Monument Valley Archives - Weary Wanderer

The Grand Canyon is everything they say it is. Unbelievable.

Happy Monday, friends! Welcome back to my Grand Canyon road trip diary (Arvada to Moab is here and Arches and the first half of Monument Valley are here). On Sunday we woke up in Monument Valley to this view <3

Courtesy of our super cute cabin.

We spent the morning exploring the grounds a bit more, having breakfast back at the restaurant and, naturally, buying 10,000 gorgeous Navajo momentos.

Hope Gpa didn’t think this was a REAL vacation!

Afterwards we loaded our trusty Heidi the Highlander back up again and hit the road. This time we made sure to stop at the Arizona sign.

The ride from Monument Valley to our hotel near the Grand Canyon was a little over three hours, so we broke it up with two stops.

The Navajo National Monument was a short and beautiful walk to a beautiful, historical spot.

Not gonna lie, we were a bit skeptical of these dinosaur tracks at first, but everything we’ve read about them seems to be legit!

Besides being insanely cool, it gave the girls a chance to run around and get their wiggles out 😉

After a few hours and a few adventures, we finally made it to our hotel!

Here are some of the details of our stay.

Monday & Tuesday

Where we stayed: Grand Canyon Railway and Hotel
Where we ate: We opted for the buffet restaurant at the hotel for two dinners and two breakfasts while we were there. That, and the train ride from the hotel to the Grand Canyon, could all be purchased for a 10% discount if you bought them together with your rooms.
Where we hiked: The South Rim Trail

After resting up a bit on Monday night, we were ready to hit the train on Tuesday! The train ride includes a very cute “shoot-out showdown” before you board, and the ride itself is about 2.5 hours. There’s a cafe car and entertainers and tour guides onboard to answer all your questions. It was honestly the absolute best way to do the Canyon with three littles and for our first time. We barely had to figure anything out for ourselves (they even took care of our park entrance tickets!), and we got to relax and take in the scenery. If we ever make it back we’ll probably stay in the park, but for this adventure, this option was magic.

I’d like to take an additional second here to thank … THE WEATHER! We’ve gone places for our kids’ “spring break” before, and it’s been less-than-springlike. This time was so wonderful. Besides one random snow squall while we were driving, we had such delightful weather. Breezy and cool, with sun and … NO CROWDS. I don’t know how. I don’t know why. But the National Park Gods shined down on us this trip, and we were HERE FOR IT.

Emilia, you won’t remember this. But hopefully these photos will help <3

Having two nights in one spot was much-appreciated by this point in the trip, so we were all too happy to head back to the hotel after our train ride, straight back to the buffet, to the swimming pool for a bit and then to bed. The next day was on to Bryce Canyon. Until then … bis bald, friends!

Sunday

Where we stayed: A premium cabin at The View Hotel
Where we ate: The gorgeous (with mediocre food) restaurant at The View Hotel
Where we hiked: Arches! Plus we did the 17-mile Monument Valley Scenic Loop

Rock scrambles and terrifying cliff drops got nothing on these girls! (Despite Emilia’s face looking otherwise!)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … my girls continue to shock and aww me. The Delicate Arch trail in Arches National Park is a “moderate,” 3.2-mile out and back trail that covers scrambling rock and terrifying cliffs. When I say that these girls rocked it, I very and truly mean it. I remember my first time doing this hike, and how difficult it was for me to complete, and I’m just so impressed with the way these girls handled it like pros.

Rock album cover.

Totally worth the hike. I mean …

We even dragged out kids out even further on the hike, so that we could take this precarious photo under the arch. I told Chris later that I had visions of never seeing them again the whole time we walked over … but when in Rome????

Cute hat twins <3

Another pair of cuties.

So, so proud of these loves. (You too, Grandpa!)

After our hike it was back into the car and on over to Arizona (new state No. 2 for the girls!) and Monument Valley. On the way we saw a few other cool things.

Mexican Hat!

The Forrest Gump Point! You just KNOW Chris had fun with this one 😉

Then it was on to Monument Valley. I’m not going to lie — I didn’t know quite what to expect here. But man oh man was I blown away. This is such an insanely gorgeous spot in the world, and staying in the cabins overlooking the monuments themselves was an amazing experience.

The 17-mile loop is driven, so that makes it easy to check out all the gorgeous spots. A lot of the reviews say it doesn’t matter what type of car you have, but I would beg to differ. An all-wheel drive that’s not directly on the ground is, I would say, optimal. She bumpy!

Couldn’t have asked for a cuter crew <3

I would allow for about two hours to drive the loop, depending on how often you want to stop and get out.

This was the view from the porch on our cabin. Absolute perfection.

That was Sunday in a nutshell, fam! The night included an incredible sunset and star-gazing. More cabin pics to come in the next post. Until then … bis bald, friends!