Vegas to Phoenix Road Trip 8: Summary

This was another one of our full on over packed trips where we try to see as much as possible in the short time available to us and end up spending more than we had planned!

Our trip plan drew on the week long US Parks Grand Tour suggestions, but even more on this 2007 Grand Tour which is a modified version of that US Parks Tour. Our main alterations were to avoid Hoover Dam (I've done the hydro school expedition every year growing up); to drive in the opposite direction; to stay at Tusayen near the south entrance of the Grand Canyon (which was more central and avoided backtracking); and to finish in Phoenix rather than doing a circuit from Vegas. The latter cost us a $133 one way car rental fee - thanks for nothing Thrifty!

The kids and Donna loved Vegas while I had had enough after a day and a half! The Utah parks were amazing. While we enjoyed all three, the quieter / less visited the park was the more we enjoyed it. This also resulted in the Grand Canyon being lower on our list than the other parks we visited. However this may be different if we had managed to get down in the Canyon to get a greater sense of its expansiveness.

If we had more time I don't think we would have visited any other parks in the areas we travelled through. Rather we would have spent more time where we've been. Zion's Kolob Canyons would have been an addition. Sedona may also have been worth staying in and doing some walking or riding. There were quite a few more Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Phoenix that I would have liked to have seen. I've mentioned the Boneyard in Tucson as well. We also didn't have much in the way of relax time, reflected in why I'm writing this a week after getting back! Being able to stop and enjoy some of the vistas, and walk a bit further on some of the tracks would also have added to the trip.

But given the time we had available, I think Donna's planning was pretty spot on in using the time we had to see what we did.

I've been keen to get to Moab in Utah to do some mountain biking while we are here. Arches and Canyonland National Parks are in that area too. Given what we saw in Utah has left me even keener to get up to Moab!

I've just added links to all the individual posts for this trip to photos. Each of the individual albums are available on Picasa from here.

Malcolm