Roadtrip with Rachelle

I will admit that since becoming a medical traveler -the adventures have been nothing shy of amazing! But one of absolute best parts of travel is getting to share it with friends and family. It's even more enjoyable when the friend your sharing it with is as much as an adventure lover as you are! There is just something special about exploring new place and making new memories with people you adore!

Thank you Shelly for coming to visit! Love you and please please please visit me again wherever I end up next!

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Day 1 : The Drive

Fresh out of work I picked up Shell front the Airport - I was going to have a Manic Day as we call them. Where one works the night shift and gets off at 7:30AM and then just skips going to sleep. It's by no means ideal but it forces a flipped sleep schedule; which is what I was shooting for. My friend Shell is night shift nurse and was also fresh off her own Manic Day! So we made quite a pair of adventurers :)

The plan was to drive up to Page,AZ the first night so we could be ready for our Canyon tours the next day. We gave ourselves a couple of stops on the way to keep us awake - seeing as a 6hr drive with one of us on no sleep and the other fresh off night shift and a long flight really doesn't seem like a good way to start. We stopped in Sedona, not for a hike unfortunately but we did hit some shops and enjoy views of the red rock. Gave us a chance to stretch our legs and keep us moving and distracted from our sleep deprivation. We shopped around Tlaquepaque Village and the artwork there was amazing! Even the overall structures of the village buildings with all the nature and greenery made my heart happy.

Once gassed up and back on our way North we drove the long drive to Page. I cannot say it was the most scenic drive I have ever taken - lots of red dirt and dust. Towards the end of our drive Shell and I were running on fumes. We both even joked that we hallucinated a singular alpaca in the desert. We did at least both agree that what we thought we saw was brown :) But so were most things out our window by then.

By the time we got into Page and to our AirB&B we were basically asleep on our feet. We ended up going to State 48* downtown Page, AZ for dinner and one drink and then straight to bed.

*Disclaimer: If you get the chance to pop into State 48; they have good cocktails (Margs and Mojitos were sampled) and the fried avocados are worth a try too!

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Day 2 : Slot Canyons

Our entire trip was based around doing a few Slot Canyon tours in Page, AZ. We started our morning with a stop at Lake Powell Espresso where we had some delightful quiche and coffee for breakfast and then headed out for our first canyon tour. I admit I'd seen photos online of Antelope Canyon but somehow thought they were over exaggerated and in turn my trip would not yield such views. I'm extremely happy to say that was NOT the case.

Upper Antelope Canyon

We stated the morning with Upper Antelope (personally my favorite of the two). I have actually put off writing this post because I knew putting my feelings from these tours into words would be a struggle. There were so many facts and thoughts and feeling involved. I will start with some highlights from Upper and see where the rest of this post goes along the (see photo descriptions below).

Upper Antelope Favorites - left to right starting at the top :

1.) The amazing tour company we went though! There are multiple but our guide Constantine was phenomenal!

2.) Lady in the White Dress (she is actually the opening to the slot canyon)

3.) This one is my personal favorite as there are actually two things happening in this shot. The first is the bear that can be seen to appear as if it is swimming towards the light - swimming out of the canyon if you will. The second is the eagle shape within the side of the bear; it can be seen perched upon the stick that a previous flood wedged into the stone.

4.) This is known as the Monument Valley shot for obvious reasons.

5.) The Heart of the Canyon - you can stare up into the light shape and see that from this angle it appears in the shape of a heart.

6.) The Bear - the dark shape on the right side resembles a bears head.

Lower Antelope Canyon

After our amazing tour of Upper we scheduled another tour for a few hours later to go down to the Lower Antelope Slot Canyon. Enjoy a few of my favorite shots and of course - descriptions to follow :)

Lower Antelope Favorites - left to right starting at the top :

1.) The Lion. One of the most recognized rock shapes in Lower Antelope.

2.) The Lions Paw. The four perfectly placed sediment deposits make an obvious paw; even more so when it is in the same "room" as the well known Lion!

3.) I admit I do not remember the shape within this photo and now that I do not know its there I also can't see it! If any of you see anything let me know! For now its just a nice shot of angles and colors switching the canyon.

4.) One of Windows' well known backgrounds - personally I like my shot better than theirs!

