Hottest Place on Earth: Death Valley in 4 Days (during the best time of year to go!)

 "How can rocks and sand and silence make us afraid and yet be so wonderful?" ~ Edna Brush Perkins

Growing up my family traveled to Death Valley quite a few times and I have so many great memories of times spent camping in and exploring the desert. Fast forward to summer of 2020 and I was chatting with my mom and we thought it was the perfect time to plan another family trip there. 

Best time of year to travel to Death Valley:

Definitely spring (March is my favorite month). Nights are still quite cool, but days typically only get to the 80s and sometimes 90s. Even more importantly, you can usually still see the wild flowers and the disappearing rivers. 

Where to stay:

I would highly recommend booking early to get the best room and deals. We booked about 9 month early and got awesome rooms. The 2 main hotel/resorts are:

1. The Oasis at Death Valley

2. Stovepipe Wells 

We stayed at Stovepipe Wells (the more affordable choice) and absolutely loved it! We had a beautiful view of the sand dunes, the rooms are plenty big and they accommodated our need for adjoining rooms. There is a great restaurant and bar there, pool, and a store and gas station right across the road. Very convenient.

This was the view just outside our room:

Suggested itinerary:

Day 1: 

Arrive and check into hotel.

Due to the proximity of the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes that is a great place to start. My kids wanted to hike all the way to the largest which can take some time. Sunset at the sand dunes was stunning!

Day 2:

First stop: head to Nevada to see an interesting ghost town Rhyolite

Next stop: Salt Creek to see the disappearing river and pupfish

Next stop: Badwater Basin to step into the lowest elevation in North America (282 feet below sea level)

Next stop: on our way back to the hotel we drove through Artists Palette

We finished the day with the most incredible moonrise and hung outside for a while watching the stars fill the sky.

Day 3:

We started out the day with a beautiful drive to Ubehebe Crater where you can stop to see some wild flowers and amazing sparkly rock formations on the way. You can pretty easily hike down into the crater, but I would recommend some good hiking boots to avoid slipping. 

Off the beaten path tip:

If you have a pretty tough 4 wheel drive vehicle and a couple spare tires, you have got to make the long dirt road trek to The Racetrack Beware because there is no cell service there and in a lot of these locations!!

Next stop: Zabriskie Point which is a great place to hike and explore.

We finished the day with a dinner back at the hotel and a cool swim.

Day 4:

Unfortunately, we experienced a crazy sand storm that day. But the original plan was to go horseback riding at Furnace Creek Stables

We decided to check out a little early to escape the storm and headed to Mono Lake to explore before our long drive home.

Thank you Death Valley for another awesome and memorable trip!

The Last Frontier: Alaska Road Trip

"Alaska isn't about who you were when you headed this way. It's about who you become." ~Kristin Hannah

Early 2021, when we were planning our next trip, we were planning an international trip. However, after a few months, it became clear we wouldn't be leaving the country. It just so happened that at about this time I had a conversation with someone who had just moved from Alaska and it hit me: we need to go to Alaska. None of us had been there, July would be a great time to go, and what a big adventure!

Trip Planning 101:

1.  Plan ahead. At least 3 months, but even more time would be even better. A lot of the popular tours and hotels will be full within 3 months of travel, especially during peak tourist travel in July.

2.  Rental cars are challenging to come by right now. I spent hours trying to find a mid-sized SUV for our family. Almost even canceled the trip because one car rental fell through. I eventually found a company  Alaska Auto Rental. Great customer service and we had a great experience renting exactly what we wanted from them. We rented a Honda CRV which fit all 5 of us well and all 6 of our suitcases and 5 backpacks. It was about $2000 for a week rental, but obviously that will vary. We were very pleased with our experience!

3.  Save up! Alaska travel is not the cheapest. A few tours are a must and they'll easily cost $500-$1000 per tour for a family of 5. Food and gas was also more expensive than we had anticipated. 

4.  Get bear spray and insect repellent after arriving (because you can't take then on the plane) and before doing any hiking and wear lighter color clothing. Our hotel offered bear spray for free so check with your hotel, but if not they sell it at many outdoorsy stores which are all over the place. Mosquitoes are bad there, although it varies, some areas there are none some areas they are just awful, so be prepared!

5. Although I like being spontaneous and it's also good to have a little down time, I would recommend to plan at least 2, if not 3, tours. I share more details of a couple of these below.

Our Itinerary:

Day 1:

Overnight flight. Not a fan of these, but leaving from Sacramento, they were pretty much our only option. And to save a little $$ we had a 6 hour layover in Phoenix. Fortunately, we have some good friends there who met up with us at a trampoline park and then we went out to dinner. It was actually an awesome layover!

