26 March to 29 March

We drove out of LA early on Sunday morning, heading west to a busy but really exciting part of our trip. We had 4 days to travel some 16 hours and more than 1000 miles of driving. Our first stop was Vegas (at Ellie’s request), followed by Page Arizona, Monument Valley and finally Phoenix, where we would fly to Mexico on Thursday morning. 

There is something about driving east out of LA towards Vegas. Even though Route 66 has been subsumed by the interstate 15 now, there are still snippets of old school diners, ghost towns and random military parks to keep the drive interesting and make you feel like you have been teleported back to the 50s and you’re actually driving a convertible. We sold this dream to the kids and it kept them transfixed for about 7 minutes, after which it was ipads and the promise of a traditional, diner style milkshake that helped pass the 5 hours before we caught sight of the strip. 

We probably wouldn’t have stopped in Vegas this trip, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was Ellie’s choice to do so. The last time we were there, we consumed 50 hours of babysitting services for an almost 3 year old Ellie and 8 month old Jessie as we celebrated Dave and Lars’s wedding – and nearly broke ourselves in the process. 

Vegas can be high class – with it’s amazing resorts, world’s best restaurants and live shows; it can be trashy kitch – with aging, cheap ‘4 star’ hotels, fast food, yard glasses of margarita and strip clubs; or it can be tragic – with aging patrons pulling on slot machines and chain smoking alone in a casino at 4am. 

Love it or hate it, Vegas is unique, and we were excited to see the kids’ reaction to it.

To maximise the impact of the Vegas kitch (high class and our kids didn’t sit well together – particularly in terms of our budget, so kitch was really the only card we had to play), we had reserved a night at Caesar’s Palace (what could be more Vegas than an enormous tribute to ancient Rome?), and planned to spend our single night there. Our friends Dan and Marc Antonie and kindly treated us to a Mexican dinner at La Salsa (owned by Dan’s uncle), and we had last minute tickets for Cirque de Soleil’s Bad Apple that night at New York New York. Between events there would be exploring the strip and getting a very brief introduction to the place. Vegas with kids – sorted. 

We pulled into Caesar’s Palace and were immediately struck by the scale of things – we had forgotten how enormous everything is. The resort takes up an entire block, it has 4 towers and it feels like you need a train ticket to get from the parking through the casinos to the check-in. At 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, it is also a zoo, with long lines of guests scrambling to claim their $50 rooms (not including the $50 resort tax) from the most jaded staff we have seen in the US so far. By the time we navigated check in and were reacquainted with our bags, it was time to head out. 

The kids first experience of the strip was fun – with lots of questions like ‘is that the Eiffel Tower? (of course)’; ‘what are the canals for?’ (boating); ‘is the fountain dancing?’(yes); ‘what’s in those big yard glasses people are drinking? (mostly margaritas)’ and ‘what are all those women on those little cards?’ (topic change)

From there it was into Planet Hollywood and to La Salsa for our Dan and Marc Antonie sponsored dinner. The restaurant is indoors, but under an enormous roof with blue sky and sunset coloured clouds projected… so whatever the time it is always sunset and the perfect time for a cocktail.

We were treated to an amazing Tex-Mex style dinner and a margarita, which immediately took away any stress of the Caesar’s Palace check in. Halfway through mains, and eyeing the clock for our departure to Cirque de Soleil, we were offered a second round. Why not? We said. 

“Unfortunately” Liz’s came out as a yard glass full of pomegranate cocktail – meaning that for the rest of the evening we were walking the strip carrying this yard glass of purple cocktail. Even in Vegas this attracted quite a few judgemental looks, but sometimes you’ve got to own it and just do what’s right. 

On arrival at Cirque de Soleil (yard glass in hand), we were informed that the show was 16+, the comedian would not take pity on kids and there would be no refunds after the show commenced. No worries, we said. If they complained, we’d just feed them some purple drink. Sure, they said 

The show itself was awesome. The acrobatics, the music and the comedy were all amazing, and we all loved it – no doubt on different levels – but an absolute success. 

