TRIP INFO FOR GRAND CANYON AZ AND SOUTHERN UTAH

In December 2021 we finally got to go on our trip that was postponed from April 2020. We planned this big special trip for spring break and my 50th bday and it was delayed by 1.5 years but it was worth it.

We flew in to Phoenix because we wanted to see Scottsdale and Sedona but a lot of people fly into Las Vegas to see the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Bryce Canyon.

We like to drive and this trip involved a lot of driving but all of the driving was through GORGEOUS scenery and part of the experience.  There was a special and we upgraded our rental car to a BMW 330i, which we really enjoyed. We did hit some slippery snow but even though the car was rear wheel drive it handled it pretty well.

We packed a lot in 7 days. If you want to stay and do lots of hiking you'll have to extend your visit.

Itinerary:

Day 1: Arrived on a Sunday early afternoon and drove the few hours up to our hotel in the Grand Canyon. (if you have extra time it would be fun to stop in Flagstaff)

Day 2: AM: Took a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. Well worth this splurge! But you may have to be flexible when you do this, they cancel for high winds, or if it's cloudy/foggy. We got lucky and had perfect weather. We flew with Maverick Helicopters. It was 5 minutes from our hotel. In the afternoon we drove through Grand Canyon National Park and stopped at all of the lookout spots. One of my favorite stops was the Desert View Watchtower. It was cold but there wasn't big crowds. It was icy and scary to walk. We saw cool antelope. When we left the park we saw a bunch of people lined up to go into the park because they wanted to see the sunset. We missed the sunset. Probably would've been cool. But the line was very long. Also, when you go into the park buy the $80 annual national park pass because if you go to more than 2 parks it will be cheaper (otherwise it's $30/park).

Day 3: We drove from our hotel just outside of the Grand Canyon south rim entrance into the Grand Canyon and over past the Desert View Watchtower to the Cameron Trading Post for brunch. It was farther than we thought but we really liked the restaurant (recommended to us by someone at our hotel). Going through the park is the quickest way up north otherwise you have to drive south through Flagstaff adding on a few hours. It was cloudy and you couldn't see much of the Grand Canyon on this day. We stopped to see Horseshoe Bend which was really beautiful. You can just pull in, pay a small fee and walk over and see it. In the summer I've heard it is fun to go boating down in there. Then we continued on through Page to Zion. We stayed at the Zion Lodge at the bottom of the canyon. Coming in from this direction is quite an amazing and scary drive! You have to see it to believe it and it takes quite awhile going down all of the hairpin turns. You might feel like you are going to die. Either that or we are whimpy, but wow!! We arrived at our hotel and it was so quaint we couldn't stand it. But we also felt a little scared surrounded by massive rocky cliffs. We ate at the hotel restaurant which was good. You have to order your food at the entrance, before sitting down. Maybe this was temporary for covid.

Day 4: Snow had fallen and the hiking paths were slippery. We did the mini Emerald Pools hike. That was pretty and enough hiking for us on that chilly day. We drove to Bryce Canyon and saw the amazing Hoodoos. There were a couple of look out spots. It was scary and our fear of heights kicked in but the views were spectacular and I was a bit overcome with emotion. We drove back to Zion. There are two roads in and out to our hotel. The one we took most often- the big scary one with the tunnels and huge drop offs and then a short easy one to the other side of Springdale. The short easy drive has one main road that is full of cute restaurants, spas, shops, and hotels. Highly recommend! This would be a good spot to stay if you can't get in at the Zion Lodge. We had the best dinner here! Whiptail Grill.

Day 5: We left Zion Lodge early because there was lots of snow and we had to get to our Antelope X tour a few hours away. As we drove out there were lots of photographers with special equipment on the roofs of their vehicles for photography to get shots of the snow in the mountains. The antelope canyon tickets were tricky to get but glad we got them. Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon are more popular, Antelope X is a newer tour (5 years old) but we were very happy with it. Gorgeous!  https://www.antelopecanyon-x.com/ After touring Antelope X we ate at the Cameron Trading post restaurant again. Then we drove down to Sedona. This was probably our biggest driving day. The drive to Sedona was beautiful! We arrived, checked into our quaint hotel. Saw the sunset (great views from our hotel) and hiked up a nearby path to see the airport Mesa vortex. We walked from our hotel to Mesa Grill Sedona, another great restaurant we highly recommend. We had prickly pear cocktails.

