Arizona is a state in the southwestern United States that shares a border with Mexico, the state of Arizona has a population of just over 6,000,000 and is the 6th largest state of the United States of America. It is the 48th and last state to join the United States of America.
From its geographical position, Arizona is a very hot and very dry state, which is why there are many deserts and canyons.
The largest city in Arizona is Phoenix.
Arizona is very touristy, it is best known for its deserts and rocky plateaus like the Grand Canyon.
For this trip we left Las Vegas where we stayed only one night, enough time to take possession of the car and do some shopping, especially to stock up on water.
To exit Las Vegas and get to Page take Highway 15.
We stopped at Mesquitte, a small town in the middle of the desert, a very green town with even a golf course, surprising in the middle of nowhere the question is, where do they find the water to water all this vegetation.
Continuing on route 15 we stopped at Saint-Georges in Utah for lunch, beware of the different time zones. I recommend sticking to Arizona time because it can get tricky, because we cross the Utah-Arizona border no less than four times.
Another thing to pay attention to when crossing state borders are road and highway numbers as they change from state to state.
Lunch in Saint-Georges in Utah we ate at the Red Lobster restaurant, on the menu there is not only lobster to eat there are also complete mixed salads. Good meal.
After lunch continue on Route 59 which will take you across the Arizona state line to Fredonia, and from the uphill to Kanab (Utah) and take Route 89 East, straight to Page.
From Las Vegas to Page it took about 5.5 hours including all the stops.
In North America, since the distances are very important, people calculate the journeys in hours and not in km or miles, it is much more precise.
PAGE
Page is a town near Lake Powell with a population of approximately 4,500, founded in 1957 through the construction of the Glenn Canyon Dam, originally Page was a desert location.
Page is a quiet town but very convenient to use as a bedroom community for visiting Antelope Canyons, Horseshoe Bend and also Lake Powell.
WHY GOING TO PAGE?
The supreme interest of page is the visit of the upper and lower canyon of antelope there is also the dam of the canyon of Glenn and also the Horsehoe Bend.
Where to eat in Page
There is a very good Mexican restaurant on page on the main road, good atmosphere when you enter the restaurant, the staff are very happy, our waiter was very friendly and very good homemade Mexican food with a family atmosphere.
El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant (tapatiorestaurants.com)
There is also the Big John steak house barbecue on the main lake Powell boulevard road, good restaurant as the name suggests serve very typical barbecue with the smokehouse outside the restaurant and you have the choice of sitting in it inside with a conventional table or outside and share a long table with the rest of the customers.
Texas Barbeque – Big John’s Texas BBQ (bigjohnstexasbbq.com)
There is also the Marina antelope another good restaurant where I was very pleasantly surprised is the restaurant at the marina to get there when you come out of the antelope lower canyon tour turn left and drive a few miles , be careful if you do not have a national park pass, there is an entrance fee, you arrive in the car park, From there you have to take a small free shuttle like a small golf cart that takes you to the restaurant it’s super nice, the restaurant is at the edge of the quay and the food is very good, beautiful view and very reasonably priced, very good service, very friendly staff, it is definitely worth a visit.
Eat With Us | Antelope Point Marina (antelopepointlakepowell.com)
For espresso coffee lovers there is also the LP espresso coffee shop in the square opposite the Mexican restaurant, be careful they close early, 5 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. on Sundays, but they have very good coffee.
The marina restaurant.
Where to sleep in Page.
In general, hotels in the United States are quite expensive, but you can also find motels at a reasonable price.
There is no problem sleeping in Page, but it is still recommended to book because it is very crowded, it is a very touristic destination.
We slept 2 nights at the Hampton Inn and suite, breakfast included.
https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/pgalphx-hampton-suites-page-lake-powell
What to see in Page and surrounding?
UPPER CANYON ANTELOPE.
The Upper Antelope Navajo Canyon is a canyon located in the American Southwest, on Navajo Land in Arizona.
The price of the entrance ticket was $155 per person, reservation required.
There are also a lot of restrictions like for example, you can’t take with you during the tour, backpacks, handbags, food, it’s very regulated, read all the restrictions carefully when booking, because they are very strict, the only thing you can take with you are the cameras, the phones to take the pictures but be careful to protect them well because the sand can damage your camera, so you have to pack it well with it a plastic bag.
Upper Antelope Canyon Tours Ticket | upperantelope.com
Upper Antelope Canyon is on Highway 98 about 10 minutes from the center of Page, turn right you will see it is very easy to find.
The interest of visiting the upper canyon is first of all the interesting shape of the rocks but also the play of light thanks to the sun penetrating inside the canyon, the ideal time is between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., this allows you to have superb colors and shape thanks to the sun.