On the way home we walked along the strip, pausing to watching the fountains dance, take photos in front of the various casinos we passed and watched the very different groups of people that crossed our paths. We finally made it back to the Caesar’s entrance and then navigated our way through the casinos to our room, walking past every aspect of the Vegas experience on the way. 

The following morning we were up bright and early, and were walking out of our rooms by 7am. We filed downstairs and past the tables and slot machines which were still running a relatively brisk trade, with many of the patrons falling into the ‘tragic’ category – a timely reminder of the more complex side of Vegas. 

Love it or hate it, Vegas is unique. We’ve had our experience for now, and couldn’t wait to be moving on into the desert… but also feeling lucky that we could share this with the kids. 

We couldn’t wait to continue our way east to the big expanse of Nevada and the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, some 5 hours away. 

We made our way east through the Nevada desert, climbing to 2,500m (higher than Kosciusko) to get to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Liz had been here before, but for the rest of us this was new ground. You can see pictures and hear others’ perspectives, but there is nothing that can prepare you for the sheer scale of the place. To state the obvious, it is enormous. Some 400 miles long, 10 miles wide and so deep that the bottom is lost to sight from the top. And completely barren. And absolutely awe inspiring. 


What we didn’t expect (somewhat naively) was the snow. For some reason, we expected that Arizona would be dry and cool in early spring, but we were greeted with snow piles on the side of the road and in the trees on the side of the road as we ascended and the temperature dropped towards zero. 

We spent a wonderful afternoon busing and then hiking around the south rim of the Canyon, appreciating the amazing vistas in the cold, sunny and still conditions. The sights across and into the immense canyon, the completely barren sides and the rugged little trees clinging to the rim made for amazing viewing and photos. 

Most of the path was either paved (at the beginning) or rocky, but towards the end of the hike it became snowy, and the feedback from the kids in their trainers became more vocal. We did not have time, equipment or the capability to descend into the canyon for a longer experience on this trip, but the taster that we had experienced would stay with us for a long time. 

From the canyon we made our way further east and a bit north towards Page, Arizona, where we would stay the night. During the first part of the drive we were treated with continual vistas of the canyon as we traversed the southern rim, before turning north through snowy pine forests. From there we descended into desert terrain where rocky mesas and buttes stood sentry over canyons carved through the plain. Even coming from Australia, there is something that feels just ‘big’ in this area of the world, and in the afternoon light it was just jaw dropping. This was what we were envisaging with our rapid fire trip through the south west, and we were not disappointed. 

As we made our way along highway 89, we started seeing signs welcoming us to the Navajo Nation, and slightly randomly our clocks jumped forward an hour. No entry signs were decreed under both Federal and Tribal law – which was new to us. We were intrigued. 

It turns out that the Navajo Nation stretches across Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, and is inhabited by around 350,000 Navajo people. They have their own laws and legal system which Navajo people are subject to whilst in the Navajo Nation, which replaces State law. They operate on central time, which is an hour ahead of the rest of Arizona – which is slightly confusing. Our next two stops would be Navajo owned and operated, and we were excited to find out more. 

By the time we pulled into Page – a smallish, gateway town which seemed to be almost exclusively comprised of churches and hotels – it was already dark. It had been a massive day. We pulled into the Baymont Hotel – another of our budget chain hotels. As a side note, we have found these lower end business hotels to be perfect for our travelling needs. Big rooms, easy access including trolleys (important when you’re travelling with 10 bags and 3 children), free breakfast and, in this case, a gym and indoor pool. Oh, and incredible views over the dam and surrounding countryside. It may not have the personality of a Airbnb but it was incredibly convenient and not bad for $100. We ate our picnic dinner and then passed out. 

The next morning, we were excited to visit Antelope Canyon – our reason for stopping in Page. 

The canyons are formed by floodwater and wind over the last several hundred million years. After all that time, they are between 5-10 meters deep, narrow, winding and growing 2 (horizontal) fingers deeper every hundred years or so. When we visited at midday, the light streaming in was spectacular… and it’s not just us that thinks so. Apple, Microsoft and Samsung all use vistas from here as screen savers on their various devices. And they are never wrong. Right? 

