Sky High in Colorado, Deserts and Canyons – Denver to Phoenix – March 2018

Definitely a “top three” trip.  Incredible scenery and amazing experiences as we went from the Rocky Mountains to the Sonoran Desert.

Saturday, March 10, 2018

We took an 8:00 am flight out of Toronto and (due to the time change) landed in Denver at 9:45 am.  We were cutting it kinda close as the Colorado Avalanche game vs the Coyotes was at 1:00 but it all worked out fine and we got to the game on time.  Our Uber driver showed up in a BWM with a set of golf clubs in the back and proceeded to tell us how he is on the Champions Tour and just drives to keep himself busy.  Hope he had a good season!

The rink was nice but it was an uneventful game that the Avalanche won 5 – 2.

After the game was over we decided to walk back from the rink.  Turned out to be a little further than we thought but found a Jimmy Johns on the way and had a good sub.  The town was jammed as the National High School Girls Volleyball Championships was in town and over 50,000 high school girls were roaming the streets.  The boy was trying to be cool but it was tough!

After we got back to the hotel we crashed pretty early as the next day was going to be a long one.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

We got up at around 4:30 am and hit the road to Moab, Utah.  A place I didn’t even know existed until Adam looked it up and found out it was ranked as one of the best places in North America to mountain bike.  Our plan was to be in the Rocky Mountains as the sun came up and it worked out pretty well as we saw the sunrise just past Vail, Colorado.  It is roughly a 5 1/2 hour drive to Moab from Denver and a VERY scenic route.  We stopped quite a few times just to take pictures of the amazing landscape.

We arrived in Moab, Utah around noon and went right to the mountain bike rental place, grabbed a couple of sweet rides and a roof-rack for the family truckster and headed for the Bar M Trails, just north of the city. The scenery was incredible with mountains and canyons everywhere you looked. The trails were in great shape with plenty of options for both my skill level and Adam’s.

After a long day consisting of an early morning, a drive over the Rockies and a few hours of mountain biking we were pretty wiped but had heard great things about a rock formation called the “Delicate Arch”.  It is a wonder of nature and is so cool that it is featured on the Utah licence plate so…after a good dinner at Eddie McStiffs in Moab, we headed to the Arches National Park just north of the city.  There is a parking lot inside the park where you leave your car and then you hike approx. 1 1/2 miles to the arch itself.  It was well worth the trip as the arch is easily one of the coolest natural formations we have ever seen.  We were lucky enough to be there on a day when the sunset was spectacular.

Once the sun had set we hiked back to the car and headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved sleep.

Monday, March 12, 2018

Another early morning as we packed up the truckster and headed towards Sedona, Arizona.

As Adam is trying to get to all of the US States, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit the famous “Four Corners” monument which is the only place in the United States where 4 states meet.  It is located at the intersection of Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado and is on the Navaho Indian Reserve.

The Navajo Peoples have set up a taco stand at the site and we couldn’t resist!

The drive from Four Corners Monument to Sedona is amazing. Huge elevation changes and great scenery. We stopped a bunch of times on the way to be tourists and take pictures.

One of the best surprises was a really windy section of Highway 89A about halfway from Flagstaff to Sedona. Large elevation drop and some crazy turns!  Once you are past that section it’s only a short hop to Sedona.  Sedona is a beautiful city that appears to be getting overrun by tourists.  You don’t expect to run into traffic jams in a quaint, artisan city with a population of just over 10,000 but we ran into more than one.  The area is well known for its red rock formations and we were lucky enough to be there during a stretch of good weather.

We checked into our hotel and then headed up to Airport Mesa which we had heard was the best place to watch the sun go down.  Turns out what we heard was correct as it was spectacular.  There was a really large parking lot just dedicated to the people going there to watch the sunset and it was pretty much full by the time the sun started to go down.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

We woke up to another glorious day in Sedona, had some breakfast and headed to the Over the Edge bike shop and rented a couple of bikes.  There are many great areas to ride in and around Sedona but the guys at the store recommended the Bell Rock group of trails so we drove to the trailhead and started our day from there.

