It's that time of year again! Time for another spring break road trip! Last year, I took a pretty epic one across West Texas but this year may have even been bigger and better!
As we know, since I have become a teacher, I have become quite a traveler. I use my breaks in the spring and summer to visit places that I have never been before. During the pandemic, I came to perfect the domestic road trip, as many of us did when we couldn't fly. I also have made it a goal to visit all 50 US states.
I was able to cover a lot of US ground post-college when I traveled with a missionary group, NET Ministries. My team did the central US and we covered everything from Minnesota and North Dakota to Louisiana and Texas and much in between. Now that I am in my 40s, I only have a few states left and my plan is to check off the last of them in the next couple of years.
I have been wanting to go to Utah as many of my friends have been to the national parks and said they were worth a visit. Since I was going to be heading out that way, I decided to add Jackson Hole, Wyoming to my trip- a place that I've also wanted to visit. And if I could squeeze in Idaho since I would be right there, why not?
So enfolded this year's Spring Break trip out west which ended up being pretty phenomenal. One of my best friends decided to join me as we had done a western road trip from Santa Fe to San Diego previously. We both enjoy a national park and a good roadside attraction so we filled our itinerary with as many as we could.
Below is how we spent our week. What a great way to take a break and celebrate Spring and the Easter season!
Day 1: Fly from Richmond to Vegas, spend some time in Vegas, drive to Zion, Utah
We started our Easter Sunday early with a 9am flight to Las Vegas. Vegas is one of the places you can fly into to visit Zion. Since we were going to be in Vegas, we decided to do a couple of things we've talked about for a while: the Meow Wolf Omega Mart in Area 15 and the Neon Museum Boneyard. Both of us had done the Vegas strip thing before, so these more off the beaten path things were more of a priority for this trip.
We started by picking up our rental car and driving to Omega Mart which we had already purchased timed tickets for. We both had also visited the flagship Meow Wolf in Santa Fe on our last western road trip in 2018. The Omega Mart offered the Meow Wolf weird with a different storyline that I'm not sure we entirely figured out, but we enjoyed exploring the facade of the store front with the mysterious world that lay behind it.
Outside and inside Area 15 in Las VegasBelow: another interactive art instillation outside Area 15 in VegasAfter exploring Omega Mart, we got an amazing lunch inside Area 15 at The Beast restaurant. There are couple of cool food and drink options around and inside Area 15. You could spend a whole day at the complex, but we only had like 2 hours.
Our next Vegas adventure took us to another attraction we had been wanting to visit that you also needed timed tickets for: The Neon Museum. It houses old Vegas signs that are no longer in use. You can walk around in the sign "boneyard" and see all of the old Vegas signs. If you do so at night (which we weren't able to do this time) they light them up!
Walking through the Neon Museum Boneyard in Las Vegas.After checking off these two attractions on our Vegas list, we drove to outside Zion, Utah to our cabin for the night. We would be exploring Zion National Park the following AM. Our cabin was an air n b listing (all of our lodging I found on Air B n B! Looking at cool Air B n B listings is one of my favorite things to do :) but was a part of a site called Gooseberry Lodges which we thought was really cute. The accommodations were simple but clean and we made a fire and sat by our individual fire pit for a bit before heading to bed for the night.
Our little cabin in Gooseberry Lodges outside Zion, Utah.
Day 2: Zion, UT to Kanab, UT
We started Day 2 by getting up and driving to Zion National Park. On our way there. we stopped at an Atlas Obscura find (which is where we find a lot of these places): Grafton Ghost Town which is, you guessed it, an abandoned old ghost town.
Grafton cemetery (above) and Grafton Ghost Town schoolhouse (below)The Ghost Town was a little bit of a detour but still on our way to
Zion National Park. It was an easy stop off before making our way to the park.There wasn't any timed entry to my knowledge for Zion, so we just had to wait in a long line of cars to get into the park. Once we were in there, there weren't many obvious points to pull over and park and parking was very limited, so we just kind of drove through and pulled over to the side of the road as many other people were doing when we could. It was a cool park to drive through, but we would come to find there are other parks that are a little more organized. We didn't spend a ton of time in the park since it was so busy.
One of our stop off points to walk a little around Zion National Park.
We were going to be spending the night in Kanab, UT that night and we had a couple of roadside attractions that we wanted to hit before we checked into our Air B n B. One of the spots was
Moqui Cave which was a cave that was once a bar and dance hall for movie actors who were filming in Kanab. The cave today is a total tourist trap, but the bar was cool to see (though it is no longer in operation) and they have some illuminated rocks you can view (though the background of this pic is just blacklight paint :)
We also had lunch outside of Moqui Cave at a sandwich stand that was really cute but only one girl was working so it took a while. It was a nice day, though, so we found a spot in the shade outside the cave and had a nice break before making our way further towards our Air B n B. Kanab is about 40 minutes to an hour from Zion.