The tour starts with a short trip in about 10 minutes by pick up truck to get to the canyon, the tour was really well organized in small groups of eight which is great as there weren’t many people so no a lot of crowds, it allowed us to take a lot of photos without too many people, bring a good camera and with a lot of memory, because you will take a lot of photos, the guide was very good advice for take some pictures.
For spectacular colors it is advisable to use the warm filter on your mobile phone, but personally I made several attempts by taking the same photo without filter and even black and white.
LOWER CANYON ANTELOPE.
The price of the ticket was 55$ American, pay attention to the restrictions these are practically the same restrictions as for the upper canyon, even if it is a different company. I used Dixie Elli’s Lower Antelope Canyon company.
The lower canyon has only been open for 20 years.
It is practically in front of the upper canyon take the road and 98 as if to go to the upper canyon but instead of taking a right turn left at the same junction and drive to the first path on the left, turn left on the track
The difference between the Lower Antelope Canyon and the Upper Canyon is the shape.
The upper canyon has the shape of a triangle, wide at its base and very narrow at its summit which allows these games of color and light while the lower canyon and the opposite very narrow at its base, it is for this reason it is necessary to borrow metal ladders inside the canyon. To the question, which of the two canyons is the most beautiful, personally I think both are worth seeing let’s say now that you don’t have much time or for budget reasons you can only afford to visit only one canyon, in which case I would recommend to absolutely see the Upper Antelope Canyon.
But be sure to choose the right time to have all the games of light and shape, be careful in the two canyons you must book well in advance.
HORSESHOE BEND
In addition to the Antelope Canyons there is also the Horseshoe bend to get there from Page take Route 89 South drive five to 10 minutes and you will find the site on the right there is a parking fee of 10 $, to get to the edge of the canyon there is a small walk of about 3 km there and back, it is advisable to take bottles of water because it is very hot and it also depends on the time you plan to stay on square.
You can see the Colorado River flowing around the rock in the shape of a horseshoe, hence its name.
THE GRAND CANYON
From Page take route 89 south, the same route as going to Horseshoe bend.
Drive to Cameron, a small village apparently very touristy since there is a hotel and a large souvenir shop and a beautiful Indian art shop.
From Cameron take route 64 west through the Kaiba forest that surrounds the grand canyon, route 64 just after Cameron is toll because the government has built this road especially to go to the grand canyon.
We drove to tu Tusayan where our hotel was the red feather lodge, quite expensive hotel but with a significant advantage 10 minutes from the entrance of the grand canyon.
The price of the room 260$ without breakfast, so if you want to have breakfast, you have to go to the restaurant next to the hotel, a Mexican restaurant there or you can have an American style breakfast, egg , bacon etc.. if you stay at the red feather hotel you will get 10% discount by showing your hotel key and another 5% if you pay in cash, the service was excellent, the name of the restaurant is the Plaza Bonita. In this restaurant they also sell Mexican dishes, very interesting.
Grand Canyon Hotel – Red Feather Lodge in Tusayan – South Rim
PLAZA BONITA GRAND CANYON (ecwid.com)
Tusayan is a very small town of 250 inhabitants, with hotels and a few shops and restaurants, but very convenient because it is near the entrance to the Grand Canyon.
For accommodation you can continue to drive south but it will take you about an hour drive. Not very convenient for visiting the grand canyon.
Where to eat in Tusuyan
Since it’s a very small town where there are few places to eat, to my surprise the only restaurant where the food was good was a fast food restaurant called I Cook pizza and Pasta, la pizza aux Shrimp was excellent.
There is also the Steak House the YIPEE EI O, Reasonable prices, but 2 negative points.
the first, the server very unfriendly and the second point this same server has math problems, so check your bill carefully because this same server tends to add a few dollars on the bill, the quality of the food just average I had ordered my blue rare steak and was served rare.
If you have to eat in this establishment, check your bill well, especially since they automatically add a 16% tip so there is no need to add it when you sign your bill.
We also ate in the Best Western hotel, the prices were astronomical and the quality of the food was more than average, I do not recommend.
TOUR OF THE GRAND CANYON
The tour of the grand canyon has two parts the northern part and the southern part.
Again which one to see absolutely all depends on how much time you have, I personally think both are worth seeing as they are different. Now if you only have one day, you should keep the southern part.
It is possible to see the northern part when you cross the park before arriving on Tusuyan by stopping at the planned viewpoints, the only problem depends on the time you arrive, because the light is different during the whole daytime.
How to organize your visit.
We had 3 days so it was very easy, but you can do it all in two days we booked the first day at the south part.
