Photo Journal | Roadtrip West
Our family doesn't take road trips lightly. When Connor and I were first married we drove 5000 miles one summer all the way from Canon Beach, OR, down the coast and across back to Kansas City. When I say "we" I mean "he" did all the driving (I had the very important job of shotgun DJ). So this year when we got invited to a wedding in Santa Barbara, CA on June 3rd and a wedding in Jackson Hole, WY on June 17th, we decided to turn it in to one long road trip. It was definitely a learning curve road-tripping with a toddler and we were exhausted for a good majority of the time we were gone, but all in all I am so glad that we did it. I love being able to introduce Wilder to new places and experiences. I have hope that in someway it's enabling him to develop a more dynamic and creative worldview. Below are some of my favorite photos from the trip. Unfortunately I didn't pull out my camera as much as I wish I would've...probably because I was too busy making sure my kid didn't fall in the Grand Canyon...so I mixed in a few iPhone photos for fun. I also included our travel itinerary below with some of our favorite places we ate, visited and stayed, as well as a few things we did.
June 2: Checked into the Belmond El Encanto in Santa Barbara. Had a quick bite at Helena Bakery, and then headed to the beach with friends. I was shocked at how chilly it was in Santa Barbara this time of year, especially on the beach!
June 3: Visited Kids World Park. One of the neatest public playgrounds we've been too. Then headed to The MOXI Children's Museum. A must see if you have kids, or even if you don't...it's a fun place for adults too. We had a good time watching all of the parents geek out. Afterwards we had lunch at Lucky Penny Pizza (yum!), and headed back to the hotel to relax and get ready for our friends beautiful wedding.
June 4: Said Goodbye to Santa Barbara and made our way to Palm Springs where we stayed for two nights and picked up the Airstream to begin the road trip portion of our trip. We then headed to Anthem, AZ on the 7th where we stayed a night with my Nana before heading to the Grand Canyon the next day.
June 8-9: Arrived in Page, AZ. We found a place to dock our camper and settled in for the night. Woke up the next morning and headed straight to Horseshoe Bend. Definitely a must see. It's an easy walk up to this point. We didn't stay too long because I was terrified of the drop off with Wilder. Next time, I'd go right at sunrise. I was surprised at how early it started to get busy. We had lunch at a local spot and went back for nap time. That afternoon we decided to see Antelope Canyon. It was shockingly beautiful, but a bittersweet experience seeing it with a toddler. The lines are horrible and once you get down in it you are stuck in lines for an hour. I'm glad we powered through, so that we were able to see it, but I probably didn't soak in all the beauty because of all of my anxiety. If you have little ones, maybe wait until they are old enough to exercise patience.
June 10: Drove 2 hours from the East side of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim. Connor really wanted to make this drive, but I was hesitant since it was completely out of the way. The North Rim is truly a gem though. Only 10% of people who visit the Grand Canyon visit the North Rim. I think it was definitely worth it. Next time we'll stay for a few nights and book ourself a cabin at the lodge.
June 10th (Evening): We decided to boon dock the Airstream since there were ZERO available campgrounds available. We found a cozy (but windy) little spot and let Wilder run around. We both agreed that boon docking was much more fun than staying at a campground with a bunch of others campers. It was nice to be out in the wild, just the three of us.
June 11: Make the trek to Park City, UT. We arrived just in time for dinner, so we drove into town (which was darling) and found some dinner. We barely saw the city, but it's one of those places that I would love to go back and explore sometime. I could tell just from the short time we were there that it would be a fun place to visit with family.
June 12: Wake up and decide we are more than ready to get to Connor's moms house in Jackson Hole, WY. We entertained the idea of staying a night in Zion National Park, but at this point we are done being on the road with a toddler. We travel to Jackson Hole quite often since my mother in law lives there, so I'll have to do a separate post on it someday, but it is somewhere I would recommend anyone to travel too. It's one of the most beautiful places in the States in my opinion. This time we spent a good amount of time just relaxing and recovering from our road trip, but we did hike Jenny Lake which is a great hike if you have little ones.
