Well, we all know this post is A) long over due and B) this trip happened before the whole virus went down. In case you’re new around these parts let me give you a quick run down. My husband is in the military and we have moved a lot (5 times) in the last 3 years. Eddie’s last station was in San Diego and before he deployed last year I moved back home to Charleston to be close to family/friends. His orders ended up getting extended and he spent an additional ~5 months in California before being able to move back to Charleston. I flew out to California at the end of February and we started driving across the country with the few things Eddie still held onto for his 14 months in California while we were apart. Whew, all caught up.
While I’ve to both places before I hadn’t been there with Eddie and that made them all the more special to experience it together. ((See past Joshua Tree visit part one & part two, See Grand Canyon visit here))
We knew that planning this road trip back to Charleston wasn’t going to be like our past cross country drives…we wanted to see some National Parks and have some fun! One of our marriage goals is to visit all the national parks and we can’t cross them off unless it’s done together!
We made it from San Diego to Joshua Tree to The Grand Canyon in one day and y’all it was worth it! If you’re ever around a one day drive to some of these National Parks, make it happen! Do a weekend trip and see some beautiful places.
We got the grand canyon JUST after sunset but were still able to see all the gorgeous colors and soak in the view together. We ended up crashing at The Holiday Inn right outside of the parks gate and let me tell you, this was SUCH a good decision. Last time my friend Maria and I stayed in flagstaff which is about an hour south of the park and it just makes it harder to see more of the park with that extra travel time.
Granted the smoke alarm went off around 4am due to some breakfast sausage burning and we went outside and were freezing, but all in all we had a great time, got great sleep (such a comfy bed), and it was a wonderful start to our trip!
We also got to see A TON of elk throughout the park. So many were right up against the road eating and congregating.
It really was the perfect start to our trip.
Day 1 – Joshua Tree & The Grand Canyon
Day 2 – Grand Canyon and then . . . any guesses?
Are you a National Park lover like us? What’s been one of your favorite trips?