If you have rented a car, parking is free and from there you have the choice between taking the free shuttles or taking the paths that run along the southern part, or a combination of the two.
Below you will find the shuttle map, the shuttle system is very well organized and the drivers are very friendly, if you do not have a car to go to the grand canyon, no problem, from Tusuyan there is has the purple shuttle that will be at the grand canyon for free.
Map of the different shuttles.
The ideal is to be able to be at the Hopi point for the sunset.
Check the schedules for the return to the village of the shuttles, otherwise you have to do it on foot, which is not very far, but after a long day of walking the shuttle is still more practical.
For hiking enthusiasts there are many trails along the Grand Canyon but also inside the canyon.
Bring a very good pair of shoes, food and also plenty of water if you intend to hike inside the canyon.
The Colorado River you can see is the remnant of the ocean after the planet warmed a few million years ago and the ice melted, imagine the grand canyon covered in snow and water.
NORTH COAST
SOUTH SIDE
Grand canyon To Sedona.
From Tusuyan take route 64 South to Valle, from Valle you have the choice of taking
route 64 towards Williams or taking route 180 towards Flagstaff, Which is a much nicer route than 64, so I used route 180.
We stopped in Flagstaff for a quick coffee at the Kickstand cafe, great coffee.
FLAGSTAFF.
Crossing the city we stopped at the local market which was very interesting you could find a lot of local products, on the way to Sedona on the road 89 A, we
discovered a small very charming, tourist village at the top of the mountain
which is Called Jérôme, it’s a former mining village of about 400 inhabitants,
in this village there are plenty of interesting shops and even a large Harley
Davidson motorcycle store.
JEROME
This village was a very good place to stop for lunch we stopped at boggies DS
barbecue English kitchen with a quite typical and funny hostess, the restaurant
serves homemade smoked meat made on site, in this village there is also
galleries wine shops and also the mining museum.
The road from Jérôme to Sedona is very pretty and pleasant to drive if you
like driving in the mountains, with its forest landscape, it changes from the
desert landscape to go to the Grand Canyon.
SEDONA
Sedona is a pretty little town with just over 10,000 inhabitants, a very
touristy town with a Mexican flair.
The city is all in length with essentially a main street, you can find on
each side, restaurants, various and varied shops that range from olive oil to
spirituality shops and rock collection shops.
There is a must-see store, it is a candle store, the sedona candle magic, in
fact there are 5 stores but it is the same company.
WHERE TO SLEEP IN SEDONA
We stayed at the Hampton In hotel.
Comfortable hotel with swimming pool.
https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/flgsdhx-hamton-sedona
WHERE TO EAT IN SEDONA
The Restaurant Rascal is a very good restaurant with a particularity is that they have a special menu for dogs, and yes for dogs, serving steak tartar, venison stew, wood-fired chciken, here is the photo of the menu there is even the owner’s personal telephone number in case you have complaints about the service for your dog.
Sedona
The morning before departure we took advantage of the hiking trails around the hotel for a short two-hour hike, then around 11am we took the road towards Blythe, the last stage before arriving in Arcadia.
The road is long, about six hours, counting the stops.
At the exit of Sedona we took route 89A towards Prescott, then continued our route towards congress by route 89.
At congress take the 71 to Aguila, then the 60 to the junction of the 10 West highway in the direction of Blythe, a town of about 20,000 inhabitants but where we stayed only for the night.
Sedona to Blythe.
Blythe to Arcadia.
We stopped at Calimesa for lunch, at the kafe royale restaurant, a good little restaurant, the kafé royale is very interesting because outside, in a small square, it is a bit medieval style and inside it is really the style of an American restaurant with green benches etc.
ARCADIA
Quiet area of Los Angeles not far from Pasadena, with a beautiful horse racetrack in Santa Anita Park and especially the Huntington Public Library and its botanical garden.
The library has a collection of over 11 million books and objects. There are many original books like Gutenberg’s Bible book.
My only regret when I visited the library and not having access to the first floor where some of the books are stored, because being a book lover, what a feeling to see all these original books dating from the 15th century lined up one by one next to the others, even if there are a few copies on the ground floor, but it must be impressive.
The botanical garden was also very impressive in terms of the diversity of plants and flowers as well as the quantity, this goes of course from an incalculable number of roses, to cactus, passing through bonsais, small miniature trees, a technique originating in China more than 2 thousand years old and taken over and transformed into a Japanese art.
The entrance fee to the library is between 25 and 29 us dollars.
It’s really well organized, there is even a restaurant, so you can spend a whole day there.
The Huntington librairie.
The Japanese Garden.
The Cactus Garden.
The Bonsai Garden.
The Chinese Garden.
