Kristin Hill Taylor

Seeking God as the Author of Every Story

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Peace in the Process
    • Bringing Home More Than Groceries
  • Contact

Adventuring in Arizona

April 21, 2022 by Kristin Leave a Comment

I’d been wanting to do a road trip in the west, but taking two or three weeks to cover all the spots also just doesn’t seem realistic. I’ve got a freshman in high school and definitely want to squeeze in some more family trips before she graduates. Plus we had some Southwest Airlines credit that expires in June. 

Given all those circumstances: Greg and I looked to see where Southwest flew and where we could go for Spring Break. We landed on Arizona. As we talked through destinations, we decided to fly into Las Vegas, so we could start with the Hoover Dam. (I know that’s Nevada, but, really, we were barely there!) We continued to Grand Canyon and Sedona so we could fly home from Phoenix. 

Greg already had a surprise boys’ trip planned for Ben the first weekend of Spring Break. Considering those plans and flight availability and prices, we ended up scheduling our southwest road trip for Tuesday to Saturday. 

Admittedly, as the trip approached, I wondered if staying in three different places in the four nights would feel like too much. I also wondered if five days was too quick for a westward trip. 

I’m here to tell you: Take the trip. Sure, take this trip. Or take whatever trip it is you’ve been thinking about. This is one of my favorite vacations yets. 

I loved the different destinations and packed for them accordingly. We stayed in Sedona the last two nights, so that gave us a good place to regroup and repack. I brought extra, easy-to-pack bags (these specifically) so we could throw our dirty clothes in there rather than continually repack our suitcases. We used one for a snack bag in our rental car too. And now I like to keep them in my trunk for when I have to haul things in the house.

Five days for this leg of a westward trip was plenty. Yes, we hit the ground running, thanks to an early flight on Tuesday and a time change that put us in Vegas at 8:30 am Pacific time. We never really fully adjusted to the two-hour time difference and found ourselves ready for bed around 8 or 9 pm. We generally woke up around 6 am. 

I say “this leg of the westward trip” because I’m already thinking about the next trip. For our family, seeing the west with our kids seems to work well like this. 

Now, here’s what we did each day:

Day 1 – Hoover Dam

We left home at 3:15 am, flew out of Nashville to Las Vegas, and arrived at 8:30 Pacific time, meaning in time for a second breakfast with my friend Kayse. We ate a delicious meal at The Broken Yolk and wished we lived closer because our kids got along well.

Team Taylor headed about 40 minutes away to Hoover Dam, which was so interesting! We saw Lake Mead, did the Power Plant tour at the dam, and soaked in the warm sun on a windy day. I honestly didn’t know I would be so impressed with Hoover Dam and didn’t realize it was built during the Great Depression. We also got to stand in Nevada and Arizona at the same time!

We stayed the night in Kingman, Arizona, which had Radiator Springs’ vibes along historic Route 66. (Disney’s Radiator Springs was actually based on Seligman, AZ, which wasn’t too far away from us!) Kingman also gave us a delicious meal at El Palacio. We were asleep by 8 pm Mountain Standard Time after a long but good day.

Day 2 – Grand Canyon

We made our way to the Grand Canyon on Wednesday. It sure was, well, grand! My mind and camera really couldn’t capture the vastness. We started at the Visitors Center and walked to Mather Point and around Rim Trail to Grand Canyon Village. Then we rode the shuttle and got off at a few stops on the way to Hermit’s Rest. We walked 13,000 steps!

Some tips: I wish I’d packed reusable water bottles for everyone. We also should have brought more snacks and lunch options with us because those options were limited in Grand Canyon National Park. We did have dinner at Yavapai Lodge, where we also stayed the night

Day 3 – Bearizona / Sedona

We left Grand Canyon National Park that morning, ate breakfast right outside of the park at Foodie Club, and headed to Bearizona in Williams, Arizona. Yes, Bearizona is overpriced for a couple of hours, but we really enjoyed it anyway. It’s a drive-thru, walk-thru wildlife par. They seemed to rehab a lot of the animals. We saw lots of native animals and especially enjoyed the bears who were active and playing with each other. Rachel and the spotted jaguar shared a playful moment too.

