SUMMER ADVENTURING IN THE SOUTHWEST

On the surface, summer might not seem the best time to visit the hottest corner of the country. But this experience with it actually was really wonderful, complete with a couple physical feats, a couple reunions with National Parks we loved in the past and a couple new-to-us parks we now love as well. Plus standing at the site of an iconic movie scene, sitting in a hot tub under the stars, sweating through record-setting heat and and seeing so much we never had before — some of it in the most remote spot we’d ever been.

– motion pictures –

select snapshots set to song

day 1 • 06.29.24

Lots and lots of walking in Las Vegas

If I were into omens, I’d say it was a promising one that our flight leaving Kansas City was designated by a number matching our wedding date. Even with this not being an anniversary trip, it was special seeing that “1010” on our boarding passes and luggage tags.

Once in Vegas (and ending up with a rental car much more exciting than we’d expected), we grabbed some grub that turned out to be vital fuel for what came later. Because after Ubering to see a show at one end of the Strip, Seth suggested we make our way back to our hotel by walking what turned out to be its entirety.

This wasn’t necessarily the objective when we started, but after a certain point, it seemed we’d committed to something we had to see all the way through. The experience was mostly fun but understandably also a little awful — given that we weren’t wearing the best shoes for tackling 20,000+ steps and also that it felt like we were journeying across the surface of the sun (even though it was “only” 105 degrees). Despite these circumstances, though, we did in fact make our way all the way from the Strat to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. 

Reaching that destination felt a little like a mountain-summiting level of accomplishment — and after having had to forego a Pikes Peak hike a couple of weeks earlier due to treacherous conditions, it felt good to test our endurance in another way and to come out on top.

The only problem was that after having that mountaintop moment, we still had to make our way more than a mile to our hotel. Seth was having second thoughts about all this walking at that point, given that we’d be needing the use of our legs and feet for the remainder of the trip. So with the mindset that instigating this long Las Vegas walk may have been a terrible move, it was pretty fitting that one of our last stops of the evening was a convenience store called Terrible’s. 

day 2 • 06.30.24

A grand sunset at the Grand Canyon

Even after our physical endeavor the day before, we fortunately weren’t too much worse for the wear as we crossed the Arizona border and made our way to the Grand Canyon. Although we’d stopped there on a trip six summers earlier, we wanted to return since it was along our route and since this time, we’d be able to be there for sunset.

The visit was brief, but the sunset was spectacular. I’ll just let the photos tell the rest of that story:

day 3 • 07.01.24

Pretty Petrified Forest

This was our first new-to-us National Park this year, as well as one we passed right by six summers ago, before it was really on our radar to hit every park. Which just goes to show how easily this one gets overlooked. And among people we’d talked to who’d been there, their most lasting impression seemed to be of really hot weather — so we weren’t necessarily going into our visit with the highest of expectations.

We definitely lucked out in the weather department, though, with a high temp in the mid-80s — a good 15 degrees cooler than what was in the forecast for later that week. And good weather aside, we found the park to be worth the stop for sure. Between the beauty of its Painted Desert, its badlands and of course, its peculiar and pretty petrified wood, it’s one of those middle-of-nowhere places you never expect to exist.

It also holds the distinction of being the only National Park containing a section of the classic Route 66 — and it was fun crossing paths with the spirit of travel and exploration embodied in that piece of history.

We spent the night in a relatively cheap, bare-bones motel, which to me seemed like a quintessential Route 66 travel experience. Or maybe it was just old enough to seem of another era. But either way, it certainly fit this phase of our adventure.

day 4 • 07.02.24

Monument Valley & an iconic movie spot

We opted on our way to Utah to stop at Monument Valley, which sits just on the Arizona side of the border between the states. We took a tour that wound us through some of the sacred Navajo site, between towering rock “monuments” — along the way learning their names as well as pop culture tidbits from movies and music videos that have been filmed there.

One of the most iconic spots, though, is actually accessible from the outside looking in, with Monument Valley forming a backdrop for U.S. Scenic Highway 163. Along this route is Forrest Gump Hill, where the character ends his epic run across the country. So of course it made a perfect last stop in the area for us, before we traveled a few more hours to spend the night in Kanab, Utah.

day 5 • 07.03.24

Back to Bryce

Bryce Canyon National Park was one of the first parks we visited and has remained one of our favorites. So we couldn’t be in the area without going back. And after six years of seeing it in our minds and our photo frames, it really was like reuniting with an old friend to walk the canyon rim and hike down into the hoodoos again.

Leaving Bryce, we were back to uncharted territory — pretty literally. Because in addition to being new to us, the remote spot in Nevada that was our next destination was not reachable by GPS.

Our lodging for the next four nights would be at the aptly named Hidden Canyon Retreat in Baker, Nevada. Staff there had provided detailed directions for finding its location, which involved instructions to watch for a specific cattle grate in a Utah ghost town, then follow a gravel road 7 miles across the state line and into a canyon so isolated no cellular signal can find it.

Full disclosure: We completely missed that cattle grate and went a number of miles past it before realizing we needed to reverse course. And for hours of this journey, we drove a single, straight road — seeing no fellow travelers other than antelope and coyotes and jackrabbits.