Day 6: We were supposed to go on a pink jeep tour to see the Ancient Ruins and the Diamondback Gulch but because it rained overnight the trail wasn't in good shape and we couldn't go. Instead a guide took us into another park area and gave us a lot of personal stories and information. He was great and we enjoyed it a lot. I was a little disappointed to not see the Ancient Ruins though. Our guide has his own youtube channel of ancient ruins around Sedona:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtyYxKEusMbMHBURZaSY5Hg?app=desktop   After this we ate and shopped a little then drove to Scottsdale. It was New Year's Eve and we had dinner reservations at Zinc Bistro. We also wanted to watch Michigan play in the Orange Bowl. After dinner we went to the hotel lobby bar where lots of families were hanging out watching the bowl games. It was so fun and they had live music. I highly recommend the Westin Kierland! We met other Michigan fans and talked at length with a man, Ashish, that graduated the year after me. He was a local but had a "scotch locker" at the hotel. There was a special scotch event there that night. Who knew such things existed. He said this was the largest Scotch Library in the country. 

Day 7: We had a wonderful brunch at the Herb Box. We took a massive hike, the Freedom Trail at Squaw Peak. Ate sushi for dinner. Noah and John hung out at the lobby bar again listening to the live music.

Day 8: Anne and Cole went down to the lazy river at the hotel. This area was really nice. It was chilly for it but I wanted to experience that lazy river and I did! This would be a fun hotel to come for a girls weekend. There is also a big golf course. We ate lunch at NYPD Pizza and then went to the Desert Botanical Garden. The airport was close by and we caught our flight home. Old wonderful friends from our kids PreK class from Chicago were on our flight!! That was a great surprise.

Hotels:

The Grand Hotel at the Grand Canyon- I think we overpaid here. The location was good but our rate was bad. It was an OK hotel, I wouldn't pay more than $200/night. Indoor pool and hot tub which was nice.

Zion Lodge- I was glad we were able to stay here! Next time I would try to stay in one of their cabins. Our room was a little noisy from the neighbors. Our rate was good. I recommend! (but they book up quick, our original trip I was unable to book here)

Sky Ranch Lodge Sedona- gorgeous views. Loved this old tyme but newly updated hotel. Nice outdoor pool and hot tub. We had a back porch with a great view.

Westin Kierland Scottsdale- expensive but really nice. We met lots of friendly interesting guests. The pool area is great. Lazy river, hot tub. Lots of different sunning areas. The only negatives- it's huge and you have to walk a long ways to get places. If you don't want to valet your car you have to park it across the street so that adds another 10 minutes of walking when you want to go out for dinner.

Restaurants:

Plaza Bonita, Grand Canyon- Mexican. This place was packed. The ambiance wasn't great but the food was pretty good. We had to wait a long time and while eating there were lots of people in close proximity (Covid concern).

Big E Steakhouse, Grand Canyon- this is a big touristy place with pretty decent food but not my favorite. They show a video of all the amazing sites in northern AZ.

Foodie Club, Grand Canyon- your lunch basics.

Cameron Trading Post- we went here twice- we really enjoyed the chili, the grilled cheese, and other comfort foods.

Whiptail Grill, Springdale, UT- the dinner was A+, not too expensive, just really good. I had a taco salad that was fresh and delish.

Sedona Pizza Company, Sedona- this pizza was fine but not our favorite

Mesa Grill, Sedona- this was really good and we enjoyed it a lot. Prickly Pear cocktails. John had an excellent ribeye steak. Special experience.

Zinc Bistro, Scottsdale- French food, good!

BEI Sushi, Scottsdale- local sushi place it was OK, service not great

NYPD Pizza, Scottsdale- Great pizza

The Herb Box in old town Scottsdale- we LOVED this place for brunch.

