It’s Not All Desert in Arizona

I had been to Arizona before but more towards the city area, like Phoenix. This time around, my friends and I spent some time on the north end of the state to experience it’s natural beauties. We were even so in tuned with nature that we stayed in a tent… it was pretty in-tents! (You can’t get rid of my puns just yet!)

We Win Some, We Lose Some

As we arrived to Page, Arizona, we stopped at a pretty touristy gas station. Something most people haven’t heard us mention is that we did something we would never forget. This is going to be a huge blast from the past and bring back memories… so we left our keys in the rental car. Our wallets, belongings, some phones, the snacks, and NO SERVICE… how were we going to get the keys?

Would you have broken into the car?

Long story short… Thanks to technology and figuring out some type of signal on low battery, our rental company opened the car from the inside!

TIP: DON’T LEAVE YOUR KEYS IN THE CAR WHEN THERE’S PEOPLE THERE OR WHEN YOU GO TO THE RESTROOM. It may sound dumb right now, but we were in your shoes!

While we’re on the topic of adventures, let’s start with fun ones.

Glen Canyon

We snuck into this part of Antelope Canyon because our kayaking tour was cancelled. Exploring the space made us want to visit more national parks and really just soak in the time we had there. We walked around a bit and had fun being models for the day.

I would recommend this pit stop if you’re early for your tour or even just to have lunch. Glen Canyon is beautiful!

Horseshoe Bend

We honestly thought this was going to be a longer walk than it was. It’s actually about 1.5 miles to walk to where we were and it was prettier than if you walked further, if you asked me! We stayed on the left side of the fence and took some nice shots. It was about a 3-mile walk for us!

Some helpful tips: We parked in the lot before walking to the Bend and it was about $10 to go in. They don’t consider it to be a part of the National Parks Pass that we had purchased (that has worked for all other parks), so this was an additional expense.

Grand Canyon

I had been wanting to come here forever! The Grand Canyon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and just beautiful! We hiked SO much though. Going down was the easier part, but man, was I out of breathe coming back up. My back pack was water proof and had a water pouch inside, so that saved my hydration part of the hike swimmingly. The goal was the bridge, which was the midway point to the other end of the North Rim part. They said it was a total of 13 miles to head to the other side from one side. It took me 3:21:19 for 5.61 miles and I burned 907 calories. Not even enough to eat meals for the “2,000 calories” you need for the day. ROUGH!

If you’re going to a few parks, I recommend the National Parks Pass for sure! It’s $80 for 4 guests in 1 car. Each park to leave your car in ranges from about $20-45. This pass was well worth it, especially because it expires within a year’s time frame too.

Time to soak in the Grand Canyon photos:

And while we had fun, we also ate goooood!

Hot n Sweet Coffee and Donut Shop

This place was so cute that we went two or three times. Mark is the owner of the shop and does side tours for Antelope Canyon. We would’ve definitely booked a tour with him, but it didn’t workout. Next time, Mark!!!

ANYWAY, this donut and coffee shop just made our mornings. They also serve amazing bagels! (Maybe it’s just me). My friends and I loved this mom and pop shop, so we supported as much as we could.

New York Teriyaki

We wanted to try some Asian dishes while we were out exploring spots to make our tummies happy. It was actually right by our airbnb too, so that was probably the best game changer. I chose the bento box because the amount of food just speaks for itself with the price they asked. Look how filling!

Couldn’t pass out on the boba tea too!!! Have you seen the interview I did with one of my friends to explore Boba Tea locations in Illinois? *reminiscing*

Big John’s Texas BBQ

To make this experience more fun, we brought games to play. The bbq was homemade and delicious! I appreciated the look of the checkered table cloths, red barn restaurant look, the long picnic tables, and just the overall bbq feel.

Arizona, you were good ish to us! Last but not least, we’re heading to VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!

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