Intro
Hello, fellow travelers! It’s Nikole and Clark here. We love adventure! Anything from Hawaii to Arizona to traveling in our campervan! For now, I cannot wait to tell you all about our trip to Arizona, and I hope it can also help you plan your own trip. In this post we will be going through all the activities we were able to squeeze into one week.
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First, here are all of the items in a chart that we have decided to talk about in this post.
Arizona has endless opportunities to explore and wonder. Every part of this state is filled with eye-catching views, I had to keep my eyes peeled the whole trip. That’s unusual for me because I love sleeping in the car.
Quite frankly you just cannot fit everything you want to do into one week. I dream of going back in our new camper van for a few months to explore everything more thoroughly.
In order to fit all the adventures we could into one week we needed to form some sort of itinerary. So here is the plan that we made, and I will lay it out for you to help you plan your trip to Arizona.
Before We Went
Obviously, coming from North Carolina, we needed to plan our trip out a few weeks in advance. It actually took us about 3 months of planning (that’s with flight tickets, hotel reservations, and activities.)
Flight tickets can be a bit tricky, and I will go into more detail about this in another blog. We ended up getting them for about $450 apiece and flew with United Airlines.
Departure Date/ Saturday morning
We departed on Saturday and arrived on the same day. We decided to go with a flight that left around 5 in the morning (not the most restful option, and I wouldn’t recommend that for just anyone).
Due to different time zones (Pheonix Arizona is 3 hours behind North Carolina), we arrived around 9 AM in Pheonix. (Keep in mind we had a layover and a delay at one of the airports). The flight itself was only 5 hours.
When we landed in Phoenix and proceeded to rent a Nissan Rouge from Triangle-Rent-A-Car. We thought that renting an all-wheel-drive would be a good idea since we didn’t know what kind of terrain we would be surprised with. Actually, we didn’t need it, but I’m still glad we went with the vehicle we did.
First Day/ Still Saturday
We booked a room at Wyndham in Flagstaff a few months in advance (at the moment they are selling their cheapest rooms for $207 a night). We had another 2 to 3-hour drive after the flight to get from the airport to the room.
If you are looking for a great place to stay, use this useful map from Booking.com to help you find the greatest deal in the area.
Booking.comOnce we arrived at the hotel we were exhausted and decided to just get some groceries (helps save money later on) and chill out at the pool and hot tub. Oh! The best part about our room was the view! Right outside our door was Humphrey’s peak (pictured above). What a sight to see every morning.
If you are a couple traveling, August is one of the best times to go. The hotel wasn’t crowded or full of screaming children, and the pool and hot tub were empty.
Second Day/ Sunday
We decided to bring our breakfast to the pool and chill out for a bit, we were still trying to wake up after resting from our 6-hour flight and 3-hour drive.
We actually didn’t have plans for this day, we like to leave a day or two open in order to explore and see what we find.
The hotel recommended the Meteor Crater and the Petrified Forest so we went there. No reservations were required for these visits. (Locations of both places are highlighted in the words above).
It was about 40 minutes from flagstaff to the crater and about an hour from the crater to the petrified forest. Thankfully, the crater was on the way to the forest. These two sites took us all day to explore. You can read more into detail about what the park has to offer through my post, “10 Stops in the Petrified Forest“.
Also along the way we got to check out some old towns off of route 66, which includes these teepee hotels above and everyone’s favorite car, Mater!
Third-Day Monday
The Grand Canyon Railway was booked a few days before the trip but was hard to even get those reservations. It seemed like we would be going into the canyon and see some amazing views, but we did not. Unfortunately, it took us 3 hours to get there and 3 hours back, when it could have taken us only an hour and a half there to drive by rental car.
We had about 2 hours to explore everything at the Grand Canyon, which wasn’t enough time. We had enough time to take some pictures, walk around, and eat. I felt like there was so much more we could have done.
I did enjoy the entertainment of cowboys trying to rob the train as a show. The snacks, however, were overpriced. Read more about What not to do in Arizona here.
Fourth Day/Tuesday
We crammed as much as we could into this day because everything was so far away. That may have been a mistake because exhaustion was starting to set in.
Horse Shoe Bend was our first stop from Flagstaff. It was grueling hot, and I regret not bringing more than one water bottle. Read more about the ups and downs of Horse Shoe Bend here. I didn’t enjoy it very much, but it was worth the hike. I don’t see myself revisiting though.
Next up on our fourth day out was Antelope Canyons (you can read more about why they are closed and what to do instead here). This was by far my favorite experience. You can get more info about Antelope Canyons through the link in parentheses.
Even after all the driving and exploring we did, we managed to squeeze in some time for Glenn Canyon Dam and Wahweap Bay. Even though we were tired and exhausted this was worth the stop. After exploring the History museum of the dam we went down for a nice cool dip in the bay, which was extremely refreshing.
Fifth Day Wednesday
This is something we hold to on every vacation, a rest day. I know it may sound silly, but on every vacation, one of us gets sick or feels so exhausted we can’t move. That’s exactly why we stayed at the hotel and rested. We over-exerted ourselves the day before and started showing signs of sickness. We still walked to the park that was next door to us, it was called Duck Lake, and relaxed by the pool.
Sixth day Thursday
After having a nice rest we were excited to take on new adventures by hiking volcanos and exploring ruins.
The first stop was Sunset Crater. You can walk through lava flow and hike volcanos. Come check out my official guide here. The Wupatki National Monument is also right around the corner of these volcanos and can be read about in the same post as Sunset Crater.
Seventh Day/Friday
Sedona was a whole other world. It was like we were visiting an entirely different planet. One could easily spend a whole month here and still have unexplored areas. From biking to rock climbing Sedona has it ALL! Read more about Sedona Here.
We spent all day here from 8 AM until about 10 PM. There are so many attractions you can pay for or do for free. There is also a pretty awesome shopping area that offers plenty of souvenirs and places to eat. Most places you eat have a gorgeous view of the red mountains.
Just outside of Sedona lies Slide Rock State Park. It used to be an old homestead and is now turned into a state park for those who love cold cold water and sliding on rocks. You can read more into detail Here.
Eighth Day/ Saturday
Sadly, we had to leave Arizona sometime. We always like to have a day in-between vacation and going back to work, so we decided to leave on a Saturday. Though vacations are fun, they can be exhausting. It’s always nice to have a day of rest before heading back into a hectic life.
The flight back was made bearable because I downloaded the Office on my phone through Netflix. Let me tell you downloaded movies are such a lifesaver, especially when your flight doesn’t offer TVs or doesn’t offer a good selection of shows to watch.
