Canyons, Canyons Everywhere

This year, our big national parks trip was an ambitious one- an 11 day whirlwind tour through the Southwest. We made stops in Vegas, Zion National Park, Page Arizona, and the Grand Canyon. Scroll on for photos and to hear the story of how it went.

Day 1

Thursday, May 16th, 2024 - Drexel Hill, PA -> Las Vegas, NV

Arrival in Vegas

A big flight for a little girl

Our flight was scheduled for 3:40PM EST, a journey which would have us in the air for a little over 5 hours.

I dropped the girls off with the luggage, parked the car, and made my way back to the terminal. We boarded our flight on time and set out for Vegas!

Trixie did great on the plane

We land successfully in Vegas

The flight went smoothly, but no matter how well it went, a 5 hour flight with a baby and the absolute gauntlet of claiming our bags & getting our rental car was exhausting and we were very glad to reach our hotel room and crash.

Night night

Day 2

Friday, May 17th, 2024 - Las Vegas, NV -> Springdale, UT

The journey to Zion

The next morning, we were up bright and early at about 5 AM. We walked around the hotel grounds a little bit and peeked at the pool while waiting for breakfast.

We ate our breakfast, made a quick run to the grocery store, and then headed over to the famous Las Vegas sign for a photo op:

Viva Las Vegas!

We then hit the road on our way to Zion National Park in Springdale, UT. Our first stopover was Mesquite, NV, right on the border.

Desert highways for miles

We stopped at Del Taco for lunch, as is required on every trip out West

Shortly past Mesquite, we reached the Arizona state line…

…at which point we got stuck in traffic behind an accident for a solid 2 hours, a true disaster of a situation.

After a while, everyone got out of their cars to try to see how long the lineup was.

Once we got past the accident, we reached a nice stretch of highway that was carved through a mountain range, followed by a series of really scenic mesas.

Trixie really struggled with this drive because it took so much longer than it should have and understandably she just didn’t want to be in the car seat anymore at this point.
When we did finally get to the Zion Lodge though, it was very tranquil and a huge relief. The lodge has a nice open, grassy area in front of it where mule deer graze freely as guests mill about.

We got set up in our room and put Trixie girl down to sleep.

We can finally exhale and relax a bit on our porch before going to bed ourselves.

Day 3

Friday, May 18th, 2024 - Zion National Park

Zion Day 1

The next morning, we were up early for breakfast and a little walk on the grotto trail near the lodge.

By the time we were about halfway down the trail, Trixie actually fell asleep in Dana’s arms, so this seemed like as good a time as any to hop on the shuttle and check out the visitor center. Zion has an excellent shuttle system that brings you between all of the trailheads and other points of interest, and cars are generally not otherwuse allowed within the park. It’s a great system that more parks ought to adopt.

We got Trixie a really cute park ranger hat at the visitor center

After a brief stop back at the lodge, we headed to the last shuttle stop, Temple of Sinawava, and did the Riverside Walk Trail.

There's a hike through the water here called The Narrows that goes deep into the canyon, but it was closed because the water level was too high.

After we finished up the trail, we went back to the lodge and relaxed in the grass, played, ate, and went to sleep.

Day 4

Sunday, May 19th, 2024 - Zion National Park

Zion Day 2

The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast and hung out at the lodge for a bit before hopping in the car to head to the Canyon Overlook Trail. The ride there is a fantastic one, featuring stunning views of the canyon walls and a trip through the Mt. Carmel tunnel.

We parked the car and walked to the trail head.

Unlike the Riverside Walk, which was paved, this is more of a “real” trail, which was a lot of fun to do with Trixie in the baby carrier.

After we got back, we hung in the grass for a little bit before dinner

We saw a Yellow Warbler and a really cute little dog named Clever

We had dinner at Zion Pizza & Noodle

After dinner we went back to the room and went to bed.

Day 5

Monday, May 20th, 2024 - Zion National Park

Zion Day 3

Trixie had a rough night of sleep that night, so we decided to take it easier this day than the last few. We hung out in the room and porch for a bit after waking up.

We then took another ride to the visitors center, this time in our car.

One detail of interest- the only cars that are allowed in the park are those that are registered with the lodge.

You have to enter in a code in order to get past the main gate

We spent the rest of the day playing in the grass, checking out the local grocery store in Springdale, and hanging in the room.

Trixie took her first unassisted steps in our room at Zion lodge!

After playing all day, we had a nice dinner at the lodge restaurant.
We put Trixie down to sleep, watched some NHL playoffs, and went to sleep ourselves.