Inside Moqui Cave (above) and lunch truck outside Moqui Cave (below)
After the Moqui Cave stop, we made our way towards our Air B n B, but we made another couple of roadside stops inside Kanab: a thrift store, a rock shop, and The Little Hollywood Museum which had old pieces from old movie and TV sets.
Below: set from Little Hollywood Museum.
We ended Day 2 by going to an awesome dinner at The Wild Thyme cafe in Kanab and then sitting on our porch at our Air B n B.
View from our Kanab Air B n B (above)
Day 3: Kanab, UT, to Bryce Canyon to Moab, UT
There are quite a few things in Kanab to keep you busy there for a couple of days, but we weren't able to do all of them (we had wanted to stop at the Sand Caves but couldn't figure out where to get in to see them, for one). We did make a stop at this cool trail that also wasn't super well marked, but well worth putting into Google to find: The Belly of the Dragon trail. We spent less than an hour at this stop and just mainly took pictures, but you can walk a trail...not sure how far it goes!
Another one of the National Parks on our list was
Bryce Canyon so we drove from Kanab to Bryce on our way to Moab. When we had visited Zion, there had been signs for a shuttle to take you through the park and we thought that might be a good thing for us to try at Bryce. We parked at the base of the park and the shuttle took as through the main 4 viewing points in the park. The first point, Bryce Point, was my favorite! Utah had record snow this year, so there were still remnants, though it was probably about 60 degrees while we were there. The views were incredible!
The drive from Bryce Canyon to Moab is about 4 hours so we had a big drive ahead of us. The drive also was a little treacherous for my liking and reminded me of some of the twists and turns I had encountered in Texas. Luckily, my friend was up for the challenge and she drove us into Moab where we had dinner at one of the very few spots that was open past 8pm- The Moab Brewery. So many restaurants in Moab close at 9pm, so be sure to eat before then if you go!
Day 4: Moab, UT
We had timed tickets for Arches National Park at 9am. We got coffee at Snake Oil coffee- a cute drive thru coffee shop close to our Air B n B- and then drove to the park which was really close to our Air B n B. Moab is pretty cute town with access to a lot of the main parks. The timed tickets were also amazing and limited the amount of cars and made available more parking spots so we got to enjoy the park way more than we did Zion.
There are lots of stops in Arches park and we could've probably spent all day there. My friend and I are not hikers, so we just picked a couple of spots to walk through and the rest of the park we drove through making some stops for pictures. Here are some of the stops we made:
the Park Avenue Viewpoint
the Organ and 3 Gossips
Balanced Rock
Double Arches (which we parked and walked up to)
The Windows (again, parked and walked up through)
The Fiery Furnace (parked and walked up to take pictures)
The Landscape Arche (this was probably our biggest "hike" which we only did like maybe a mile or so of)
First photo op in Arches Park, Park Avenue Viewpoint (above), the Windows stop (below)We spent about 4.5 hours in Arches and we could've spent more, but after a busy AM, it was time for lunch. We went to a cute place in town and there are many in Moab (they just close by 9pm!) We had lunch at Trailhead Public House which had a little bit of everything and a nice, friendly vibe. It was also a good stop on our way to our roadside attraction for the day: The Hole N the Rock!
This is another tourist trap, but I found it really interesting. This was rock was purchased by a couple in the 1930s (I think?) and they blew out the rock and started a diner inside. They also created a home. You can tour the home for $6.50. It's about a 15 minute tour. They tell you a lot about the family who were artists as well as entrepreneurs. There is also a petting zoo on the grounds, but you need separate tickets and we didn't have much interest in that. We walked around the grounds after the tour and a really nice about an hour visit.
We took some down time after a busy couple of days. My friend wanted to go to a thrift shop close to our Air B n B and I had found out a friend from CA happened to also be in Moab so she and I met up while my friend went shopping.
After a relatively relaxing afternoon, we made the drive to
Dead Horse State Park which is about 30-40 minutes outside of Moab, but totally worth the drive. I had read that this was a good location to do at sunset and we were not disappointed. The drive is a little hairy at times, but this would be a great place to camp and is definitely a good place to visit, especially for sunset. It wasn't overly crowded and even though it was cloudy on the night we went, it was still cool to see the light change and cast shadows and reveal different parts of the canyon as the sun set.
Sunset at Dead Horse State Park, Moab UT.
We had to pay to get into the State Park (it was $20. I had purchased the National Park pass for all of the other parks we did so we just showed the pass and were able to get into Zion, Bryce, and Arches easily) but it was totally worth it!
After another full day, we ate dinner at the Moab Diner (which is open til like 10pm! whoo hoo!) and then called it a night at our Air B n B in Moab.
Day 5: Moab, UT to Jackson, WY
This was the part of the trip that I was probably most nervous about. Our previous long drive from Kanab to Moab went fine, but there were a lot of twists and turns (switchback roads, if you will!) and I was also nervous about the weather. We would be going through Salt Lake City which had unprecedented snow fall up until last week and I knew that Jackson Hole was going to be cold as it is a ski destination. We had been nervous about possible road closures.