Enter a setting like this, and you know you’re bound to make some memories and maybe also to become a likely subject of a true-crime podcast — but fortunately, only the former came to fruition for us!

day 6 • 07.04.24

A great holiday in Great Basin

Surrounded by spans of nothing much, Great Basin National Park seems like some sort of anomaly— an unexpected occurrence of snow-capped mountains and alpine lakes rising up out of the desert. Its tallest summit, Wheeler Peak, stretches to an elevation over 13,000 feet.

Visiting another new-to-us National Park — especially one so few people ever see — was a fun way to celebrate the Fourth of July. Also fun was the fact we accidentally dressed according to the occasion. With our red, white and blue hues differing from the traditional ones for the day, I didn’t recognize how appropriate our colors were until I saw them on my camera screen. And despite not intending to dress festively, I was so serendipitously pleased when I realized we’d done just that.

This Fourth of July will go down in my personal history as the first where I didn’t see or hear a single firework — and it came with some other notable firsts, as well. For one: A hike to a grove of Great Basin Bristle Cone Pines, the oldest trees in existence. Positioned just below the tree line, they endure harsh conditions at this high elevation and grow very slowly. But with a lifespan stretching past 5,000 years, they have plenty of time to grow! The “baby” on the Bristlecone Loop Trail is a seasoned 1,600-year-old.

Another major first we had this holiday was seeing the Milky Way. Although we’ve been to other dark-sky locations with great star visibility, it wasn’t until this trip that we were at the right place at the right time for gazing at the galaxy in all its glory — a sure way to send Independence Day out with a bang.

day 7 • 07.05.24

More Great Basin beauty

One of the most notable features of this National Park is a cave system. Tickets are available for several different tours of it, but they sell out online weeks in advance — and I’d uncharacteristically dropped the ball on even trying to reserve any.

Thus we started this day bright and early, waiting in a line of 50+ people in hopes of snagging a pair of the tickets held back for day-of sale. Although we arrived at the Lehman Caves Visitor Center before 7:30 a.m., we were far from first in line — but we fortunately did secure tickets for a 12:30 p.m. tour.

We then proceeded to do a hike that brought us a bit too close to missing that tour, as the 2 miles we’d intended to do turned out to be 4, with a lot more elevation gain than anticipated as well as difficulty at points in even keeping track of the trail. When we did make it back to the visitor center ahead of our cave tour — the thankfully on time — a Great Basin souvenir coaster with the statement “Let’s find a place to get lost” seemed pretty appropriate!

The caves were impressive and a great place to cool down after our hike, and we then refueled with a really good meal from a Mexican food truck in Baker — the tiny, 21-person town outside the park. That’s also where this world started feeling very small, as numerous people from our cave tour also showed up at that food truck — and we even encountered one of them at our lodging later on.

We typically don’t have much downtime on trips, but after incorporating a nap, a shared pint of ice cream and some hot tub time into this afternoon and evening, I definitely see the value of allowing more room for rest.

day 8 • 07.06.24

Wheeler Peak

With the Pikes Peak hike we’d had to forego a few weeks earlier, we were due a challenging mountain experience — and this one definitely delivered!

But for being a 13er, Wheeler Peak actually didn’t look all that difficult on paper: about 9 miles roundtrip with a 3,000-foot elevation gain. What added significantly to the challenge was the fact that a bulk of that gain is squeezed into the last mile to the summit. This makes for a slope the National Park Service says is “as steep as a cathedral roof” — and we can now vouch for the accuracy of that description!

In addition to that slope, another surprise we encountered was an abundance of wildflowers and butterflies above the treeline. Their delicate beauty stood in stark contrast to the roughness of the barren, rocky terrain — creating something of an enchanted forest vibe, although of course absent the trees.

We spent quite a while at the summit — which is less than 100 feet shy of being the highest in all of Nevada — and for some of that had it all to ourselves.

Descending was no walk in the park for that first mile from the peak, but fortunately, we made it down in one piece apiece. And about a mile from the trailhead, we took a slight detour to see Stella Lake at sunset — set against a backdrop of our conquered mountain and its mirror image.

That moment and really the entire day were a perfect punctuation mark for our time in this park. We arrived back at our lodging late and were hungry and tired — but a priority even higher than food or sleep was sitting in the hot tub under the stars. Especially for a weary body, nothing beats that experience!

day 9 • 07.07.24

A Sphere experience

We made the several-hour return trip to Las Vegas ahead of our flight home the following day, but we still had one highlight to come: seeing a show at the Sphere, which was unlike any other viewing experience we’ve had. With a screen that surrounds you almost entirely and audio fine-tuned for each individual seat in the house — not to mention smells introduced at certain points to enhance a scene — you really feel absorbed in the action.

Also super intense was the heat, with the city seeing its all-time hottest temperature on record — 120 degrees! Needless to say, we did not attempt another long walk.

Instead, we ordered in Shake Shack and watched the lights of the Strip out our hotel window, soaking in the last little bit of this trip.

day 10 • 07.08.24

So long, Southwest

It seemed only fitting to break out some Chiefs shirts for our last sliver of time in Las Vegas, given the Super Bowl win that occurred there this year. After an early morning and an airport selfie, we were up in the air and on our way home.