Utah - Arizona Trip Spring 2021

Our daughter, Elizabeth received her Ph.D in the Spring of 2020 and moved to Salt Lake City to teach and conduct research as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Utah. In other circumstances, we would have helped her move but, due to COVID, we knew nothing about her living situation or the environs of her new location. Thus, traveling to see her and see where she was making her new life was a very high priority. Plus, we had a new granddog, Piper, to meet.

Early spring, we were double vaccinated but were still being reasonably cautious as was Elizabeth. She was willing to have us stay with her but the last thing we wanted to do was bring the virus with us.  We planned the trip for when finals were over so Elizabeth would be available to do things with us such as hiking and exploring. Having enjoyed the Moab area two years before on our trip to Santa Fe, we wanted to continue exploring the National Parks and natural wonders of that part of the country.  As it turned out, our timing was spot on as we got to the parks when the weather was just right, and the crowds had not yet reached their summer peaks.

We decided to drive out as the cost of rental cars was spiking up and driving gave us control over exposure. Driving also allowed us to take Bella as she is a good car traveler. So, we started to plan a road trip. Lowering risk meant driving straight to Salt Lake City with no side excursions. The high priority National Parks were Bryce and Zion in southern Utah and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Day trips to these locations were not feasible so we decided to get an AirBnB in Sedona as our base of operations for the Grand Canyon excursion.  Coming back, we had more flexibility, so we contacted Lenora’s family and built those legs of the trip around visiting them.

With the structure of the trip set, we could fill in the details. Lenora does the bulk of the driving with me spelling her every couple hours or so. We set a cap of eight hours of driving per day then worked out waypoints which, while we wouldn’t fully explore them, would break up each day’s driving while providing interesting diversions from the monotony of highway driving. On the return trip, we had the luxury of time and decided to put some bucket list items on the itinerary.

In quick summary, the outbound trip was five days timed to arrive in SLC on Mother’s Day. We stayed with Elizabeth for four days then repacked the car, three people and two dogs, and drove to Zion where we stayed for two nights. We then drove to Sedona where we stayed for six nights taking a wonderful day trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon . We travelled back to SLC by way of the North Rim. We stayed for another week in SLC hiking the various city parks and trails, day tripping to Antelope Island State Park (reached via causeway as it sits in the lower end of the Great Salt Lake), visiting the Arboretum, Temple Square, and visiting with one of Lenora’s college friends. While in SLC, Lenora and I also took day trips to Bryce Canyon and Park City.

The return trip was eight days and ticked off a number of bucket list items. The first two days were what we call ‘slice of life’ as we got off the interstate and took a two-lane highway essentially all the way from SLC to Denver. We then took a left turn north to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands. From there, the itinerary had us hopscotching southeast visiting friends and family.

Looking at it in greater detail, the trip out was at once uneventful and filled with small, but intriguing, experiences. As in most things, we are a little quirky when we travel – ofttimes we deliberately seek out the new while returning to the comfort of the familiar other times. There is a pizza place in downtown Charlestown, WV, that makes great pizza and that has become our ‘go to’ location for trips heading out northwest. A large pizza is both lunch and dinner that day. The pizza was finished in Lexington, KY, where we toured the Univ. of KY Arboretum. The next day’s planned lunch break spot was a state park in the middle of Indiana. As we approached, we saw a series of signs advertising Butt Drug proudly proclaiming it as a 'not to be missed' attraction. It was located just one exit before our planned exit so, after a couple sophomoric guffaws at the name, we got off and found ourselves in a charming little town. Butt Drug was indeed an old-time drug store with an old-time soda fountain counter, but one that also sold moonshine. After a picnic lunch at the park, we drove on to St. Louis. Day 3’s lunch stop was downtown Kansas City. We took a walking tour of the Jazz District and popped into the American Jazz Museum for a quick look around. Lincoln, NE, our end of day destination, is an interesting combination of Midwest corn town and university town. We could see the big grain elevators from our hotel. It was graduation night and proud parents packed restaurants in the downtown so we couldn’t eat out if we wanted to. Day 4 was our ‘Wild West’ day.  The lunch stop was an authentic Boot Hill Cemetery in Ogallala, NE. We then went to Cheyanne, WY, where we took a self-guided walking tour of the historic downtown. There, it was high school prom night and our ever-photogenic Bella made it into a lot of prom pictures as we walked around town. Day 5 was a straight shot into Salt Lake City with just a quick stop in Rock Springs, WY, to stretch the legs. It was Mother’s Day and we had left North Carolina with the flowers in bloom, but the overhead signs on I-80 were warning that the highway would likely be closed by snow that night. We thought we were through with winter but, at elevation, snow is always a possibility. Once we were safely ensconced in Elizabeth’s apartment, Lenora took great pleasure in looking at the snow-capped mountains but, while we were on the road, the idea of snow freaked her out.