5.) Towards the roof of the slot canyon you can see a small dark circle pattern. It supposedly a water circle; water used to spiral there when the flood levels got high! Crazy to think water levels even get that high!

6.) Eye of the canyon! Another famous shot and again I think mine is better! :)

The Favorite Shot:

Weather at no point on our trip was ideal - this was the one shot I managed to get a peak of the blue sky for just a split second between the canyon walls! My top most favorite shot of both canyon tours!

Horseshoe Bend:

When in Page, AZ you obviously visit for the scenery - but second to the Slot Canyons the other big draw is Horseshoe Bend! Sooo of courseee we stopped by! It was a short hike that ended in breathtaking scenery. With no railings and multiple points for overlooks it was easy to get absorbed in the simple beauty of it all.

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Day 3 : The Day that Went Wrong

Day three went wrong in sooooo many ways - we definitely still made the most of it but in no way did anything go to plan. We meant to leave Page, AZ early and make a quick trip out to Grand Canyon National Park. I had never been and Shell had only been once before. We were planning to spend all of Day 4 out there as well but wanted the extra half day because there was simply so much to see - however weather and NPS had other plans.

We took the almost three hours to the East Entrance of GCNP and upon our arrival AT THE GATE they tell us we had to take a 4hr detour around to the main entrance because the roads beyond the gate were not fully plowed and there was no thru traffic. Without any other option except to comply (our hotel was outside the main entrance) we made our 3hr trip into a 7hr trip. No fret; the day was not entirely lost we stopped at a lovely overlook and made it to the park in time to check one viewpoint.

Below is a shot from that one lovely overlook on our way to the East Entrance before we had to turn back and begin the detour. Stunning in its own right but as you can see the weather was again not ideal. Still this stop made the unnecessary detour hurt a little bit yes.

Upon finally making it all the way around the detour and to the only other open park entrance - to the one scenic lookout we thought we had time for - we immediately went back to our hotel for dinner, cocktails, and then a good ole soak in the hot tub! If you check out our views below you will understand while we essentially gave up on all plans we had for visiting the park that day.

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Day 4 : The Grandest Day

We got up that morning finally ready to head to Grand Canyon National Park. To say I was excited would be a severe understatement - I mean it is the Grand Canyon after all! We arrived dolled up in all the layers and stopped at the Bike Rental Shop in the park for a lovey hot coffee to start the day (it had the added perk of keeping out hands warm too while hiking)! We started with the popular Mather Point overlook. The exact overlook we had visited the other day and had zero visibility!

I am elated to sat that this visit proved to be much more rewarding! See below for my first view ever of the Grand Canyon - it was everything and more than I was ready for! (*Note that this is the same view as the right most gray shot above; just to give you and idea about how the visibility changed so quickly).

Looking at this photo again just makes my travel loving heart happy again! I remember being awe-struck seeing it the first time! And I cannot thank Rachelle enough just for being there with me while I got to experience this for the first time!

We went to a few more of the overlooks - ones that were open anyways! We had initially planned on going down to Ohh Ahh Point but given all the switch-backs were iced over and we only had one pair of spikes between the two of us we decided not to. We did manage to do a short snow filled hike - between the few outlooks we visited. There was even another snow storm that blew in during out hike and we lost visitbility again for a little while. We took the buses to some of the other visitor centers and shops as well to get some apparel before we started our trip back towards Phoenix.

All around a perfect quick trip to Grand Canyon! I absolutely loved it and was already planning my next visit by the time we left!

The way back South after the Canyon we made a pit stop in Sedona to catch dinner! We stoped at The Hideaway House and split some sodas and a delicious pizza - while sitting out on a heated patio and watching the sunset over the red rocks. A simple and easy way to bring our entire adventure to a close!

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Departure:

The absolute worst part about having visitors is when they leave! Shell if you read this - just know I had an amazing time and I could not imagine for myself and easier roadtrip buddy! Thank you for playing DJ (and Shoutout to Tyler for always letting us have the Spotify) and most importantly - thank you for being able to laugh with me when one of our days goes completely sideways and still always being up for anything!

I truly love an amazing roadtrip and to have one with a best friend who loves adventure like I do is the absolute best experience! Shell I hope you come visit me wherever I end up next so we can plan something like this all over again!

Love you girly! Thanks for visiting me!