, HorseShoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley and Bryce Canyon. And yes also Las Vegas.
Zion National Park
As we headed out, our first stop was Zion National Park. The scale and height of nature were beyond what I expected. We stopped and went on a small hike up the mountains. Checking out the rocks from up close and admiring the heights of the mountains, was my favorite thing. Definitely going to visit again to explore other hikes!
Lake Powell
We spent that night in Kanab, Utah; a small town that went to sleep by 8 pm. We were starving when we reached but couldn’t find anything open and that too vegetarian food. Luckily we found a local burger stop, Big Al’s Burgers, and pigged out there. I must say, the burgers and their sauces were just delicious; seriously treasured every bite. Next morning, on our way to Antelope Canyon, we stopped at Lake Powell and the Navajo Bridge. Lake Powell was beautiful, and to take a closer look, we hiked down to reach near the waters. No one was down there, which gave a more pleasing time to admire the view and feel the peace.
Horseshoe Bend
My friends had been to Horseshoe Bend and I really wanted to know what was about this place that people found worthwhile to visit. First of all, it’s a walk in and second of all, we got there a little early for the perfect experience. To get the perfect shot of the Horseshoe Bend, the sun has to be above it so that there are no hard shadows blocking out the scene in the picture. In my opinion, 12 pm seems about the right time to visit for those awesome pics. The experience overall was pleasing. I must say I am frightened of heights but it was worthwhile seeing the water walk through massive rocks, and just sitting there reflecting on nature do her things.
Antelope Canyon
I didn’t know that tickets needed to be purchased weeks in advanced for the tours at Antelope canyon. Since our trip was decided last min, I wasn’t able to get the tickets for it. Now there are two types of canyons, the lower and the upper. Upper Canyon is the more popular than the lower canyon, so its at a high demand but none of the tours were available for either or since it was the holiday season. Instead I found tickets for x-canyon, which is somewhere next to Antelope canyon. X-canyon tours is a privately owned property my Native-Americans who run a family tour business at a much lower price. It was a pleasure to feel the welcome and warmth from the Native family. The tour was informative and less crowded which made the experience a lot more enjoyable. I definitely recommend this tour if you are wanting more time on pictures and/or fewer crowds.
PS: you’ll get the best picture around noon time when the sun is above. If using an iPhone – use filter dramatic for good color capture.
Monument Valley
Right after the tours, we headed towards Monument Valley. As time was running late, we weren’t able to take our car down and drive through the valley, but the sunset was perfect and got a great shot. Also, there is a history on the locals that I found intriguing. They are naturally artistic people and a lot of their work is sold at the gift shop. Later that night we ate at a restaurant called El Tapatio in Page and, oh my; the food was delicious! The wait time was an hour but totally worth it. I highly recommend the churro plate for all you sweet tooth.
Bryce Canyon
Next day we were headed towards Bryce Canyon. As we got closer, we stumbled upon snow! (The highlight of my sisters trip) Truly, nature has got its own beauty that can’t be comparable. Along with our hike at Bryce Canyon, we couldn’t stop ourselves from reading and understanding the forms of each stone. I can’t really describe it in words so just have a look at the pictures taken below.
Las Vegas
Since our home is in LA, on our way back, we had to stop in Vegas to top off our trip. 🙂 In Vegas, we basically explored the hotels since I love architecture and design; my favorite being Encore at Wynn Hotel. I have been there couple of times so nothing was unique although you can never fail to not enjoy your time at Vegas right? But my highlight was eating at this Italian restaurant called Nora’s Italian Cuisine. It was a random pick from yelp and my family and I didn’t expect the food to be so tasty. It is vegetarian friendly and would definitely recommend it.
Overall
I came to find that this was one of my favorite road trips done with family. In four days we got to cover almost 7 locations. I never felt so close to nature and realize how grand she is. Nature’s power and strength is my true inspiration and belief that growth relies from within which eventually shows on the outside done through movement. And if Nature does grow, she never announces it, she lets her action speak, and that’s her way of communication. That is all for reliving my memories of this road trip 2018.
