Arizona + Nevada for spring break

Finally, we are traveling again.

Very early on a Monday morning, we boarded a plane for Phoenix. This was the first time we’d flown together as a family; the girls had both taken trips for their 13th birthdays, but those were solo trips. Thankfully, we all fly well. One kid doesn’t like how people-y planes are, but we made some modifications after her first flight and this trip was much better.

We’re still on a quest to visit all 50 states before our girls graduate high school. I’m obsessed with planning trips and dreaming about adventures, but the benefits of exposing kids to new experiences and places trumps all the other things I love. Traveling has always been a priority for us, but as my kids get older, and I see how confident they are in new places, I love it even more. Especially as our country becomes more polarized and so many people live in fear of the big bad world, it’s so important we explore outside our comfort zones to realize that much of what we’re told about other places isn’t true. Fear has ruined so many people’s lives and families, and my mission is to show my kids there is more good than bad out there.

This trip was booked through TripMasters. I get a few travel deal emails every week; one I love is TravelZoo. They round up a good selection of trips from all over the world and last fall, an Arizona/Nevada trip made the list. I knew I wanted to end up in Las Vegas for our spring break trip—it’s a good place to fly into and then rent a car—but I didn’t really have specifics in mind. The package I bought through TripMasters was for 8 days/7 nights of hotels and a rental car. I had enough Delta SkyMiles to pay for about half our flights, so the travel package deal plus SkyMiles made this expensive trip a little less painful. (I’m just starting to get into travel hacking with credit cards; I’m very intrigued by this. We’ve never really had more than one credit card, but I’ve been slowly opening and using cards for some insane rewards. TBD if I can get some free travel out of it.)

Phoenix, Arizona was our first stop. We stayed at the Cambria Hotel Downtown. We could either walk or easily drive to everywhere we wanted to go. I’m sharing the places we ate and the things we did, but just know that we had about 10-15 things on our to-do list for every stop and we, obviously, couldn’t do them all. We could have spent a week in any of these locations, there was just so much to do.

We ate at Pizzeria Blanco (so delicious, highly recommend), Huss Brewing Co., and got yummy gelato at Grateful Spoon Gelato. We also took a kayaking trip down the Salt River with Saguaro Lake Guest Ranch. Some of us hiked all of Camelback Mountain, and some of us only hiked about an hour of it.

After Phoenix, we slowly made our way to Sedona, which is about a two-hour drive. On the way, we got breakfast (pie!) at Rock Springs Cafe. There are cute shops at this roadside attraction, so we did some shopping too. We stopped at the Sunset Point rest stop for some amazing views, then made our way down into the desert for a stop at Bumble Bee Ranch. We had reservations at the ranch for horseback riding. If you go, make sure you plan ahead, they don’t allow you to just drop in. Riding horses through an old pioneer town and through the rocky, hilly desert was fun. If you have time to stop, I’d recommend it. They had horses for all experience levels; I’d never ridden a horse before and felt completely comfortable and safe on our ride.

After our ride, we traveled farther into the desert to visit Cleator, a former mining town. I really wanted to visit a ghost town and this did not disappoint. Randomly, we happened to pull up while a film crew from HGTV was there, and we got to meet Jack McBrayer as he filmed an episode of Zillow Gone Wild!, but even if that weird experience didn’t happen, the town was still neat to see. Because we arrived during the filming, we got to meet the mayor/owner of the town (who had recently purchased it and had begun renovating, which is why the show was there) and explore the old schoolhouse and general store. They were all open because of filming, so you might not be able to do that normally. There is a bar in the town, so you can for sure get a cold drink before you hit the long, windy road back to the interstate.

Before we pulled into Sedona, we stopped at Montezuma Castle National Park to see the ruins. It’s a quick stop, but walking the grounds and seeing the structures built into the side of the cliff is incredible. (It costs $10 a person to get into the park, so if you’re making any other national park stops, it’s worth it to buy the annual pass for $80.)

Once in Sedona, we were starving, so we stopped at Dellepaine for dinner. Then we grabbed donuts for the next morning at BoSa Donuts and checked into our hotel: Bell Rock Inn. Technically, we were about 8 minutes outside of Sedona proper, but I loved our location. We could walk to plenty of restaurants and hiking trails, it was a great spot.

We tried a few local coffee shops while we were in Sedona and were able to do multiple hikes up or around the Bell Rock area. Chris and I left the girls in bed one morning and hiked to the top of a mountain during the sunrise. 10/10, would recommend.

We took a Jeep tour with Arizona Safari Jeep Tours one day, and everyone liked it. We did the Rim Run Supreme which was definitely rough and precarious, but worth it for the views at the top. After our trip, we ate at Torte de Fuego, which was good Mexican food.