The drive ended up not being as bad as we thought. There were flurries outside of Salt Lake, but the rest of the total 8 hour drive was ok. We stopped at the Red Iguana for lunch in Salt Lake which was a fantastic, authentic Mexican restaurant. We would be returning to Salt Lake for our flight after our trip to Jackson, so we didn't spend too much time in the city this time around.
As we got close to our destination of Jackson Hole, we came across a beautiful scene with Snake River amid the mountains, so we (my friend :) decided to stop for pics. As we stopped, a woman in a robe and bathing suit stepped out of her car, which we thought odd since it was 30 degrees outside. I assumed she was going to do a cold plunge, but she must've seen us looking strangely at her and told us there were natural hot springs below! We would return to the hot springs the next day, but we went down and explored a little before checking into our Air B n B.
Natural Springs between Alpine and Hoback, Wyoming.
We checked into our Air B n B in Jackson Hole, about 20 minutes from the hot springs. We had been driving all day and our plan was to use the hot tub at our resort for the evening and just unwind. Much to our dismay, the pool and hot tub were closed the night we checked in! However, they told us we could use the hot tub of a neighboring property so that is how we spent our first evening in Jackson Hole!
Day 6: Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Jackson Hole is a pretty touristy town and pretty high end. There were lots of nice stores and restaurants (open for normal dining hours!) around town, however, we also were told after the hot tub disappointment that we were there during "off season". The skiers were gone and the town kind of shuts down at the end of April before re-opening once things have melted in May.
We still found plenty of stores and restaurants to check out and some of the roads in the Grand Tetons were still open. Many of the trails were covered in snow and they blocked off some of the roads, but we were still able to drive into the park and make a couple of picture stops and even walk some of a trail (on top of packed snow, however!)
Standing on top of packed snow in Grand Teton National Park!
One of the restaurants open in Jackson Hole was a Polish-Italian one! I rarely get to have authentic Polish food so this was a treat! We got the Polish plate and it was fantastic! More fun on packed snow in the Tetons!
Sitting on a "bear chair" outside of shop in Jackson Hole
We had wanted to return to the natural hot springs we saw on our way into Jackson Hole, so we made an appointment at Astoria Park and Hot Springs which for $20 has multiple hot spring pools available. This is how we spent our Friday after exploring the Tetons and a Polish lunch.
Sitting in a hot springs in Astoria Park outside Jackson Hole, WY.
After a two-hour session (which we really only did 1.5 hours of...it's a long time to sit in 100+ degree water!) we went back to our cabin at the resort, showered and went out to dinner in town. We went to Gather which was a really great, more upscale place that had local fare and great cocktails!
My elk bolognese and lavender gin cocktail at Gather in Jackson Hole, WY.
We ended our second night in Jackson Hole back where we had spent the night before- the hot tub. Lots of hot water sitting in Jackson!
Day 7: Jackson, Wyoming to Idaho to Salt Lake City, UT
We had booked a red-eye flight out of Salt Lake City that didn't leave until midnight. This gave us a full day to explore before we headed out to the airport.
We had driven through Idaho for just a minute on our way to Wyoming and I really wanted to explore Idaho a little more since we were right there. My friend researched and found a geyser that is natural but man manipulated to erupt every hour on the hour. We decided to head there and check it out as we made our way back towards Salt Lake for our late flight.
Geyser in Soda Springs, Idaho.
Even though we didn't want to sit in more hot springs and be wet for our flight, we still stopped in nearby Lava Springs, Idaho for lunch where we made sure to eat more game meat. We had bison/elk/boar/wagu beef burgers at 78 Main in Lava Springs.
Lava Springs, Idaho is about two hours to Salt Lake. We still had plenty of time before our midnight flight after lunch, so my friend found the Antelope Island State Park on the Salt Lake in Utah for us to explore before heading to the airport. This ended up being a really beautiful stop. It was $15 to get in since it was a State Park and not covered by my National Parks pass, but still totally worth it. We drove around half of the island and stopped off for small walks and to try and see some real roaming bison (which we did!)
Beautiful Antelope Island park with the mountains reflecting off the Salt Lake (roaming bison not pictured :)
I wanted to at least check out Salt Lake City a little before we went to the airport, so we walked around downtown a little to see this art exhibit which is outside of the Salt Lake convention center. Salt Lake City was pretty lively on this Saturday night. It was 60 degrees which was much better than the snow we experienced when we drove through it a couple of days prior.
You Are Here exhibit outside Salt Lake City convention center.
After walking around downtown a bit, it was time to return our rental car and head to the airport. We had dinner and some cocktails at a place by our gate and then boarded our red eye back to the East Coast.
This trip ended up being better than I could have imagined! I had been nervous about all of the driving and weather but everything ended up working out perfectly and we found plenty to do in all of the locations we stayed in.
Only 6 more states for me to visit to complete all 50! Until the next trip...
Peace,
Julia
