Hello friends and happy March! If you follow me on Instagram (kimsyc), you may have noticed that I just got back from a vacation out in Arizona. Myles had a work event in Phoenix, so I flew out to meet him late Tuesday night. We started our road trip Wednesday afternoon and finally flew home back to RVA on Sunday evening. It was such an incredible time, jam packed with so many activities. I’m still trying to recover from the whirlwind of the week….
Today’s post is going to be a little different, but I really wanted to share with ya’ll the things we did while on our road trip – in case anyone else out there is planning something similar. I ended up taking over 1,000 pictures and so far am having so much fun sorting through all of my shots- the Arizona landscape really is a photographers dream.
I hope ya’ll enjoy this peek into our week. I’m thinking this will be a three or four part series, as there is a lot to cover and I really love reliving the memories (we did drive over 600+ miles after all). So sit back and if anything, scroll through just to enjoy the beautiful shots. If you have any questions please let me know, I love to help out with all things travel related!
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Day One: My flight left Richmond around 4 PM, however I didn’t get into Phoenix until around midnight. Highlight of my flight was upgrading to first class for the first leg of the flight (first timer!) I’m not the best flyer, so this really helped ease my nerves, especially while traveling alone. Once I touched down in Phoenix, I picked up the rental car (our whip for the week!) and drove the 20ish minutes to Scottsdale. At this point it was well past 1 AM, or 3 AM eastern time, and I passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow…
Day Two: I woke up to blue skies and gorgeous 60 degree weather. Vacation mode had officially set in <3 While Myles finished up with his work events, I explored the grounds, made a quick run to Target, and of course grabbed Starbucks. Around noon we packed up the car and were on our way! On our two hour drive to Sedona, we made sure to stop at In and Out Burger (first timers, so delicious!), as well as every scenic stop along the way. Myles and I were both amazed at how quickly the landscape changed between Scottsdale and Sedona- one minute we were surrounded by the desert and cacti, the next minute we were driving through the mountains. It truly was amazing….
One recommendation I have for anyone traveling between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon would be to take the Red Rock Scenic Bypass route through Sedona. It adds about 30 minutes to your trip – but the views of the red rock formations are breath taking. Even better, stop at the ranger station on the way into Sedona and pick up a map- the lady we spoke with was super helpful and gave us advice on where we should stop during our limited time.
Since we only had a few hours to spare, we ended up stopping at a few of the scenic stops near Bell Rock and Cathedral Rock (free if you aren’t hiking). However,my favorite stop by far was the Chapel of the Holy Cross. The views from the top are outstanding. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…..
After a few more stops, we grabbed Mexican at the cutest little restaurant (chips, guac, and margs, sold!) and continued on our last stretch of the day- two hours to the Grand Canyon. We were hoping to make it to our hotel before the sun went down, but we got so caught up exploring Sedona. It really is such a neat town, and I definitely plan on making another trip back out there!
We made it to our hotel – the El Tovar – around 7:30. Just a side note to anyone staying at the Grand Canyon, food options are limited. Try to grab dinner before hand, as most places are either closed during off season or reservation only (we totally made this mistake!) We ended up grabbing some snacks at the hotel lounge, then went to bed early – we were exhausted and had a full day ahead of us!
As always, thanks for reading
XOXO,
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