We tried to visit Chapel of the Holy Cross but parking was a disaster, so we just saw it from afar. Everything was busy, so the earlier you can get to any of the stuff you want to do, the better.

Leaving Sedona, we made a slight detour to Jerome, a former mining town now full of great shops and restaurants. We shopped, had lunch at Haunted Hamburger, and got treats at a candy shop before hitting the road to the Grand Canyon.

We stayed in the park, at Yavapai Lodge, for our one-night stay at the Grand Canyon. If you’re familiar with national park accommodations, they’re not state of the art. They’re basic and unfancy. But the lodge we stayed at was very clean and had been updated in the past few years. So the cinderblock outside was deceiving when we pulled up. And, really, you’re not spending much time in your room, so who cares if it’s not luxurious? I just need a clean place to sleep and shower.

We ate our meals at the Grand Canyon Village cafeteria. Food selection was good, and it was much easier than leaving the park to get food. Entrance to the park for our car was $35, or free if you have the national parks pass.

After doing a bunch of research, I decided just buying a self-guided audio tour was the best option for us. I downloaded the Action Tour Guide app and then selected the Grand Canyon south rim tour. It was great, and we didn’t regret not doing a paid tour. Our children were not super impressed with the Grand Canyon. Teenagers are lame, so we did some of the tour, but not the whole thing. Yes, a lot of it looks the same, but that did not matter to the adults, we wanted to see it all, every inch of it. As we were leaving, Chris said, “We’ll come back here one day without our kids.”

Yes, yes, we will.

After the Grand Canyon, we had our longest drive: 4 hours to Las Vegas. We crossed over the Hoover Dam without stopping, which I regret now that we’re home. We were all just ready to get to the next stop, but it wouldn’t have taken long to stop and see it.

In Las Vegas, we stayed at the Tuscany Resort and Casino. It was about two blocks off the main strip and about one block from the Sphere. We happened to arrive the night Dead and Company were doing a three-show run at the Sphere so our hotel was overrun with stoned hippies. I’m not exaggerating; one of the parking lots was shutdown for all the vendors and people who travel for the shows and because marijuana is legal in Nevada, everywhere we went we got a contact high. So much pot. So many White people in culturally-appropriated dreads.

Again, traveling gives our kids experiences they wouldn’t have if we just stayed home, and this was no exception. I didn’t expect the experience to be drugs, but here we are.

We had a king suite at the hotel, which came with a pullout couch, a large living area, and a kitchen. The hotel had a beautiful pool and the resort was large. They had a great coffee shop on-site and a few good restaurants if you didn’t want to leave the hotel.

We did venture out each night to walk around. There is such good people watching in Vegas, plus all the crazy hotels and shops. We ate delicious ramen one night, Crack Chicken for lunch one day, random snacks or ice cream places we stumbled upon, plus frozen drinks at Fat Tuesday. We bought fresh fruit cups from a sidewalk vendor and spent way too much money at a candy store. One afternoon we went to a nearby outlet mall for shopping and Shake Shack.

Las Vegas weather was perfect, so we got to spend time lounging at the pool in the sun as well. We got tickets to the Museum of Illusions one mid-morning and everyone had fun there. I think our tickets were for 11:00 or 12:00, and by the time we were done, it was getting really busy. Going early allows you to do all the exhibits without waiting in line or too many other people around.

On our way to the airport, we took a little road trip to Seven Magic Mountains, it’s a quick stop, but I’m glad we did it before dropping off our rental car and jumping on a plane to head back home.

Our travel package from TripMasters was a little under $2,000 for all our hotels and car rental. Because I wanted to know how much money we saved, I looked up hotel rates at each hotel we were at and asked the rental car price when I picked up the car. We saved about $800 to $900 with the deal we purchased. I was a little worried the hotels they booked would be a little shady, because you don’t know the actual hotels before you purchase, but they were all great. I’d stay at all of them again. (When you book, you’re told you will be staying at 3-star hotels, that’s all the info provided.)

All the excursions or activities we did weren’t included in the package, but every one we did was fun and worth the cost, in my opinion. Also, because we booked so early, I was researching activities and randomly booking them as I had extra money, so they were all paid for by the time we took off for Phoenix. The trip was definitely not cheap, but because I was able to pay for so much of it ahead of time, we just needed spending money once we hit the road.

Visiting Arizona and Nevada knocked two more states off our bucket list, and we’re now officially down to less than 10 states. Ellie has a little over two years left of high school (seems impossible), but I think we’re on track to make our goal before she graduates.

I can’t believe it’s all that close.