This past May we went on our annual Vacation adventure! This time heading out west to Arizona by rail – the Amtrak Southwest Chief to be exact!
We left Chicago on Monday afternoon and were in Flagstaff AZ by midnight Tues. We were 3 hours late, but that is to be expected with rail travel…
We stayed 2 nights in Williams, AZ – a tourist town of the old Rt 66 days. Also a very convenient place to stay while visiting the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
You need at least 2 days to take in the awesome beauty of the canyon – the colors are incredible and the trails are exhausting – be sure to bring plenty of water!!!
Then we drive up to Kanab, Utah. Kanab has the most reasonably pricedhotels to the North Rim of the Canyon, even though it is about 70 miles away. Kanab is also home to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary – the largest no-kill shelter in the US – highly recommend visiting Best Friends (and donate too), the tour lets you see and pet some of the cats and dogs they care for 🙂
As beautiful as the South Rim was – the North Rim is that much better! Breathtaking views and much smaller crowds, well worth the time it took to drive here! (its about 200 miles from the S. Rim to the N. Rim )
On to Monument Valley! Beautiful Drive; every turn you make there are different colors to see! Just when you think you’ve seen everything Arizona has to offer, you turn a corner and see something brand new! Incredible!!!
Speaking of incredible – Monument Valley has got to be see in person in order to believe it’s beauty! Amazing how Mother Nature created such unbelievable shapes!
On to Tombstone, AZ – the town made famous by the brother’s Earp – home of the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral! It was the weekend and some of the streets are blocked off to traffic and the town-folk, and guests, are in Western costume. You can get stagecoach rides and there are impromptu fist and gun fights in the streets.
All in all, a truly fantastic trip! I even purchased some Turquoise that I will turn into some really unique jewelry that can be purchased on my website: www.wrappedtogo.net.
All Wrapped Up 