EPISODE 11: SCOTTSDALE, ANTELOPE CANYON, AND LAS VEGAS
I had an October work meeting in Scottsdale, AZ. This meeting was associated with a dental leadership group that I have been a part of for several years. It is a group that is both led by, and attended by, some of the most gifted, entrepreneurial, and successful businesspeople and clinicians that I know and that I have the pleasure of calling friends, mentors, and colleagues.
In 2020, my family and I had planned on melding a March meeting of this group (again in Scottsdale) into a family getaway to visit Antelope Canyon for a day or two, before my meeting started. The onslaught of COVID and the accompanying worldwide shutdown destroyed those plans completely, but that trip never left the back of my mind. This October, my meeting corresponded with a school in-service day, meaning that if we were able to reinvigorate our old trip plans, the boys might not have to miss school to be able to take part in it.
We decided, this time around, to start further west than we’d originally planned. We flew into Las Vegas, NV in the evening after work, arriving at about 7:30pm. After checking into our room at NYNY, we walked along the Strip for a little while so that the boys could see it, and then grabbed some quick pizza at Parry’s, before heading back to the room. Just as a note, Henry absolutely loved Vegas. He told us, after the whole trip was finished, that it was his favorite part. I’m not sure if it was the lights of the Strip; the commotion of the casino as we made our way to and from our room; or, maybe it was the fact that our room was, strictly by coincidence, called “the Players Club”, and had multiple TVs and had a bathtub big enough for 10 people in the middle of the room; but I think we may have created a monster!
The next morning, we woke up early and went to Michael and my favorite brunch restaurant in Vegas, called Ameribrunch and located in Old Vegas. It was fantastic and overly filling, as always. We then jumped in our rental car (which we’d picked up at the Avis desk in NYNY), and started the roughly two and a half hour drive to our next accommodation, Under Canvas in Zion National Park in Utah. We had heard that Under Canvas was a “glamping” experience, which we have learned to love in our past safari trips in Africa. So, we wanted to see how the USA did glamping. We arrived in the late afternoon, checked into our “room” (which was a tent for Michael and me, that included some battery operated lights and fans, as well as a toilet and shower; and then a teepee style tent with two cots right next door for the boys.) We spent the rest of the afternoon laying around (and possibly occasionally napping) together on the porch of our tent. The boys also learned the simple joys of tetherball, a playground staple for my husband in elementary school. Last, we had dinner at Under Canvas’s in-house restaurant, which included somewhat basic food, but with live music for entertainment.
The next day, we woke up at 5:15am and drove into Zion National Park for our guided hike of The Narrows. I didn’t know anything about it, other than it was one of the most popular hikes in Zion. We met our guide at the main parking lot (which was already filling up), and then took the park shuttle bus to stop #9. After departing the bus, we walked in our waders and booties (with walking sticks in hand) to the “trailhead”. The hike started with a 1.1 mile walk on a paved path along canyon walls, which terminated at the river. At that point, we walked into the river and started what would be the rest of our hike, a mostly in-river trek over slippery boulders, in water ranging from ankle to chest deep. All in all, we waded and walked about two miles each way, from our entry point in the river, past Mystery Canyon Falls, through Wall Street, until we got to Orderville Junction, our official turnaround point. We had a quick picnic lunch, and then started our walk back along the same river, to the put-in point, then the paved path, and then to the bus. After removing our waders and booties, and then thawing out in the sunshine, we hopped back in the car for a return to Under Canvas, and another dinner with live music.
The next morning, we were supposed to get up at 6:30am for a quick breakfast, before heading to our next Zion guided adventure. What actually happened was that our room battery packs were low, so my husband’s phone didn’t charge overnight. Which meant it was completely dead by the time his alarm was supposed to go off in the morning. We did actually wake up to the sound of random yelling kids at about 7:15. Which we were at first annoyed by; until we opened our eyes, saw daylight, had a Home Alone-esque “WE SLEPT IN!” rush to get ready moment, and then in a completely disheveled state headed to our climbing, rappelling, and canyoneering trek Lamb’s Knoll climbing area. It was equal parts strenuous, exhilarating, and nerve wracking. Each of us had 2 or 3 vertical rock climbing sessions. Then, we exited the site via 4 rappelling sessions of varying heights, followed by the final exit through some canyons that were so narrow that Michael had to turn sideways in order to shove his body through them, because his shoulders were too wide to fit between the walls. We sated our hunger with a lunch at Onyx woodfired pizza, and then jumped into our car for another two and a half hour drive to our next overnight location in Page, AZ. After checking into the hotel, we drove to the very scenic Horseshoe Bend of the Grand Canyon (at which, for the whole time we were there, I was incredibly nervous about my boys getting too close to the edge; and very irritated by my obnoxious husband who was always too close to the edge). We watched the sun set over the canyon, and then had dinner at Birdhouse. Which was a modified old Sonic that was focused on Fried Chicken dishes, and was actually very enjoyable.
On the next day, our last full day as a family in Arizona, we did two Antelope Canyon tours. The first was the Upper Antelope Canyon, with the tour company ASCT. The second was the Lower Antelope Canyon, with tour company Dixie’s Lower Antelope Canyon Tour. Both tours were beautiful, and the canyons were exactly like the photos you’ve likely seen online. The Upper tour was a more “guided” tour, with our guide taking photos of our family together, pointing out parts of the cave and using our phones to take pictures of specific “images” on the walls and in the canyon. The Lower tour was much more of a “walk through on your own” tour, but was much longer, with significantly more canyon to walk through and climb around. After our tours, we had lunch at Sunset 89 (Asian inspired dishes, and the wings battered with rice flour were great!). We then made the long four and a half hour drive from Page, AZ to my work hotel in Scottsdale, arriving late evening, just in time for bed.
The next morning, I woke up early to start my meetings, and Michael and the boys jumped on their flight back to Houston, which I would do three days later.