Day 2:

We arrived just after midnight, found our rental car, checked into our hotel Hyatt House Anchorage (would recommend: close to airport, good pricing, nice rooms, suite with kitchen, good breakfast, good customer service) and then crashed by about 2am. Getting our luggage, finding our shuttle, getting our rental car, and checking into our hotel was a breeze. 

We woke up around 7am because we were just so excited to be in Alaska! We got the hotel breakfast, which was actually pretty good (all sorts of things from eggs, bacon, french toast sticks to fruit and cereal) and headed out.

Our first stop this day was to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC). The drive there down Highway 1 was absolutely stunning. It is about a 1 hour drive along the water and through Chugach State Park and Chugach National Forest. There are beautiful views of snowcapped mountains and meadows.

At AWCC we had the best time! Things we did: Moose Encounter where we got to learn all about the moose and we even got to feed Arnold! We would have done the Bear Encounter, but it was not offered the day we were there. We visited all the animals: bear, moose, wood bison, musk ox, foxes, wolves, coyotes, owl, bald eagle, caribou, elk, deer, porcupine, just to name a few. We also explored the grounds which are beautiful and had lunch there (reindeer hot dogs - pretty good actually!).

After lunch we headed back to our hotel for naps, then after naps I was on a mission to find some delicious fresh caught salmon. We ended up at Simon & Seafort's Restaurant for a delicious dinner. 

Unfortunately for us, our littlest got a stomach bug (likely something she ingested before the restaurant) and we were up all night tending to her.

Day 3:

As previously mentioned, our youngest was pretty sick so we were stuck in the hotel for the time being. We had to cancel a tour we had planned to Kenai Fjords (Boat Tour). I would highly recommend the tour despite us not being able to do it. I spoke with a family who had gone on the tour and they saw a beautiful family of orcas. I was thankful this company refunded us our money!

All morning we rested, but then in the afternoon, Mike, Aidan, and Camilla headed out to explore Kincaid Park. And apparently it was quite an adventure and they saw a bear and several moose! The park itself was beautiful and lead them to the water's edge:

The remainder of the day we relaxed and caught up on some sleep.

Day 4:

Thankfully, Kendall seemed to be doing better and none of the rest of us had any signs of illness, so we decided it was safe to move on with our trip. The next plan was to spend the day in Denali then head to our new hotel in Fairbanks.

It was about a 4 hour drive to Denali from Anchorage and I would actually recommend stopping at the South and North viewpoints over an hour away from the park. That is where we were actually able to see the peak. Here are a list of places to see the Denali peak. Lucky for us it cleared just enough to see the peak peering through the top of the clouds:

We then headed on to Denali State Park and then Denali National Park. It was an overcast but warm day with temperatures over 70 degrees. Since our youngest was still recovering and not able to walk much, we decided to drive as much of the park as we could. That actually takes you 15 miles into the park to the Savage River. It's another beautiful drive. We chatted with a park ranger and discovered there was a caribou in the river nearby so we decided to check it out. So we hiked part of the Savage Alpine trail and found the caribou cooling off in the river.

The river and wildflowers were so beautiful we decided to hike a little further.

After our hike we headed onward to Fairbanks. We arrived in Fairbanks around dinner time and it was a little challenging finding a restaurant, but we happened upon a great place Lavelles Bistro Restaurant. The service and food were awesome and it was kid friendly.

Lastly, we finally checked into our new hotel Hyatt Place Fairbanks. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this hotel as the rooms were too small, the walls were paper thin, and the breakfast was not good.

Day 5:

This was one of the days I was most excited about! A trip to North Pole, Alaska!!! 

It's just a quick 15 minute drive to The Santa Claus House and it is so worth it! It has just about everything Christmas and most importantly SANTA!!

After seeing Santa and doing a little shopping, we went to feed the reindeer, another fun experience.

At this point it started to rain quite heavily so we headed to lunch and then back to our hotel.

That afternoon we decided to check out Wedgewood Wildlife Sanctuary. 

We did the whole 2 mile hike around the lake. The hike and lake are beautiful and we saw lots of birds, but the mosquitoes were particularly bad this day. 

The walk caused us to work up quite an appetite and we stumbled upon Geraldo's Italian Restaurant. Again we were happy with the service, food, and it was kid friendly. 

