DAD WORLD TOUR to Zion National Park, Utah, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Arizona, and Arche
I decided this year that instead of gifts for Christmas that I was going to give each of my parents a trip to visit me. Not just any trip, but a “Bucket List” adventure trip with just me. No offense to my three older sisters, but since I was born last, I realized that I never really had 1 on 1 time with either of my parents in my life. Now that I only see them on holidays, it’s even crazier with kids and husbands joining in the mix. So my Dad told me he had always wanted to travel cross country on a train or in a car. So how perfect was it that I needed my old car to be driven back to Virginia since it was retiring. So I bought my dad a cross country ticket on Amtrak and planned an epic road trip back in my car together.
Our itinerary started in Venice Beach so he could see my hood and what a day in the life of Laura is like:) Then we stopped in Las Vegas for some father-daughter gambling bonding time and a visit to Bonnie Springs Ghost Town, Red Rock Canyon and the Atomic Bomb Museum. Then we drove through Zion National Park in Utah to Page, Arizona where we had a tour planned at Upper Antelope Canyon the next day. This spot has been a bucket list location for me for years, so I was SUPER excited to go with my Dad. We had to jump in a Suburban with a Navajo guide who drove us miles over a sandy wash in the middle of the desert until we ended up at the crack of this canyon. It was so beautiful and surreal walking through the narrow sandstone cracks that have been carved by water over a million years. I was obsessed with the lines, lighting, and colors and I just couldn’t stop taking photos!
Our next stop was Horseshoe bend, this 1000 ft high lookout over the Colorado river where the river bends like a horseshoe. It was only 10 minutes away from Antelope canyon and a short 1/4 mile hike to the cliff’s edge. And there is no fence, wall, or border. You literally can just walk off a 1000 ft cliff if you are not careful, but it was one of the most majestic views I have ever witnessed. My Dad was too scared to walk to the cliff’s edge with me.
From there we drove through Monument Valley Utah, to see the Goose eggs, and then ended up in Moab to see Arches National Park. Arches is another surreal landscape of sandstone arches carved over a million years and the rocks took all kinds of imaginative forms. My Dad and I thought we saw all sorts of shapes and characters and were obsessed with figuring out the geology of this alien landscape. Finally, our drive continued to Colorado where my half of the road trip with my Dad ended. He is continuing on by himself all the way to my native Virginia with my car Ravina.
Spending a week with your parent is an experience that I can’t describe. I was calling this trip, a “guilt trip” since it is my turn to finally treat my parents to something to make up for all they have done for me in my life. But beyond that, the stories that I heard, some new and some for the millionth time, were priceless. Having these new, hilarious, majestic and often epic memories together is something I will always keep with me. I think everyone should make the time NOW while you still have the chance to do a “guilt trip” like this with your parents.