We arrived in Sedona about lunchtime and ate at Sedona Pizza & Pasta then explored the Uptown area. Our Pink Jeep Tour that afternoon was the only activity we reserved ahead of time. It was such a fun outing! We did the two-hour Coyote Canyon tour and got to see Dry Creek and lots of red rocks. We had dinner at Oaxaca, which was yummy Mexican food with a southwest twist. Everyone was excited about the two-bedroom condo we are staying in after two nights in the tight quarters of hotel rooms.

Day 4 – Sedona

We had a great day exploring Sedona and ended the day with 16,000+ steps!

We started the day with a 4.13-mile hike on the trail that goes around Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte red rock formations. We enjoyed the scenery and challenge together. The condo we have been staying in is just south of Sedona in the Village of Oak Creek, so we spent a lot of time down in this area, which has worked out well. We got our fill of Uptown the day before.

This day of exploration that unfolded as we went along asl included a brief swim in their clothes for Rachel and Ben, lunch at Tortas de Fuego in Village of Oak Creek (although there’s another Sedona location too), site seeing at Chapel of the Holy Cross and Airport Scenic View, dessert at Rocky Road Ice Cream Co., an impromptu scenic drive to Tuzigoot National Monument in Camp Verde, some downtime at the condo, and delicious dinner at Colt’s Grill in Village of Oak Creek.

Day 5 – Sedona / Phoenix

We enjoyed a little more of Sedona on this last morning of vacation before we began the trek home via Phoenix. We hiked 2.43 miles on the Baldwin Trail near Cathedral Rock. It was a great hike with ups and downs, flat sections, a quick detour to see Oak Creek, and lots of beautiful scenery. We had 7,000 steps by 10 am!

*****

I took a lot of pictures (of course!) and I shared them on Instagram and saved the posts in a Southwest highlight. Be sure to check them out if you want to see more of our adventures.

Another way we make traveling rewarding is using our Capital One Venture credit card. There are travel discounts and rewards. We get a higher percentage back in rewards when we make travel-related reservations, can cash rewards in to cover travel purchases, got reimbursed for our TSA Pre-Check application when we used this card as payment, and can book hotels and rental cards often with discounted rates directly through the credit card website. Win-win, I tell you. (Learn more here!)

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: family, road trips, vacation Tagged With: family, life, motherhood, spring, vacation

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Let’s Connect

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Me

Telling stories is my therapy and I love sharing them with friends on my porch.

The main characters in my stories are my entrepreneur husband, our high school girl who never forgets, our middle school boy who has no fear, and our joy-filled first-grade girl. As we live out our stories, we seek God as the author of them all.

Learn more about my story here.

Subscribe for Updates

Recent Posts

  • How to host a party
  • All the places she’ll go
  • Cruising for Spring Break
  • How to take care of yourself
  • How to recreate favorite foods

Join the Conversation

Join the Conversation

On Instagram

🎶 All throughout my history / Your faithfulness 🎶 All throughout my history / Your faithfulness has walked beside me / The winter storms made way for spring / In every season, from where I'm standing / I see the evidence of Your goodness / All over my life … 🎶 @joshbaldwin in “Evidence”

I love summer. But my summer has started off busy: appointments, book edits deadline, establish new habits with the kids at home. All that’s necessary and good, it just cuts into my down time beside the pool. 

Today we have two open gyms for our basketball players, my book study with a few friends, a new weekly high school girls’ book study at our house, and a monthly dad-son character study. 

I long for a little more white space on the calendar, but I also wouldn’t change a thing because the kids are only 16, 13, and 7 once. This summer will only be this summer once. And I’ve already learned time flies with big kids. 

So here we are finding out footing, singing praises with church friends on our porch, grilling delicious chicken, and squeezing in the wide-open spaces when we can. This is evidence of the good stuff. 