Day 6:

This was our longest day yet: our trip to the ARCTIC!! We used Northern Alaska Tour Company and I would highly recommend this company to book your arctic tour. I would also recommend the bus tour (rather than the flight) because a huge part of the arctic tour is the journey there and everything you learn and see along the way. But it is a loooong day. You arrive at 6am, depart at 6:30am and return sometime between 10:30pm-11:30pm. I loved it though. Here are some highlights:

The Dalton Highway:

Alaska Pipeline:

Yukon River:

Finger Mountain:

We made it!!!

We arrived back to our hotel around 11pm and crashed hard.

Day 7:

This day started with a yummy breakfast at Cookie Jar Restaurant. Absolutely delicious breakfast (I had a skillet, but the pancakes and french toast were also amazing).

Time to head back to Anchorage, but since Kendall was feeling better, we decided to stop back in Denali and hike some more and boy are we glad we did that!!

We saw a bunch of moose as we headed into the park. It was a much cooler day so the animals (who thrive in -20-0 degree weather) were out and about:

Then we headed back to the Savage Alpine trail, but we hiked a different section this time.

We hiked a couple miles and then decided to head on to Anchorage and back to our hotel. 

Roadtripping Tip: One thing to note, there are not a lot of services on the drive from Anchorage to Fairbanks. Make sure you have a full tank of gas and lots of snacks. One restaurant we found not too far from Anchorage and was pretty darn good was Denali Family Restaurant. Food was delish, service was great and it was very family friendly.

Day 8:

For our last full day we hadn't previously prepared anything and were thinking we'd check out the zoo, but since we missed out on our Kenai Fjords boat trip, we decided to spend the day in Seward and Kenai Fjords National Park.

It's about a 2 hour drive from Anchorage, but again the drive was so beautiful and definitely worth it.

We made it to Kenai Fjords National Park Exit Glacier at about 10am which was great because by 10:30am the parking lot was full! 

No way we were going to make the full 8 mile loop through the Harding Ice Trail, so we just did part of it, enough to get close to the glacier. I highly recommend. It's about 1.8 miles round trip with some challenging parts, but the view of the glacier is spectacular.

After exploring the park for a while we headed to an early dinner at Chattermark Restaurant. The burgers and wings were deelish! Also great service and family friendly.

And just like that it was time to head back to pack for our overnight flight home....

Thank you Alaska! We will definitely be back for another visit!!

AZ - UT Loop

 "There are no seven wonders of the world to a child. There are seven million." ~Walt Streightiff

With the great quarantine of 2020, our travel goals completely changed. We went from booking trips to Japan and Europe to counting how many National Parks we could see in 9 days... and I'm pretty sure with this trip we broke a record (hint: number of months in a year)...

Before I start, I'll say that we were concerned about the possibility of crazy crowds. Fortunately, we had none. In part due to going early (before 10am) and late (after 5pm) to visit the more popular parks and also visiting mid-week rather than weekends.

See easy hike recommendations at the bottom..

Day 1:

SMF —>PHX 

Arrived in PHX at noon, got our rental car and lunch (In and Out and Chick fil A) and hit the road.

First stop was Sedona, Arizona. We tried to hike Cathedral Rock, but the parking lot was full and we didn’t have a lot of time so instead we explored Coconino National Forest (#1). The huge red rock formations are absolutely stunning.

Back on the road for the long haul to Bryce Canyon, Utah.

Day 2:

We arrived at our hotel in the dark at about 1am. Little did we know we drove through the beautiful Dixie National Forest (#2) with more stunning red rock formations and cliffs.

We checked into Ruby's Inn and hit the hay.

We woke at about 7am and headed to breakfast. This was the only really cold morning, only about 40 degrees, good thing I had some pants and sweaters. We got a delicious buffet breakfast and then headed out.

Bryce Canyon National Park (#3) was only a couple miles away. We tried to go to Sunset Point, but that lot was full so we headed to the next one Inspiration Point. It was absolutely stunning. We explored the views for a while and took lots of pics. 

We decided to leave and go explore Zion and then come back to Bryce for sunset.

So we made the couple hour trek to Zion National Park (#4).

On the way there we made a pit stop to quickly explore and take some pics of Dixie National Forest.

Zion and it’s mountains and cliffs are stunning. We drove through most of the park and made many stops to take lots of pics along the way.

We headed back to Bryce Canyon for sunset. We went straight to Sunset Point and hiked down to the bottom of the canyon and back up. Then we hiked Wall Street down into the canyon and back up. It was a total of about 3 miles. 

The lighting during sunrise and sunset is stunning.

Day 3:

Another yummy breakfast and then we hit the road for Moab.

It was a total fluke, but we happened in Capitol Reef National Park (#5). Absolutely stunning and we had to stop to explore.

We saw more beautiful rock formations, petroglyphs and beautiful orchards.

