trip

Acadia

National Park 4/59

Acadia National Park | 8.13.17 | Maine | 44.3386° N, -68.2733° W

 

Acadia National Park has been on my list for a while. This is the first national park without Leah but the boys and I were on a week long trip to Maine and had to tackle it.

We had one day in the park and wanted to fill it with as much as possible. Our first stop in the park was the visitors center. Your best insiders guide to any National Park is always to talk to the Rangers. These folks know the parks inside out and will tell you how to see and do the most with the time you have.

The ranger we talked with told us that the best hike to do with the time we had was The Great Head Trail. The majority of the parking is along the road and the spots fill up fast.Acadia and parking do not go along- we saw so many cars with tickets on them! On the map look for Sand Beach - you're going to want to park as close to the sign as you can get.

After you embark onto the trail it will take you on a rural road for a bit. Keep on keepin' on until you hit the other parking lot! Then you'll be on your typical dirt trail and there will be more trail markers.  

After you reach the other parking lot this is what your hike will start to look like! Waahhoo! Nothing like dirt crunching under your feet. 

Once you get past the rocks above the views start! I was amazed that there was a beach in a National Park, so cool!

After the beach view make sure you follow the blue marks! The trail turns from dirt to rock and it gets a little tricky to figure out where you're going.

After hiking in the woods for a bit the trail breaks and you're hit with another view of the ocean

The hike didn't take long and we were done by noon. After, we loaded back into the car and drove around the park checking out some more views, and then stopped for a quick bite! 

After lunch we decided to head to Cadillac Mountain and check out the views everyone raves about, they definitely didn't disappoint.

Acadia was a blast! After exploring the park we headed into Bar Harbor, such a cool town. We walked around, grabbed a bite, and finished the trip off with some ice cream. 

Spring Break '17- AZ

Arizona- Phoenix, Sedona, and of course the Grand Canyon! The idea for the trip was born during spring break of 2016. I was on a road trip with Leah and we were traveling from Rhode Island to North Carolina, to visit my dad. We spent the week hiking, cooking, and driving all over NC. Shout out to Asheville and the Blue Ridge Parkway, we fell in love with you during that trip. 

On the way home we drove the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. It was the first national park (!!!) we had been to together and it was epic. We left NC around 3am and made it to the park before it was open. There was no one to be found. We drove for hours our only company the hills of Virginia and our music playing through our car speakers. You can watch a video from that trip here. 

After we finished the drive we were buzzing with an unreal energy. We instantly wanted to go onto the next thing, on the next big trip. Unfortunately, we had to head straight back to school. So for the next 6 hours we decided to plan the next big trip.

We decided on Arizona for Spring Break 2017. We wanted to go big so we did just that. When we got back to school we recruited our friends and started planning. 

The Logistics

Five People. Seven Days. 

  • Dates: March 11-18-2017

  • Flights: Booked in May 10 months before we were leaving

    • Cost 350$ round trip

  • Hotel: 124$ / person

    • Howard Johnson: two queen beds, one full, two rooms. Breakfast included.

  • Rental Car: 135$ / person

    • GMC Acadia aka Rita

  • Total: 609$

    • Costs not included:

      • Food: Ate out twice, breakfast included in hotel price, ate a lot of cliff bars and PB&J

      • Gas: Each person paid for two fill ups (About 45$)

The Trip! 

Saturday

March 11th was the big day. We had waited, and waited, and finally it was here.  Our flight was at 7am out of Boston which meant we were leaving Rhode Island at 3am. We parked the car with "Select" which I would not recommend. We didn't run into trouble with them until the way home. 

We ate breakfast in the airport and then had a layover in Chicago before our flight to Phoenix. Once we landed at Sky Harbor we went to go get our rental car. The car we originally selected was unavailable so we got an automatic upgrade to a GMC Acadia, we named her Rita.

After landing in Phoenix and getting the car there was only one thing on our minds. In-N-Out. None of us had been before, it was life changing, and cheap!

After filling up on lunch we headed to the hotel in Flagstaff about a two hour drive north. We checked in, got settled and unpacked, then headed out to the grocery store. After shopping we dropped everything off at the hotel then headed to dinner. We found an amazing pizza shop in downtown Flagstaff called Nimarco's Pizza. After dinner we went back to the hotel and got ready for the next day. 

 

Sunday

Sunday was a big day. We were doing our first hike and exploring Sedona! We were pumped. 

We spent the day hiking Devils Bridge, grabbing coffee at the Pink Java Cafe, going to the Sedona Airport Overlook (one of the vortex's!) and then headed to the Amitabha Stupa & Peace Park. 

Sunday was a big day and there's two posts all about it! To check them out click the buttons below. 

 

Monday

Monday was our first day in the Grand Canyon and it was epic. We had originally planned to only spend one day in the park but after experiencing it we knew we couldn't go home only seeing it once.

The first time I had been to the GC 1 was in elementary school and my parents were pulling me back from the ledge the entire time. Rightfully so- around 12 people die in the park every year. 

This time around I was here with my friends from college on our first big trip without our parents. There's so much I could say about it but instead I'll just link the blog post I wrote about it. To view the post click the button below! 

Tuesday

Tuesday we took a break from hiking and did the trek out to Horseshoe Bend and The Four Corners. I say trek because it was a two hour drive to Horseshoe Bend & then another 3 hours out to The Four Corners then a 5 hour drive back to Flagstaff. In this part of Arizona there is nothing. The majority of the drive is through the Navajo Reservation. 

