Southwest Road Trip Part 2

If you haven’t read part 1 CLICK HERE so you can catch up on the first leg of my trip and get a sense of what it meant to me.

Petrified Forest National Park

This was one of the National Parks that like many I had never heard about, yet I was drawn in immediately by the scenery. Now if you are like us we had no idea what petrified wood was so here is a quick excerpt explaining it:

“Petrified wood is a fossil. It forms when plant material is buried by sediment and protected from decay by oxygen and organisms. Then, groundwater rich in dissolved solids flows through the sediment replacing the original plant material with silica, calcite, pyrite or another inorganic material such as opal.”

There is not a lot of strenuous hiking and I only did a few hikes that for the most part where mostly flat. I still have the say the terrain and views where pretty awesome, probably since this was the first time I had hiked in a desert like this.

It is definitely a quick trip and can be done in half a day, so if you are anywhere near Holbrook, Arizona make sure to stop by!

Sedona, Arizona

There are few words that can explain just how amazing Sedona is and how one instantly wants to live there. Sedona is a small desert town located about 45 minutes from Flagstaff, Arizona. It is a steep drive down into the canyon that houses this interesting town but once you get there you cannot help but to be amazed. The views all around are gorgeous, the hikes are breathtaking and the community is welcoming.

The drive down to the bottom turned out to be one of my favortie drives of the entire trip!

I only spent a few hours in Sedona, since it was a last minute trip but highly recommend taking the Sedona Trolley to get the quickest run down of what to see and what to do in town.

One spot I cannot forget to recommend is the Chapel of the Holy Cross which is situated on a side of the mountain and offers some amazing views and mediation space.

Flagstaff, Arizona

I only spent a night at Flagstaff, mainly as the kick off to let me enter the Grand Canyon bright and early to secure a campsite. While I was not there long, I highly recommend making a trip through the area and planning at least 2-3 days to truly get some good hikes in and enjoy the amazing weather even in the middle of summer.

I spent the night at the Flagstaff KOA and while it was packed and must I say overpriced it was definitely clean and tidy. The highlight of the area was how close it is to the Grand Canyon if you are just unable to get a spot inside. They also had some amazingly cheap food options for breakfast and dinner but I was rushing to get to my next campsite so decided to skip it.

Part 3 of the trip recap is coming soon so stay tuned and please ask any questions!

What are your must see places in the near future? What National Parks have you gone too?

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