After a great day on the trails we took the bikes back and headed out of town.  Our next stop was Phoenix, Arizona which is a couple of hours from Sedona.  We arrived and checked into our hotel then headed right to Top Golf.  Neither of us had been to a Top Golf but we had done a bit of research to see what it was all about and were pretty excited.  It is a very modern driving range with three shooting decks.  There are targets in the middle of the range and you aim for them to score as many points as possible.  The fun part is the golf balls all have micro chips in them so they keep score themselves.  We got there about 7:30 pm on Tuesday night and were surprised to find in packed.  So we ordered dinner while we waited for a bay to open up.  The food was great and the staff was very friendly.  Everyone wanted to make sure we enjoyed our time there.  We highly recommend trying out a Top Golf location near you if you haven’t already!

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Wednesday started off with a trip to Arizona State University.  Adam had this one on his shortlist for post-secondary education so arranged a campus tour.  The campus was awesome and we were lucky enough to get to tour the Aeronautical Department where they had cool flight simulators. We then walked across the road to tour the airport that is part of the campus.  They even have their own ASU airplanes for the students!

After the tour was over we went back to the hotel where I got caught up on some work and Adam tried to catch some rays. It’s always fun when we travel to the south because our idea of warm is so much different than the locals!

Our evening plans took us on a desert tour. We headed out in a bright yellow Hummer with an experienced guide to tour the Sonoran Desert. We saw some humongous cacti as well as lizards and snake skins. It was another great night and the desert sunset was incredible.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Thursday was a driving day as we headed west to Peach Springs.  It is a very small town (pop just over a thousand) on the South portion of the Grand Canyon.   It is in the middle of the Hualapai (meaning people of the tall pine) Native American Reservation.  We had booked a room at the only place in town and weren’t sure what we were in for but the Grand Canyon Resort turned out to be a pleasant surprise.  The rooms were clean and the entire place was well maintained.  If you go, make sure to eat in the restaurant on the grounds.  It was excellent.   After dinner, we headed to bed early as we had a 6:00 am wake-up call to go white water rafting in the Grand Canyon.

Friday, March 16, 2018

One of the days we were most excited about for this trip as I had only been white water rafting once and Adam had never been.  The chance to do it in the Grand Canyon was a dream come true!  A bus took us from the resort down into the canyon where we met our guide and fellow rafters.  There were three ladies on our boat also from Canada so we were in good company.  The day was perfect with hardly a cloud in the sky and warm temperatures for that time of year.  The guides told us they had been through a few rainy days earlier in the week so they were happy to be going out in the nice weather too.

We had booked a helicopter ride out of the canyon and then a trip to the  Skywalk at Eagle Point.  Its a very cool glass skywalk that juts out over the Grand Canyon.  The helicopter was really fun and gave us a good perspective on how high up the canyon walls actually went.  Kinda a short trip as they basically pick you up at the bottom of the canyon and fly you to the top but it was fun.

Once on the top of the canyon we went to the Skywalk. It was awesome to see a huge chunk of the Grand Canyon all around you as well as looking down through the glass floor.

We were pretty tired but happy as we headed to the bus to get driven to the hotel and then start our trip back to Phoenix. It was a great day and even our new friend came out to see us off.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Seemed like a long time since we had been to the Colorado Avalanche game in Denver but we were looking forward to heading to Gila Arena to see the Phoenix Coyotes play.  One reason was we had bought seats in the “All you can eat and drink” section.  Basically they gave you a wristband that allowed you to go to a separate section of the concession stand and get unlimited hot dogs, popcorn, nachos, bottled water or Pepsi products….challenge accepted!!!

The game was pretty good but the visiting Minnesota Wild prevailed with a 3 – 1 victory over the Coyotes

Nephew David had contacted one of his old teammates, Nick Cousins who was playing for the Coyotes. He hooked us up with access to the BMW lounge where all the players’ family and friends go to wait for the players to come out after the game. Nick was nice enough to give Adam a Coyotes St Patrick’s Day hat…thanks Nick!

Sunday, March 18, 2018

We had an 11:00 am flight out of town so headed to the airport early and hit the lounge for a good breakfast.  We had a chance to reminisce about what a busy, tiring, amazing week it had been…definitely a top three trip!!