Horseshoe Bend is amazing and pictures do not do it justice. The Four Corners is fun but definitely the type of place you only need to go to once.

 

Wednesday

Wednesday we did some more driving but this time we were headed to Petrified National Park! Wooohoooo! Rocks on Rocks on Rocks. You can check out all the pictures of Petrified below. 

 

Thursday

Thursday was spent in the Grand Canyon. We literally couldn't get enough of it. This time we traded in a hike to walk more of the rim and see other parts of the canyon. We watched another sunset, flashed the GC, and set up the hammocks. It was a day to be remembered. To read all about it click below! 

 

Friday

Friday was our last full day in AZ and was spent riding through Sedona in the back of a jeep! It was Pink Jeep Tour day waaahoo. If you have the chance to do one of these it's worth the money! After riding around in the dessert we took dinner recommendations from our guide then headed back to the hotel. We traded in our hiking boots and shorts for dresses and button ups. One of our parents graciously paid for our dinner- thanks Barb and Steve! We ate on the restuarants giant porch and watched the sunset while we ate dinner. They even provided blankets! The restaurant was called Creekside and had the most amazing Peach Cobbler. Seriously...to die for.

 

Saturday

Saturday we flew home from Arizona. Our flight was at 8am but we had to leave Flagstaff around 330am to have enough time to return the rental car and travel back down to Phoenix. It was the trip of a lifetime. 

 

As always thanks for reading! Continue to adventure on and #livefulllivehard

 

 

 

 

The Grand Canyon

National Park 2/59

The Grand Canyon | 3.13.17 | Arizona | 35.976814° N, -112.125030 ° W

 

The Grand Canyon (GC) is enormous. We're talking 277 miles long, 10 miles wide, and 1 mile deep. The Grand Canyon (GC) draws about 4.5 million visitors every year. This place is crowded so prepare yourself.

Regardless of the people its easy to find a piece of the park all to yourself. Don't be afraid to break away from the crowds and do your own thing.

The first time I had been to the GC 1 was in elementary school and my parents were pulling me back from the ledge the entire time. Rightfully so- around 12 people die in the park every year. 

This time around I was in Arizona with my friends from college on our first big trip without our parents. We were in Arizona for 1 week on spring break from school. To say we jam packed our trip was an understatement. We had originally planned for one day in the park but after experiencing it we knew we had to come back.

Thus is why this is a two part post: 

Day 1

Day 2

Day I

The GC was the first national park we were tackling on our trip and it was all we could talk about since booking the plane tickets. It was the second day of our trip. The day before we had gone to Sedona to warm up our hiking legs with a 4 mile outing at Devil's Bridge.

We weren't entirely sure about what we wanted to do while in the GC ... but we knew we wanted to hike.  Bright Angel trail was the one we decided to do so after parking the car we loaded on the bus to head out to the trail. 

For those who weren't aware (aka us) you are extremely limited in where you can drive your car in the park. The park uses a bus system that's completely free to shuttle you throughout the park. To learn more about the bus system before your trip check it out here.

The bus will bring you to the trailhead but before you start your hike make sure you fill up on water! The mornings are cool but as soon as the sun comes over the canyon it gets hot. 

Keep in mind that it takes you twice as long to hike out as it does to hike down! Pace yourselves especially if you have limited time in the park - there's a lot more to see. 

The hike down was amazing. As a result I took close to 500 pictures. To see some more from the hike down check them out below. Otherwise keep on reading!

A couple hundred feet past the bathroom (stop here there's only one bathroom on the trail) there's a lookout that's great for pictures. 

After stopping for pictures, using the bathroom, and eating snacks it was time to hit the trail again. It was a hell of a climb back up. Hiking in the Canyon is like reverse hiking.. you do the easy part first and the hard part last. 

After hiking out from the canyon we stopped for a while, chugged water ate some food, and then headed back out. This time we took the rim trail.

After doing two hikes we were wiped. We hopped one of the shuttles back toward the car to reload on snacks. We ate, took some down time to stretch our legs and hang out. After, we threw more layers in our packs and headed out for our last destination of the day- Sunset at Hopi Point. 

Hopi Point is one of the most popular spots in the park to watch sunset - it's truly breathtaking. But it gets crowded! Make sure you hop on a shuttle early enough before sunset to snag your spot. 

"Why is she posing with shoes?" Weirdo. 

These are the best shoes on the planet  @bangsshoes I love them so much I became an ambassador for them! Seriously go check them out. They're the ultimate adventure shoes. If you want a discount use the code: bangsfam for 15% off. 

If there's anything we learned on this trip, it's that we all really suck at jumping in the air for pictures.  

Day 2

Saying we were excited to go back to the park was an understatement. We had an amazing day the first time around and we were ready for more. We arrived at the park without a plan and ended up splitting up so everyone could do what they wanted. 

Of course we couldn't start the day off without some candids

We started early from the visitors center and took the orange line to the South Kaibab trailhead. We walked around the rim for a while and then and took the bus back to the visitors center and headed out the other way to Hermit's rest. We took the buses for as long as we could stand and then got off and started walking back.

We stopped for a late lunch/dinner break and took out the hammock to enjoy the views.

The Grand Canyon gave us the time of our lives and amazing views. We did what we could to repay them.

After, we kept walking the rim as the sun was setting. Every turn we made led to better and better views. They say the best sunsets are at Hopi point but I think we got the best of it.