On the road again...

May an even MORE outdoorsy leg of this road trip commence! I'm going to be a little more relaxed with blogging this go-around (oboist Type-A habits die hard, though...).

After learning many lessons the first time around, we packed smarter and lighter for the next leg of our road trip - Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and Vegas. I was so surprised to find how excited I was to get back on the road! Don't get me wrong, time off to chill in LA was greatly appreciated (and still rather eventful, all things considered). But the Suzy Squad has more to see...with fingers crossed that visiting several national parks during this 3.5 week trip will still be feasible in light of the current war on public funding. We are trying to support the parks in whatever ways we can, and leave no trace at all times. 

ARIZONA:

• Sedona
• Phoenix
• Williams
• Grand Canyon
• Horseshoe Bend

Starting off in Sedona was a fantastic way to begin the trip - revisiting the penultimate stop from the previous leg, this time for my friend Ali's bachelorette party. It was a spectacular weekend of bonding and nature time with an immaculate crew, of course. Nature highlights were hiking around Chapel of the Holy Cross, Mystic Trail, and the confusing but stunning secret trail behind our rental...but quality chilling, cooking, and game time together was paramount. A few of us also stopped at Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix before saying goodbye, which I cannot praise highly enough - LA fam, let's go to the one downtown...

I picked up Alex from the airport, and we head out toward Williams and the Grand Canyon. Originally, we planned to just have dinner in Williams (Route 66 jumping-off town an hour away from the Grand Canyon) and head out to our campsite for the evening...but in our grand tradition of hating to set up tents in the dark while feeling tired and lazy, the gleam of a last minute HoJo bargain was too alluring to pass by. Williams also has a variety of worthy stops for Route 66 aficionados, so it all worked out for the best. 

Fueled and rested up, we headed to our campground in the Grand Canyon during daylight hours to get set up. Our camping experience was not too bad - the facilities were fine, the forested surroundings were lovely, and we were pretty centrally located to visit anywhere on the South Rim. With limited time, we explored the Rim Trail, Kolb and Lookout Studios, Hopi House, and El Tovar Hotel for dinner and lounging. On our way out of the park, we stopped at Desert View Watchtower, which I would HIGHLY recommend - the native art inside of the tower is incredible (and the architecture ain't too bad, either). It was totally worth stopping for a short hike to Horseshoe Bend ​on the drive north to Utah, as well!