From Antelope Canyon and after another back-of-the-car picnic (the kids were starting to revolt a bit here, but we were trying to limit the intake of yellow fast food that we had inadvertently binged on in California as we were getting our travelling skates back on) we made our way south towards Monument Valley. 

After a couple of big driving days, the relatively short two-hour trip to Monument Valley was welcomed by all. As were the amazing scenery as we zipped through the high desert under the watchful eyes of the mesas and buttes with snow capped mountains in the distance. 

We expected Monument Valley, which straddles both Arizona and Utah, to be a highlight of our entire trip, in fact we were concerned that we might have over-egged it. We had booked a cabin in a Navajo run hotel/cabin/camping complex with apparently amazing views over the surrounding desert scapes and were looking forward to watching the sunset and sunrise light the area up. 

As pulled up to our cabin we realised that we would not be disappointed. We had perfect views pointing due east across to the two ‘mittens’ (we think one looked more like an elephant, but we might be biased here) with other beautiful mesas to our left and right. The afternoon light was already turning these formations a beautiful red/orange colour which would only deepen as the sun sunk lower. 


We went for a short hike around the area, braving the zero degree temperatures, rugged up and settled in to our balcony with a glass of wine to watch the sunset and listen to some music. Needless to say, the sunset did not disappoint. 

We spent a fun night playing Exploding Kitten, eating microwave dinners and generally enjoying the lack of wi-fi, before checking on the stars (stunning, but not quite Wadi Rum/Central Australia) and realising that we simply did not have enough clothes or blankets to spend too much time outside in -5 degree temperatures. 

The following morning dawned clear and cold as we jumped out of bed to watch the sunrise. The kids were initially enthusiastic, but soon buckled in freezing morning weather; we were treated to another light show as the sky turned pink and the sun popped up directly between the two ‘mittens’ overlooking our cabin. Not a bad way to start the day. 

From Monument Valley we started the long drive back to Phoenix. The 6 hour drive would see us travel through arid desert, snow covered and tree lined mountains and cactus covered slopes. We would descend from 2,500 metres to 400m, and the temperature would rise from freezing to a balmy 25 degrees as we arrived into Phoenix. 

En route to our hotel we detoured towards the Dobbins Lookout to get our cactus fix (in lieu of heading to Baja California in Mexico) and then made our way to our hotel near the airport.

Ever since watching the Chef’s Table: Pizza Netflix documentary, we had been talking about hitting up the Pizzeria Bianco for the world’s best pizza in Phoenix (which doesn’t take bookings). Unfortunately when we pulled in there, we were informed that there would be a 3-5 hour wait… so that wasn’t going to be an option. Instead we went to a local Italian with a more modest reputation, and had a wonderful last meal in the US. The kids were just excited that it wasn’t more ‘car food’ and it didn’t come out of a microwave. Plus we got some time to do some much needed updating of the ‘Sticky-inny-book’ ie hardcopy version of the blog but with more drawing, sticking and debate about culture, legal systems and social norms.

As we had our dinner, we felt a bit nostalgic that this part of our trip was done. Like most holidays, it felt slow at the start, but then starts to accelerate the further you get into it. We had moved quickly and done a lot, and we were looking forward to a slightly slower pace as we hit Mexico tomorrow. We had caught up with family and friends, we had seen so much wonderful scenery and been greeted without exception by amazingly friendly people. We had been reminded of what we loved about the US, and what challenged us in this complex country. Travelling here was expensive, straight forward and hugely varied – from the redwoods and coastline of northern California, to Disneyland, Vegas and the amazing desertscapes that we had enjoyed over the last few days. Driving made sense, tourist sites were well thought out and incredibly efficient. There was no language barrier and the culture was familiar, but different enough to be interesting. 

That said, we were excited about what lay ahead. The opportunity to bumble our way through in Spanish, to show the kids something a bit less familiar, to explore the Mayan culture and of course the Caribbean coast. 

We were also acutely aware that this period of time was moving really fast. In 2 weeks we would arrive in the UK and the next chapter of ‘real life’ would start again. It still seems like a long way away for now, but the clock is ticking and we’ll be there before we know it.