A Weekend Out West

During my senior year of college, some friends and I spontaneously decided to book a trip to Arizona. Our aim was to pack light and do a lot of driving, so we could get the most out of our sight-seeing. I wanted to share some of our experience as I do some reminising :)

DAY ONE

We booked our flights with Southwest Airlines for the first weekend of November, which was a great season to visit during. It was hot outside, but not to the point where everyone was miserable. The sun did set earlier, so we had to make some preparations to drive in the dark. Thank you Southwest Airlines for the Wi-Fi because this made our student lives so much easier. <3 There's something special about flying with your friends and eating snacks in a metal contraption with a ton of strangers. I had a neuroanatomy exam the morning after we flew back, so I spent most of the flight studying.

Once we landed in Phoenix, we got into our rental car and set out on our adventure! We gained our first experience at In-N-Out Burger, which you can't go wrong with a burger and animal-style fries. Leave it to my sister to ask for an In-N-Out paper hat to wear, so she was definitely riding in style.

One of the keys to a successful girls' trip and a long journey of driving is having a BOMB music playlist--so make sure you have that set up. We were in route from the airport to Flagstaff for the night. The drive was so scenic and beautiful!! I probably said "look at the cacti" in excitement about ten different times during the roadtrip. We decided to stop and get out of the car at Sunset Point Rest, which is between Phoenix and Sedona. Since it was still daylight, the views of the valleys and mountains were breathtaking. There were also restrooms and vending machines--but I would suggest making sure you are always accompanied with someone when stopping by a rest stop because it can get a lil sketchy.

We ended up in Sedona until sunset--a desert town surrounded by canyon walls and pine forests. Along with its natural beauty, there were many places to eat, stay, and have fun! We continued to climb up in altitude around red rock scenery and then next thing we knew, we were casually passing a Red Lobster. We stopped wherever it was most convenient to take in all the views. We loved getting to see the Cathedral Rock formation to snap some pictures. We also stopped by the start of the trailhead to Devil's Bridge, which I would have loved to hike if we weren't in such a time crunch. I was relieved that I did not see any tarantulas (as I have an insane phobia). As it started to get darker, we headed towards Flagstaff and spent an hour in Walmart stocking up on some groceries and essentials. The plan was to stay in a cute lil Airbnb by Grand Canyon, but we were notified that there was a water outage. Luckily, we work well with last-minute changes and continued to go with the flow! We stayed the night in a cheap hotel and went to bed early to get a headstart to our next day.

DAY TWO

Somehow, the four of us managed to wake up before the crack of dawn. We had places to be and things to see! Shout out to Days Inn for providing us with muffins for our car journey.

We took the drive from Flagstaff to Grand Canyon National Park, listening to worship music. There's something about driving in the dark and hearing such powerful words that really just changes the whole vibe for the day.

The Grand Canyon is divided into three main areas: the South Rim, the North Rim, and the West Rim. We arrived near the Mather Point, making it just in time to watch the sun rise over the rock walls. There were colorful layers of pinks, oranges, and purples--making it a view that I will never forget. I stayed further back, away from the edge, as I did not feel like risking my life for some pictures. You can take in the full experience without having to be a dare devil like I did :) The visitor center was worth checking out. We also stopped by the closest Starbucks for some warm drinks, which was next to a liquor store. There's nothing like starting your day strong by enjoying some Bloody Marys before driving down Route 66 with "Life is a Highway" blasting from the car speakers. We randomly ended up driving past Bedrock City, which was unique seeing a Flintstones-themed roadside attraction.

We headed towards Horseshoe Bend, which is about a half-mile walk from the parking lot. I would definitely say that the drive was worth the view, but once again, you are standing on the edge of a high cliff. There was a girl taking photos and she almost slipped--so don't be that girl. It was also very windy, in which my go-pro was almost knocked out of my grasp. Antelope Canyon is a short, convenient distance away from Horseshoe Bend. However, it was closed to the public during our visit. On the plus side, Arizona lived up to its hype of having good Mexican restaurants. We went to Fiesta Mexicana because it had a sign that said "best margaritas in town," so obviously we had to go there. You simply cannot go wrong with a frozen strawberry margarita paired with a sample plate full of nachos, quesadillas, and mini chimichangas!

A few hours into our drive, we crossed the state border of Utah. My sister absolutely cracked me up because she made us stop by a porta potty. It was so windy that I thought the entire thing would fall over with her inside it, but luckily it did not. When going on a road trip, it is vital that you are with the right people--people, who are willing to be light-hearted even in the midst of stress and have fun. I was non-stop laughing throughout the course of the trip, which is the best way to spend it! We arrived at our Airbnb in Apple Valley later in the night. It started snowing, so we were glad to end our drive just in time. We played some games, laughed some more, and fell asleep to "Mall Cop" because what better way than to end the night than this way.

DAY THREE

Once again, we woke up super early to get the most out of our day. We got to witness another beautiful sunrise and ate breakfast in the car. Driving through Zion National Park, we passed by many quaint coffee shops and diners. November was an ideal time to visit this park because it was not super crowded, fall colors were everywhere, and light snow even covered the tops of the canyons. Although Angel's Landing was closed, we loved hiking the Canyon Overlook Trail. It was a moderate hike of one mile, leading to a panoramic view of Zion's cliffs and towers. I honestly could not asked for a better view of this park. If you have time, I would recommend checking out the Narrows--but you have to take a bus to the trail.

We ate brunch at Meme's Cafe, enjoying breakfast sandwiches and mimosas. We did some planning for the day, deciding what the best route was to get to our destination for the night. We booked round trip flights out of Phoenix, so we needed to head back down there. Since we drove a certain route to Zion throughout the previous days, we decided to change it up by going through Las Vegas on the way back. It only added a couple hours to the drive, which we thought was worth it. I feel like everyone should visit Las Vegas once in their lifetime, but it was not the city for me. There were crowds everywhere and people were constantly trying to sell things to us as we walked past them. We did spend some money gambling for about an hour and won .25 cents back! WOO!

We were aiming to stay the night in Sedona and head to the Phoenix airport the next morning. However, that certainly was not the case. After driving for a few hours, it started snowing rapidly. We had insurance for our car rental--but we were not prepared whatsoever to drive in the snow. We got stuck in a blizzard, which was extremely unexpected. With about 1/4 tank of gas left, we decided to pull over on the side of the road because our alternative was attempting to drive down a mountain in the snow. The interstate ended up closing down temporarily, so our insurance company could not get anyone to us. After freaking out and calling the police, we were fortunately able to make it to a motel later in the night. Thanks to our Melissa McCarthy look-alike for coming to our rescue and letting us hop in your tow truck :) We woke up the next morning, booking it to the Phoenix airport to get on our plane.

We had some margaritas to end the trip and celebrate making it out alive on our last night. Shoutout once again to Southwest Airlines for getting us home and even for random singing through the plane speakers.