Planning a road trip to the Grand Canyon

Prequel to: Vancouver to the Grand Canyon and Back Again!

So, I'm still coming down from a high after my trip to Mexico, and last night, Angharad, Juanita and I had a Facetime call to talk about our road trip to the Grand Canyon in the first weeks of July.

I am SOO excited about this!! Angharad and I have been talking about doing this for about three years now, and it is finally happening. And what a road trip it is going to be.

Basically, take everything that is best about driving down the western U.S. coast, and put it together with the Grand Canyon, and you have our road trip. Trust me, I checked.

Angharad put together a preliminary plan...

"Not trying to take over, but just put this together to start the discussions"

which is what we talked about last night.

And today I Googled:

"What are the best road trips along the western U.S. coast"

According to Fodor's Travel, of the 5 best trips, we are covering over half of them.

• San Diego to Ensenada, Mexico - Not happening
• LA to Joshua Tree - While the park isn't on our itinerary, LA is; from there, we're going north of Joshua Tree National Park to Williams, where we're catching the train into the Grand Canyon.
• San Francisco to Big Sur - This is Absolutely Happening!!! Did I mention that I'm excited about this trip???
• Portland to Redwood National Park - This is half happening. We are driving along the coast from Portland to Reedsport, and then heading inland to San Francisco. Adding Redwood National Park turns a comfortable 7.5 hour drive into a 9 hour drive; we'll have to see how we feel on that day.
• Seattle to Alaska - We are not going to Alaska. We are however, driving from Vancouver through Seattle, so we will be doing some of this trip.

And then, after all of that, we get to spend Independence Day with friends,  take a train ride into the Grand Canyon, and drive through the Grand Staircase National Monument.

So, Angharad, as far as I am concerned, you can plan a road trip for me any time. And Thank You.

I will be flying back to Regina from Salt Lake City, and they will continue the trip home to Vancouver taking in the Bonneville Salt Flats, Wild Horse Monument, and Leavenworth, to name a few.

It's going to be amazing. 

Bixby Bridge, Big Sur Coast - Photograph by Don Bright