#84daysofsummer #poolpeople #momlife #momconfessions #faithlife #livingfaithfully #favoritethings #choosingJOY #countryliving #reallife #PorchStories
The Hill family reunion at @shelterpointretreat ha The Hill family reunion at @shelterpointretreat has become a favorite tradition to kick off summer! The weather was perfect and everyone enjoyed one another. 

#familyreunion #lakelife #kentuckylake #kylake #getoutside #familytime #memorialday #memorialdayweekend #favoritethings #84daysofsummer #summerisbest #choosingJOY
Hello, #84daysofsummer! ☀️ #TeamTaylor #girl Hello, #84daysofsummer! ☀️ 

#TeamTaylor #girlmom #boymom #momlife #reallife #summerisbest #siblinglove #countryliving #poolpeople #getoutside
First of all, who else has read this book? The plo First of all, who else has read this book? The plot was promising as a thriller and the setting really worked. There were some good twists, and then there were ridiculous twists. I skimmed the end only because I wanted it to make sense. And it didn’t. It was too weird for me. 

But this made me wonder: how do we know if a book is going to be weird, contain elements we don’t like, or go places that don’t make sense? I don’t like to read much about a book before I read the book. Usually, I do a better job of picking books for myself. 

#KHTreads #bookstagram #booklover #donotrecommend #bookofthemonth @bookofthemonth
I needed this low-key weekend that was pleasant we I needed this low-key weekend that was pleasant weather, a mixture of productivity and rest, and had plenty of wide-open space to enjoy our property and each other. 

#weekending #TeamTaylor #poolpeople #countryliving #favoritethings #choosingJOY #maydays
And that’s a wrap on soccer season! I love watch And that’s a wrap on soccer season! I love watching them both play. 

#soccermom #weekending #springtime #momlife #girlmom #boymom
On Mothers Day, I wanted to sit by the pool with a On Mothers Day, I wanted to sit by the pool with a book, but I didn’t know what I wanted to read. Whenever I have indecision about books, picking up a thriller usually helps because of the story’s pace. 

“The Only Survivors” worked well because there was a lot happening! Lots of creepy, mysterious moments. Only so many people could be guilty of infiltrating a small group who had lots of secrets! 

I loved the timeline of this one. The back story about an accident was told in seven one-hour segments. The present mystery was told in seven days. 

#KHTreads #bookstagram #booklover #latergram #bookofthemonth @bookofthemonth #poolpeople #mothersday
Y’all we are very ready for summer. ☀️ And Y’all we are very ready for summer. ☀️ 

And when I say summer, I mean we are ready to shake up the routine, mentally regroup, turn off the alarms, establish some new habits, soak in the sun, and catch up with friends we’ve been crossing paths with too quickly. 

I want to savor the #84daysofsummer and I want to embrace this new season. And it’s almost time. Three more days of school. (Deep breaths.) 

Meanwhile, I’m going to keep collecting the moments — the hard, hurried, happy, and heartfelt. The seasons do change, but this is the life we are living. 

“The moments you collect may not be loud or flashy. They might be quiet or covered or a far-off view you were lucky to catch. But this I know to be true: A moment savored says to your soul, ‘You have lived something beautiful.’ And it keeps you buoyed. It sustains you when you’re running empty. It lifts you up and carries you forward.” — Joanna Gaines in @magnolia summer 2023 journal issue no. 27 

#momlife #reallife #momconfessions #livingfaithfully #summerisbest #teenagedriver #choosingJOY
I’ve read quite a few World War II novels, but t I’ve read quite a few World War II novels, but this one by Soraya M. Lane focused on three nurses, their friendships, and how the war changed their lives. It’s a hard story, but it’s full of love and hope despite the destruction around them. 

And it’s the second historical fiction audiobook I’ve listened to in a row! #KHTreads #bookstagram #booklover #audiobooks #Audible #KindleUnlimited #historicalfiction
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Favorites

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 Kristin Hill Taylor | Design by Traci Michele | Development by MRM