Back on the road and next stop was Goblin Valley State Park (#6).

Goblin Valley was amazing! Super hot and dry and it felt like you were on Mars, but the rock formations were insane. They really do look like Goblins! There are no marked trails there so we just walked around and explored and of course took lots of pics.

Then back on the road to Moab.

Before getting to our hotel we did a quick drive through of Arches National Park (#7). We wanted to scope out a photoshoot place for the next morning.

We arrived at Moab in the evening, checked into our hotel Red Stone Inn. We were right in the heart of downtown.

We headed to dinner at Zax. Another delicious meal after a long day on the road.

Day 4:

We woke up super early, got dressed up and headed to Arches for a sunrise photoshoot. We ended up at the Garden of Eden because it was beautiful, the sun was just right and there were no people. The photoshoot turned out great.

We changed clothes and headed out to explore. First we went to Double Arch and explored there for a while.

Then we headed to Delicate Arch and did the challenging hike 3 mile round trip hike. Recommendations for doing this hike: go early because it get hot and there is little shade, sunscreen, take LOTS of water, and some snacks. It was also nice to have bandaids and antibiotic ointment because one of our kiddos did have a fall. 

Despite the challenges, it was all 100% worth it.

Next we headed to Canyonlands National Park (#8). There we explored Island in the Sky and Mesa Arch. Both super quick and easy hikes and worth it for the views.

It was starting to get late and we also wanted to see Dead Horse State Park (#9), so we headed there next and went straight to Dead Horse Point for that iconic view. We watched sunset for a while and then decided we were super hungry and headed back to Moab for dinner.

We had a filling dinner at the Moab Brewery. Get the pretzels, biggest I've ever seen and so deeeelish!

Day 5:

This was going to be our longest day as we were driving over 10 hours all the way to Tucson.

 

Since we needed a good breakfast we went to Jailhouse Cafe, it was sooo good! Something for everyone and it was all yummy. We left with full and happy tummies!

After a few hours on the road we made it to Monument. Valley (#10) where we stopped to take some pics, but otherwise we were ready to keep driving and get to our resort.

After spending hours in the 106 degree desert heat we made it to Flagstaff where it was super cool (65 degrees) and pouring rain. It wasn’t long before we were back in 109 degree desert weather. 

We made it to our resort, El.Conquistador, at about 8pm and we were all instantly in heaven. It was a beautiful resort and we had an awesome room!

Day 6:

Finally a relax day. The plan today was to play at the pool all day and have fun with our friends who were visiting. Since it was a Saturday, it was pretty packed, but they had a DJ and all sorts of fun games for the kids. 

It was an awesome day of playing, eating and drinking.

That evening we went out to dinner at the hotel restaurant (Epazote) with our friends while the kids watched an outdoor movie.

Day 7:

Another early morning for us to head out ATVing.

We headed to Box Canyon in Tonto National Forest (#11) for the 0800 start time for Arizona ATV Adventures. We got suited up (mask and goggles are an absolute necessity and they are provided) and got a quick tutorial and then we were off. We got up to 27mph and it’s 34 miles round trip. It was our first time ATVing and while we all did great and had a great time, I would not routinely suggest this for beginners. It felt pretty advanced for me, especially with a child on back.

Having said that, it was an adventure of a lifetime and we had an amazing time. Our guide was super knowledgeable and not only did we have a fun ride through a very rocky canyon, we also learned all about the cacti, the people who used to trek through this land, and even saw some petroglyphs.

We finished around 11am and headed back to the resort for naps. 

After naps we went swimming and then dropped our son at a friend’s house for a play date and then headed with our girls out to dinner at Bottega Michelangelo

Then we had a relaxing evening.

Day 8:

Finally a morning to sleep in…. Actually we were supposed to wake up early for a sunrise photoshoot at Saguaro, but there was just no way… we were super tired by now.

By the time we got to Saguaro National Park (#12) the sun was high and harsh. So instead we did some hiking and tried to find the biggest Saguaro we could. We found one at least 30 feet tall!!

The sounds of the desert are amazing. It literally sounds like rattlesnakes are flying all around you.

It got pretty hot pretty fast, so we didn’t last long. 

We decided to check out the Colossal Cave. We did the tour and beat the heat for 45 minutes as it was only 71 degrees in the cave. We learned all about stalactite and stalagmite. Super interesting! 

We finished the day with swimming and having dinner at a friend’s house.

Day 9: 

Time to say goodbye.

We finished with breakfast at First Watch. Another filling and delicious breakfast!

Then we drove to Phoenix and had an uneventful flight home.