TRIP TO ACADIA NATIONAL PARK in BAR HARBOR, MAINE

 In August 2021 all 15 of us in my extended family went to Bar Harbor, Maine for 7 days/nights. We stayed the entire time at Bar Harbor Inn (https://barharborinn.com/) which was beautiful and full of charm. I would recommend this hotel because 1) gorgeous views abound of the harbor! 2) we had a nice balcony to sit out and enjoy it 3) there is a walking path that goes by the front of the hotel to enjoy the views in a different way 4) there is a really good free breakfast 5) wonderful outdoor pool 6) the hotel is historical with beautiful flowers and walking paths 7) nice restaurants 8) Walking distance (5 mins) to town. There is not good parking in town, so walking is preferable. Our favorite restaurant was the Terrace Grille, which was outside, and had great views of the harbor. The problem was that everybody else likes the view at this restaurant too so the wait to get a table can be long. The hotel gives you a "cut in line" pass for the restaurant but it only worked against people not from the hotel and it didn't save us much time. Also, if the weather is bad they will close up quickly. The only con about this hotel was for our large group it was hard for us to find a place to hang out together to play cards and games. For this reason, I would consider renting an Air BnB house on the water. There were several beautiful ones but I'm sure they are booked up quickly! And one last thing to consider, we were able to rent out a big private dining area at the hotel for my parents 61st wedding anniversary with a lobster dinner. That was amazing. There was a balcony off the dining room overlooking the harbor (same one that's been there over 100 years) and we had a photographer come take family pictures since we are not all together too often. Another very nice hotel to consider in town is the Harborside Hotel. https://www.theharborsidehotel.com/

Getting to Bar Harbor: we drove from Chicago and stayed one night in Syracuse NY. Two days was plenty of time to get there. One the way back we took 3 days because we wanted to explore all the cute towns on the coast of Maine (Camden, Kennebunkport) and Newburyport MA. We enjoy driving and exploring and so this worked well for us. On the way back we stayed in Brattleboro, VT and then Jamestown, NY. We saw Lucille Ball's home and met up with Chicago friends at Chautauqua Lake. If you want to fly you'll probably have to go through Boston and take a tiny plane to the Bar Harbor airport (which is what my sister's family did and warning, it can be tricky to get an uber or taxi from this airport), or you could rent a car and drive up from Boston. Or fly in to Portland, Maine which is a bit of a drive from Bar Harbor (but less than Boston).

Some activities to do while in Bar Harbor:

Of course see Acadia National Park. There are many hikes, you can ride bikes, get up early to see the sunrise over Cadillac Mountain (get your reservation in advance- I think they are doing this a few months out due to covid). Do not try to ride your bike from Bar Harbor Inn to Acadia like we did. First, you'll get lost without navigation, it's up hill, it's farther then you think, you might get killed from the cars that are zooming up and down the hills. Just bring your bikes in on your car. We brought our bikes from Chicago and you can also rent them there but then you have to have a bike rack on your car.

Of course go whale watching! barharborwhales.com

Rock climbing! This was 100% worth it and amazing. I never thought I would do this but I loved it and they will tailor it to your abilities. Beautiful views! Adrenaline rush! Amazing! My niece had so much fun she wanted to go again a different day but they were all booked up. If your hips are not flexible you might struggle but it's still worth it for the views. I am afraid of heights but I was able to do this (I almost threw up looking at the pictures online but once I was there I was fine). https://www.climbacadia.com/

Sea Kayaking! www.acadiakayak.com This was a fun way to see birds, seals, and porpoises up close in the area away from the tourist crowd.

Fishing: we rented a boat just for our family (I think there was a limit of 6 people per boat). This was another scenic way to see the coast of Maine whether you like fishing or not. We stopped and talked to the lobster catchers (I am sure they have a more professional name) and it was fun to learn about lobster trapping.

At low tide there is a sand bar you can walk on over to a little island.

This really worked out well for a big family group trip to do these activities together. It is a special place where you might want to go every summer.

Restaurants: Eat lots of Lobster rolls! I really liked the ones with corn our first night at Geddy's. Other favorite restaurants: The aforementioned Terrace Grill overlooking the water, Thrive for lunch (casual, healthy!), Side Street Cafe for mac n cheese, Route 66 had good basics for the kids and no wait, Jeannie's Great Maine Breakfast and Jordan's Restaurant for breakfast, and Project Social for Tapas (the kids didn't like it though). Blaze had the best pizza. I really liked the Jordan Pond ice cream but Ben & Bill's was good too and also MDI ice cream is famous but very long lines and unusual flavors.