We have just returned from another great family road trip through the Southwest. This one was 16 days and it was our busiest road trip, yet. We ventured all through the southwest and into Colorado and the sights were fabulous! While we think we still prefer the more northern states to the southwest, this trip was one for the books and the itinerary worked great for us.
Almost 6,000 miles (including the little side trips we made) from Nashville, this itinerary that we created allowed us to see ALOT and to experience a ton.
We left early on a Thursday morning and stopped in Hot Springs, AR to check that national park off our list. It is safe to say this isn’t a national park that you want to spend a lot of time at, but if you have the National Park Passport like we do and want to get your stamp for this park, pull over in Hot Springs to get it. We spent the night in Hot Springs and then headed out early the next morning for Amarillo.
I sang the song, “Amarillo by Morning” the entire time we are in the car and headed there – no one was as impressed by my singing as I was. We spent one night in Amarillo before heading to New Mexico. Of course, when in Amarillo you have to stop at two attractions:
Next stop — Albuquerque, New Mexico. We have visited Albuquerque / Santa Fe, New Mexico before but thought this would be a great place to stop overnight. We walked around Old Town, had dinner, and went to bed early at our Airbnb because we had to leave pretty early the next morning.
We then left for Williams, AZ. It’s here we had a great southwest Mexican dinner, swam in the hotel swimming pool, and woke up early the next morning to check another national park off our list and get our stamp — The Grand Canyon. I have been to The Grand Canyon once when I was younger and remember others saying it’s a good stop for a few hours but to spend more time in Northeast Arizona and boy are they right. We used Guide Along (formerly known as Gypsy Guide) which is an audio tour guide app that uses the GPS on your phone as an audio guide. We have used it for many years is a lot of different parks and always look forward to the tours. They’re really great.
We drove on later that afternoon once we were finished at Grand Canyon to Page, Arizona to our Airbnb. We had a quick dinner and then headed to Horseshoe Bend for sunset. WOW is all I can say about this place. It’s a MUST-SEE/DO when in Page, AZ – it’s even worth a special trip over. It’s one of the highlights for us for the entire trip. Here are a few tips for planning and visiting Horseshoe Bend.
The next morning, we woke up very early for a tour of Upper Antelope Canyon. We had heard that Lower Antelope Canyon offers better photography and light, but my goodness, Upper did not disappoint at all. If you have someone in your group who can’t wait on rough terrain or climb a lot of steps or you’re looking for a not as strenuous hike, Upper Antelope Canyon is your best bet. We had Tyrone as our tour guide from Tse Bighanilini Tours and he was FANTASTIC! He showed us exactly where to take photos, what edits to use with the camera on our phones, and provided tons of great history and insight during the tour. It’s about a 15 minute drive on the back of a truck through the desert to get to the canyons and that in itself is such a fun ride. We cannot recommend Antelope Canyon enough!
We then took the boat tour on Lake Powell through the canyons and it was amazing as well. Lake Powell is somewhere we see ourself coming back to sometime in the future to spend more time there. The water is so crystal clear (must different — and better than those murky Tennessee lakes we know of). Lake Powell is actually a lake I can see myself swimming in and feeling ok with my kids being in.
Our next stop (the next day) was a couple hours away to Kanab, UT. This is a great place when visiting Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. The day we drove into Kanab was the day we visited Zion. While Zion National Park is gorgeous, the crowds (even in the non-peak season) were a little much for us. But, it’s definitely one you need to visit if you haven’t yet. That evening we ate at Peekaboo Canyon Woodfire Grill and goodness, was the wood fire pizza amazing! The next day we did Bryce Canyon National Park (of course we got our passport stamps here and also used the GuideAlong app for our tour through the park). Another beautiful national park and a must-see!
After spending two nights in Kanab, we drove a couple of hours to Capitol Reef National Park. This one was surprisingly great to us. We used GuideAlong again and did the entire drive through the park and had a picnic lunch at one of the pull-offs on the drive. The dirt road drive through the canyons in this park was breathtaking.
We stayed at a hotel this evening in the middle of nowhere in Utah to re-group and do some laundry before heading out early the next morning.
Next stop, Moab. We LOVE Moab and have been a few times. We chose to stay 2 nights in Moab this time and did all the things: Arches National Park (one of our personal favorites), the boys and Joe did a ATV ride over rocks and through Hell’s Revenge. They used Epic 4X4 Adventures as their guide and had the best time! We highly recommend them. Arches National Park also has a tour on GuideAlong.
After Moab was Durango, CO. We had to leave Moab SUPER early (like 5am early) in order to catch our train out of Durango on the Durango-Silverton train — this is another MUST SEE/DO when in the area. This was something I had done when I was little and always wanted my kids to experience it. It’s a 3 hours train ride up to Silverton where you have two hours to have lunch and shop in the little shops downtown before heading back on the train to Durango. You can see more of our Durango day and train ride here.
Next, was a side stop to Great Sand Dunes National Park (again, to get our passport stamped) before heading into Colorado Springs for a 2 night stay. In Colorado Springs, we visited Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak. Pikes Peak was a fun ride up to almost the top (they had the very top closed because of ice and snow) and it was a balmy 17 degrees and had heavy snow accumulations. Colorado Springs is also a fun town to explore with lots of great restaurants and shops.
Finally, our trek home — two 8 hour car rides with a stop in Kansas City over night.
This was such a fun (and very, very busy) trip and a great last road trip as a party of 6 (since our oldest heads off to college in a few months).
If you’d like to see more videos and tips, you can check out my Instagram and click on the “SW Road Trip” highlight.
What questions do you have about our southwest road trip? Now, my next question is — where should we road trip to next?
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