Felt good to be home.

Our clothes were so dirty that they left a film inside the washing machine. HaHa!!

Easy Hike Recommendations:

Bryce Canyon:

1. Trail Name: Sunset to Sunrise at Sunset Point. Roundtrip Distance: 1.0mi (1.6km). Time: 1 hour. Description: Paved portion of rim trail. Easiest hike with views of the scenic Bryce Amphitheater. Pets: yes.

2. Trail Name: Rim Trail (not a loop). Distance: 1.0-11mi (1.6-17.7km). Time: 1-7.5 hours. Description: Views the hoodoo from above. Trail paved between Sunrise and Sunset Points.

3. Trail Name: Bristlecone Loop at Rainbow Point or Yovimpa Point. Roundtrip Distance: 1.0mi (1.6km). Time: 1 hour. Description: Hike through spruce-fir trees with bristlecone pines and expansive vistas.

4. Trail Name: Mossy Cave at North of end of park, 4mi East on Hwy 12. Roundtrip Distance: 0.8mi (1.3km). Time: 1 hour. Description: Streamside walk up to mossy grotto that fills with spectacular icicles in winter and dripping mosses in summer. Note: Can be very crowded from 10am-6pm.

Zion:

1. Trail Name: Pa'rus Trail at the Visitor Center or Canyon Junction shuttle stop. Roundtrip Distance: 3.5mi (5.6km). Time: 2 hours. Description: A paved trail that follows the Virgin River from the South Campground to Canyon Junction. Pets: yes. Handicap accessible: yes. Bikes: yes.

2. Trail Name: Archeology Trail at Visitor Center. Roundtrip Distance: 0.4mi (0.6km). Time: 30 minutes. Description: Short but steep. Climbs to the top of a small hill. Pets: no.

3. Trail Name: Lower Emerald Pool Trail at Zion Lodge. Roundtrip Distance: 1.2mi (1.9km). Time: 1 hour. Description: Minor drop-offs. Paved trail leads to the Lower Emerald Pool and waterfalls. Swimming is prohibited in Emerald Pools. Pets: no.

4. Trail Name: Riverside Walk at Temple of Sinawava. Roundtrip Distance: 2.2mi (3.5km). Time: 1.5 hours. Pets: no.

5. Trail Name: Grotto Trail at Zion Lodge or Grotto. Roundtrip Distance: 1 mi (1.6km). Time: 30 minutes. Description: The trail connects the Zion Lodge to the Grotto and is near the road most of the way. Great place to see wildlife. Pets: no.

Arches:

1. Trail Name: Balanced Rock. Distance: 0.3mi (0.5km). Time: 20 minutes. 

2. Trail Name: The Windows. Distance: 1mi (1.6km). Time: 45 minutes.

3. Trail Name: Double Arch. Distance: 0.5mi (0.8km). Time: 20 minutes.

4. Trial Name: Delicate Arch. Distance: 3mi (4.8km). Time: 3-4 hours. THIS IS NOT AN EASY HIKE, IT IS VERY CHALLENGING, but it is a must - just take plenty of water, high protein snacks, sunscreen, and bandaids if you have kids especially. During summer months go in early morning or evening when it is cooler.

5. Trail Name: Skyline Arch. Distance: 0.4mi (0.6km). Time: 10-20 minutes.

6. Trail Name: Landscape Arch. Distance: 1.9mi (3.1km). Time: 50 minutes.

Canyonlands:

1. Trail Name: Mesa Arch. Distance: 0.5mi (0.8km). Time: 30 minutes. Description: Short hike that leads to an arch on a cliff. The views are spectacular.

2. Trail Name: White Rim Overlook. Distance: 1.8mi (2.8km). Time: 1.5 hours. Description: Walk here for views of the Colorado River, Monument Basin, and La Sal Mountains. 

3. Trail Name: Grand View Point. Distance: 2mi (3.2km). Time: 1.5 hours. Description: Walk here to see spectacular panoramic views of the canyon edge.

4. Trail Name: Whale Rock. Distance: 1mi (1.6km). Time: 1 hour. Description: Trail leads to the side of a sandstone dome with views of Island in the Sky.

Saguaro:

1. Trail Name: Freeman Homestead Trail. Distance: 1mi (1.6km). Description: Hike here to see the site of an old homestead foundation, a grove of large saguaros, and a desert wash. You can also see Great Horned Owls and interpretive signs telling the history of the region.

2. Trail Name: Loma Verde Loop. Distance: 3.8mi (6.1km). Description: On this trail you'll see a grove of mesquite trees, a wash, a bluff, and the Loma Verde Mine.