Salt Lake City proved to be our new favorite city to visit, not the least because Elizabeth lives in a wonderful part of town, the Avenues. Lenora and Elizabeth went hiking most days. There are several parks with great amenities. There are multiple dog parks within walking distance of Elizabeth’s building. The Arboretum is beautiful with a great view of the city. We also found some fantastic restaurants and an ice cream shop with dairy free ice cream for Elizabeth.

The trip to Sedona was a wonderful excursion. The first stop was Zion National Park where we stayed at a hotel within walking distance of the main entrance. We divided and conquered as Lenora and Michael would watch Piper while Elizabeth hiked challenging trails and Elizabeth watched Bella while we took the bus tour of the main canyon.

The AirBnB in Sedona was everything we needed it to be, especially as it was half a block from a major trailhead. We took the Pink Jeep tour, watched the sunset from the airport (although a better one was observed from our neighborhood the last evening), toured the Church in the Rocks (which we could see from our place), hiked a lot, and had a wonderful lunch with dear friends who now live outside Phoenix.

Choosing Sedona as the base for our trip to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon allowed us to spend the entire day in the park. An unexpected surprise was that Route 89A out of Sedona is one of the most beautiful drives in America as its frequent switchbacks climb the verdant mountains that frame Oak Creek Canyon. Once at the Grand Canyon, Elizabeth hiked a trail down into the canyon while Lenora and Michael walked the Rim Trail with the dogs. We stayed until the purple shadows of sunset creeping up the walls of the canyon capped a day overflowing with unparalleled natural beauty, each vista more inspiring than the one before. 

Our subsequent day at the North Rim was marked by high winds, high enough that the loop road to the primary viewing points was closed. Elizabeth walked a knife edge out to one viewing point and was nearly blown off the trail.  A key takeaway from our experiences is an appreciation for the amazing diversity of natural beauty in America. One approaches the South Rim through Arizona desert, then one of the most beautiful and varied vistas anywhere opens in front of you, so vast that it fades into the horizon in every direction. In contrast, the North Rim is approached through the verdant Kaibab National Forest and its towering pine trees hug close to the edge of the canyon.  The green of the trees brings contrast to the reds, oranges, purples, and yellows of the cliffs.  The views are beautiful, but rather than vast, are intimate vignettes framed by the pines.

Back in Salt Lake City, we continued to explore the city, within the constraints of COVID. The public spaces of Temple Square are not open, however, we took the docent guided tour, discussing comparative religion with the erstwhile, young guides at the end. Park City was nice but, off season in a pandemic, it was a bland echo of how it was the last time we visited. Bryce Canyon is a true 'not to be missed' National Park. Its vistas are spectacular yet, to our eyes, lack the variety of 'wonder-filling' experiences that Zion provides.

We left SLC on Memorial Day and decided to avoid the interstate on a major holiday. U.S. Route 40 is a two-lane road which took us through the scenic northeast portion of Utah and into Colorado. On the border is Dinosaur Monument National Park which was our stop to break up the first day’s driving. We then proceeded on to Steamboat Springs where timing did not allow us to sample the hot springs; however, an outdoor garden was a pleasant diversion. A sign at the gate said, “Beware of Bear” and the next day, as we drove out of town, there was an item on the local news that a person had been mauled by a bear near Steamboat that evening.

We drove through the Rocky Mountains, with snowbanks still lining the road, crossing via Berthoud Pass at 11,300 feet and stayed that night at Michael’s childhood friend’s house in Boulder, CO. Our plan had been to cross via the road through Estes National Park, but that road was closed by fresh snowfall on June 1^st. The next day took us back through Cheyenne, WY, south to north this time, to Mount Rushmore then on to Wall, SD, where we ate dinner at Wall Drug, an iconic roadside stop made famous by the movie, “Nomadland”. The next morning, we drove through Badlands National Park, passing through an unfenced buffalo herd just outside the main gate, and then on to Des Moines, IA. After a reminiscing filled breakfast with Lenora’s college roommate / matron of honor / BFF, we drove to Lenora’s brother and sister-in-law’s house in Springfield, IL, stopping at the Amana Colonies in Iowa for lunch. After a non-travel day spent visiting the Lincoln Library and a Frank Lloyd Wright house, it was on to Cincinnati to visit Lenora’s other brother and his family. The last day was a long day of driving, again passing through Charleston, WV, for a stop at our regular pizza place, crossing the Appalachian Mountains till finally home. The end of our literally ‘monumental’ trip was celebrated by eating the last of the pizza at our own kitchen table.

We enjoy our road trips despite the mundane hours spent on interstates. We seek out ‘slice of life’ experiences rather than gilded tourist traps. We talk to locals and fellow travelers whenever possible. We eat where the locals eat (mostly takeout on this trip) and stay in Red Roof Inns as Bella stays for free. We travel heavy making the people we visit think we are moving in.  We plan in some detail then remain open to serendipity changing the plans. We are looking forward to the end of the pandemic and its travel restrictions but, in the meantime, are traveling where and how we deem it safe.