I have a feeling this will be my favorite post of all because this trip to the southwest was so much fun and memorable. We took up the challenge to go on a road trip all the way from the San Francisco bay area to Grand Canyon, Arizona with a five year old .
Let me get right into the details on how we planned this trip and the places we wanted to cover. We wanted to have a summer road trip and also visit Grand Canyon. But the distance and the time that it takes to travel to Grand canyon by road was holding us back. Taking a flight was out of question after looking at the costs plus the fact that we would also need a rental car at our destination, adding more to the trip cost.
Taking all things into consideration we finally decided that we would take up this road trip. The main places of interest were Grand Canyon South rim, Grand Canyon West rim and driving through Route 66.
There were a few places along the way that we added to our itinerary and once everything was finalized, the first thing we did was to book hotels before the prices went up.
So, here is the plan- We drove from San Francisco bay area —> Bakersfield(overnight stay) —>Seven Magic Mountains—> Hoover Dam—> Kingman (Stayed overnight)—> Route 66 —> Bearizona—>Williams (1st day) —> Grand Canyon South Rim—> Williams (2nd day)—> Grand Canyon West Rim—> Barstow, California(Overnight stay)—> Mojave National Preserve—> Back to San Francisco.
We were out for about 5 days and we tried to utilize the time in the best way possible. We probably needed another day to explore more at the Grand Canyon South rim but other than that everything worked out great!
In this post, I am writing down briefly about the places we visited and there will be another detailed post on Route 66 and the Grand Canyon South Rim very soon.
Seven Magic Mountains, Las Vegas, Nevada
Seven Magic Mountains just a few miles from Las Vegas Boulevard is an art installation featuring seven colorful boulders. I had seen pictures of these colorful rock structures on instagram and thought we had to add this to our trip itinerary. Luckily, it was along the way and was not much of a detour as well. We were happy that we could stop by and look at the beautiful work of art in person. The rocks were painted with bright cheerful colors. The admission is free. There isn’t any visitor center or restrooms here. We went during the summer months, so it was really hot and the breeze sent out the dirt flying into our eyes. We spent about 20-30 minutes here looking at the structure and taking pictures then heading to our next stop- Hoover dam.
Hoover Dam
Hoover dam is one of the famous attractions in Nevada. So, we decided not to miss this one. Hoover dam is an amazing work of engineering built to tame the Colorado river. We walked down the Hoover Dam access road looking at the dam structure. There is also a Bridge overlook point that you can stop by to take in the view. The blue water looks really beautiful from the top, I just loved it. We did not do any power plant tours since we had a five year old with us. It was extremely hot the day we were there and I felt like we were baking in the heat. My daughter was also unhappy about the hot weather, she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.
We then drove to Kingman, were we stayed that night. We stayed at the Best Western Plus King’s Inn & Suites. It was 4th of July so, we enjoyed the fireworks sitting by the pool at our hotel. It was one of the many best parts of this trip.
Route 66
The next morning we started off the day by stopping at the Kingman Power House Visitor Center and the Locomotive Park. There was an old locomotive display which looked really cool and our little one enjoyed running around the train and stretch before we hit the road again. You can also take pictures with the Route 66 shield on the asphalt near the Power house visitor center.
We then drove on the Historic Route 66, stopping at Hackeberry general store and then Seligman, to look at the gift stores/museum with a wide collection of antiques. After hanging around a bit in Seligman we drove through a couple of other cities and finally reached Williams, Arizona.
There will be a detailed post on Route 66 coming soon.
Bearizona
Bearizona is like a drive through safari where you can drive in the comfort of your own car or take one of their bus tours at certain times throughout the day (included in the entrance fee). We took the tour bus which was actually nice, as the tour guide talked about the animals and also gave some information including names of some of the animals. The animals are mostly Black Bears (hence the name-Bearizona), Mountain Goats, elk, Arctic wolves, White & Brown Bison and some more that I honestly can’t remember.
There is also a zoo the setting with some more animals like beaver, porcupine,river otter, bob cats and the bear cubs. The four bear cubs running around and playing with each other was the cutest thing ever. There is also a petting zoo with goats.
The bird show was one of my daughter’s favorite. They sent an owl flying just over the audience.
If you are traveling with young kids then definitely try to squeeze in a couple of hours to visit Bearizona, they will surely love it.
We then checked in to our hotel in Williams, Arizona. We stayed at Howard Johnson which was quite close to the Williams downtown. After dinner we walked towards the downtown and there was a southwest road show which was fun treat.We strolled down the street for some time before heading back to the hotel.
Grand Canyon South Rim
So, the much awaited day was here. It was finally time to go see the Grand Canyon. I guess one needs no introduction to this national park. We had been planning this trip for years and finally it was time for me to take in the amazing views of the canyon. Grand Canyon South rim is about an hour drive from Williams,Az. We started off early in the morning to beat the crowd. It really helps as there is no wait to enter the park and also one can find parking easily. Plus you can enjoy the views without rubbing shoulders with strangers for a couple of hours. We spent the entire day in the national park exploring as much as possible. Another day at the park would have been good but for now I am happy with what we could experience.
We did the part of Rim trail and Bright Angel trail , Dessert View, Geology Museum, Tusayan remains Hopi House, Mather Point and a few other vista points along the drive to Desert view.
Also, if you are traveling with kids don’t forget the wonderful Junior Ranger Program. My daughter enjoys this program at every National park and we find the activities really interesting and fun.
Initially, we had plans to visit the North rim as well but due to time constraints and an additional 4-5 hours of drive made us drop the plan.
Grand Canyon West Rim
Even though it’s just a part of the canyon’s west side, the West rim looks different from the South rim. This is where you get to experience walking on the famous skywalk. Skywalk is a U-shaped glass ledge extending out into the canyon and you can walk on it to get a different kind of experience being over the canyon and looking down. Some of them might say it’s a tourist trap but I thought it was a wonderful experience and you must try it at least once in lifetime. We were quite anxious on how our five year old would react being on glass but it turns out she was the one who enjoyed the most. She lied down on her tummy and pretended that she was flying like a bird.
Just like the South-rim, Grand Canyon west rim is just as beautiful ! The main points not to miss are the Hualapai Ranch, Skywalk, Eagle’s point and the Guano Point.
You can buy entrance tickets online or buy them at the location. There is a cafe near the skywalk that offered decent food & drinks.
We then drove back towards California and stayed at a hotel in Barstow for the night.
Mojave National Preserve
Barstow itself was quite a historic place but since we had planned only for Mojave we didn’t explore much around the city.
There is a Mojave visitor center in the city that you can visit and collect some maps and get your questions answered.
Mojave National preserve is about 90 minutes drive from Barstow, CA and the admission is absolutely free. This National preserve has a visitor center and a Museum with interesting facts about the history and the preserve itself. We spent some time around the Museum and watched a movie about the Mojave preserve and then headed out to drive around the preserve.
Since the weather was extremely hot we couldn’t actually explore much in this place. Hiking the sand dunes was definitely out of question but we did visit the view points and headed back to hit the road.
There is also the Junior Ranger Program here and we tried our best to complete the activities in the hot blazing sun.
If you are planning to visit Mojave National Preserve make sure to you have filled up the gas and also have plenty of water and some food on hand.
The address to this national preserve is 90942 Kelso Cima Rd, Kelso, CA 92309. But you will have to follow the directions to the visitor center once you enter the national preserve.
That was our last attraction for this trip and we then headed back home later. It tool way longer than expected because of the heavy traffic congestion but we finally made it home around 2:00 AM in the morning.
It was a great trip and I wish to do many more like this in the next summer too.