Road Trip to the Grand Canyon Part 1: Arvada to Moab, Utah

Hello friends — happy Thursday! Here I am, blogging from the road of our epic Spring Break Road Trip from our home in Arvada, CO to the Grand Canyon and then back. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve blogged from the road. Maybe … never??

All told we spent approximately 23 hours in the car and drove approximately 1,420 miles. We stayed in 6 hotels, visited 4 National Parks and 4 other places of interest. I am so proud of how these girls handled this trip. They were rockstars on our (pretty difficult!) hikes, and they handled the car rides like a pro. We planned the trip so that we were never in the car for longer than 4.5 hours a day, and on those days we planned decent stops halfway through. Our legs included:

Friday: Driving from Arvada to Glenwood Springs, CO
Saturday: Driving from Glenwood Springs, CO to Moab, Utah
Sunday: Driving from Moab, Utah to Monument Valley, Utah
Monday: Driving from Monument Valley, Utah to Williams, Arizona/the Grand Canyon (we stayed here for two nights)
Tuesday: Visiting the Grand Canyon!
Wednesday: Driving from Williams to Bryce Canyon, Utah
Thursday: Driving from Bryce Canyon, Utah to Grand Junction, CO
Friday: Driving from Grand Junction home!

It was a trek, to be sure … but I wouldn’t have done one single thing differently. Here’s what we got up to on Saturday!

Saturday

Where we stayed: The Wingate by Wyndham Moab
Where we ate: The Trailhead Public House and Eatery and Canyon Pizza Co.
Where we hiked: The Corona and Bowtie Arch Trail

Entering Utah, a new state for the girls to scratch off their maps when we get home!

The Corona Arch Trail was so much fun, but definitely not for the faint of heart!

The drive from Glenwood Springs to Moab was about three hours, and we headed straight to lunch at The Trailhead Public House and Eatery when we arrived. This cutie restaurant is right in the center of town and super close to a bunch of hikes. Plus the food was really good. I would highly recommend it if you’re in the area!

From lunch we headed straight to our first hike of the trip — Corona Arch! This trail is about 2.3 miles out and back, and definitely includes some rock scrambling and pretty steep climbing. The girls did so amazing, though, and had the best time! You don’t have to hike the full trail to get a view of the arch, either, so it’s definitely worth it even if you can’t do the full trail.

Emilia spent the majority of this trip on Dad’s shoulders, which was A-Ok in Mom’s book 😉

The two big girls ended up climbing a very treacherous rope with Dad to make it a little bit farther up the trail. I was simultaneously terrified and incredibly proud.

That was our first day in a nutshell, friends! Sunday was Arches National Park in the morning and then onto Monument Valley. Until then … bis bald, friends!