Day 6

Tuesday, May 21st, 2024 - Zion National Park -> Page, AZ

Antelope Canyon

We woke up in the morning and packed up our room to head out to Page, Arizona, the next stop on our journey.

Bye-bye, Zion!

One thing we realized on this trip is that Trixie has started “helping” us get her ready- she walks over to the stroller, picks up the straps, tries to put the bar for it in place, etc. It’s really cute.

Our route to Page takes us back through the Mt. Carmel tunnel and past some spectacular views.

We also passed Checkerboard Mesa on our way out, a well-known feature of Zion National Park.

See ya next time, Zion!

The drives between destinations featured more great mountain views and lots of baby books

Made it to Page!

We got to the hotel a bit early so we put in a load of laundry and wandered the hallways for a bit.

We got some gooooood Mexican food.

You know it's a good sign when the place clearly used to be a Taco Bell

We headed to Carolene’s Tours and got ready to head over to Antelope Canyon, a narrow slot canyon formed over millions of years by floodwaters.

They call this view 'Monument Valley At Sunset'

Trixie did very well in the canyon. She didn’t really like the backpack carrier and got out pretty quickly- I think it was because we were standing still too much. If we were moving along more quickly I think she would have hung in longer. At this point, we grabbed some food and headed back to the room to hit the hay.

The view of Page in the afternoon sun.

Day 7

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024 - Page, AZ -> Grand Canyon

Arrival in Grand Canyon

We woke up and got some coffee at the local donut shop before heading to Horshoe Bend overlook.

Morning!

Horseshoe Bend is right outside of Page, just a few minutes drive from our hotel. It’s yet another fantastic view in a series of fantastic views.

We stopped for one more grocery run and then packed up and headed out for the Grand Canyon!

The ride featured plenty more mountain views, and even a “not-so-grand” canyon along the way (which was actually still pretty darn big).

Made it to the park gates!

Our first stop at the Grand Canyon is Navajo Point.

The Desert View Watchtower

After a little more driving, we reached our destination- The El Tovar Hotel, situated on the Grand Canyon’s South rim.

Our room

This is the view right outside of the hotel.

It’s been a long day, so we walk around a little bit and then head to the Bright Angel Lodge for some dinner at the Harvey House Cafe.

On the way back there was a large elk blocking the door to the hotel, we had to wait for it to wander along. Cute though!

I snuck out to grab a few photos at sunset and then headed back in for bed.

Day 8

Thursday, May 23rd, 2024 - Grand Canyon

Elevation

The next morning, we had breakfast in the restaurant at the El Tovar hotel.

I got a nice view of the El Tovar from afar on our morning walk.

We stopped by the visitor center and I found this excellent Daniel Boone hat which yes, I did buy.

After the visitor center, we spent more time walking around the Grand Canyon Village.

One of the original cabins from the late 19th century

Bright Angel trail (definitely too tough to do with a baby)

Trixie loves this little kitty toy and it made the trip all the way to the Grand Canyon and back!

By this point in the day, the sun and the elevation were really starting to get to us so we went back to the room and settled for the evening.

Day 9

Friday, May 24th, 2024 - Grand Canyon -> Las Vegas, NC

Getting out of Dodge

By the following morning, we were really starting to run out of gas and were not feeling well from the high altitude, so we checked out of the El Tovar and headed back to Vegas to take it easy for a day.

Our route took us along the famous Route 66, where we made a few stops. Our first stop was Goldie’s Diner in Williams, AZ.

After that, we got back on the road until we stopped at the Route 66 museum in Kingman, AZ, not far from the Hoover Dam.

We reached our hotel and everybody was very happy to be out of the car.

We got some dinner and went to sleep.

Day 10

Saturday, May 25th, 2024 - Las Vegas, NV

Decompression

We spent this last day just floating around in the pool and goofing off at the hotel, nothing too eventful. Everyone needed a day to relax before our travel home.

Day 11

Sunday, May 25th, 2024 - Las Vegas, NV -> Drexel Hill, PA

Heading Home

Our flight home left that morning and we departed on time.

Pauly D from Jersey Shore was on our flight (lol).

Trixie did just as well on the flight home as she did on the way there

My little cookie monster

We finally landed, collected our car, and headed home. This had to be the most ambitious journey we’ve ever taken- we certainly learned a thing or two about traveling with a little one. There were plenty of ups and downs, but we’ll never forget Trixie’s first trip out West!