My parents are now retired, and a few years ago they suggested that we should take a family trip together. We have not been able to come to a consensus about where to go until now. The first suggestion was maybe a cruise to Alaska, but we were concerned about seasickness and being confined to a boat, so we ditched that idea. Then we thought maybe Costa Rica, but my sister did her Master's degree there and all of us except the kids have already been to Costa Rica so it wouldn't be new and exciting. Then we thought maybe Portugal, but the thought of renting a vehicle for 8 people and navigating roads altogether sounded like a disaster. Then we thought about somewhere on Vancouver Island or one of those cute little islands off the coast of Washington, but the only time that worked for everyone's work schedules was spring break, and being in a cabin in March on the West Coast could be really wet and cold. My dad shared that he wanted to see the Grand Canyon, and then I thought about the 2017 Microsoft screensaver - you'll remember it once you see it. It's been my bucket-list to go to Antelope Canyon, and it's not that much farther from the Grand Canyon. And YES, there was a two-day tour with pick-up and drop-off from anywhere in Vegas. Hallelujah, we finally landed on a family trip that checked off all the boxes. Let's go.........
Let's talk about NEVADA first.
What to DO when you're in VEGAS
Do rent a car so you can drive to Red Rock Canyon. It took about 40 minutes to drive there from our place on the Vegas strip. This place is super popular, you'll need a reservation which costs $22. It's a gorgeous scenic 13 mile drive, and there are a lot of places to stop and hike. Make sure you spend lots of time at the first stop - Calico Hills. Stop at the Visitor's Center, it's a one-way drive so once you pass a lookout point, you can't go back. 
Do some rock climbing. The hikes are Red Rock Canyon are self-guided so we had a great time exploring - we hike a lot and we call this 'scamper squirrel' mode - the kids fully embraced the freedrom to explore and were like mountain goats fuelled by RedBull climbing on the rocks. It's also a well-known location for real rock-climbers and it was fun to see them traversing up the sides.
Do take a picture of every Las Vegas sign you see. There's the real one when you drive into Las Vegas but as soon as you step off the plane, all along the strip and basically everywhere are Las Vegas signs imitating the iconic one here.
Do stay at a place with a kitchen so you don't have to eat out every meal. We stayed at a condo at Club Wyndham and did a grocery run at Costco on our first day so we only ate out when we wanted to. Speaking of groceries, though, eggs must be laid by golden hens in the States because a dozen eggs was almost $10 USD - that's like more than $1 per egg but we were on vacation, so we bought a dozen eggs and ate omelets like we were rich and famous.
Do use all the amenities at your hotel. Club Wyndham had two pools, two hot tubs, a theatre room, an arcade, ping pong tables, and a fitness room. We spent one of the days in Vegas mostly at our condo and didn't venture out on the strip until the evening. A warning though, if you're going to use the treadmill in the fitness center, you should probably not run at maximum speed in Crocs - even if they are in sport-mode. You might end up crashing and suffering injuries to both your legs. We discovered that the hotel has first-aid and got Polysporin and Band-Aids to patch Big Sis back up after her unfortunate mishap. 
Do check out a magic show. I mean it's Vegas, you have to! We went to see Mat Franco at the LINQ and he was amazing. He's the one who won America's Got Talent. He does mind-blowing tricks and his final act every night is different. Trust me, his show is worth going to. There's no recording allowed so if you want to see a glimpse of his magic, you can check this clip. He did the same trick and sawed open a table that the audience was sitting at and reached inside to find the missing iPhone. 
Do check out the displays and features of all the hotels. Go and do it all - the aquarium at Cesar's, the river canals at the Veneitian, the fountain at Bellagio, the botanical gardens at Bellagio, the flamingos at The Flamingo and there's so many stores. Lil Bro was most excited to find the Paris St. Germain store so he could spend his life savings on a PSG jersey. There was also really amazing fireworks one night. We were already in bed but heard the sound and watched a spectacular display of fireworks from our window!
So moving on to the list of DON'T-DO's in VEGAS
Don't get FOMO. It's the entertainment district and you would have to stay for months and have endless amounts of money to do it all. I felt it when I was there, I was panicking because we didn't go to Cirque, Jabbawockeez or the Sphere. Then I heard friends talk about Area 51 and the Musuem of Illusion and started getting immense FOMO. It's OK to not do it all - just enjoy what you do end up doing.
Don't get sucked in by the timeshare dude. We failed at this. They got to us when we were checking in, our flight wasdelayed flight and it was past midnight and we were so tired. The dude did not want to let us get to our hotel room until we said yes to the timeshare tour. We were naiive (and deliriously sleepy) and we said yes. We got lured in and lost 2 hours of our lives. We were indoctrinated by a salesperson who talked for an hour wonders of Wyndham timeshare and then had to sit down with a sales rep and in our most Canadian polite way decline over and over and over again. He tried to lure us in with luxury resorts around the world, and we told him we are from BC and we love camping. We love our tent in the dirt on the ground. We do not want to stay at 5-star resort in the tropics. We do not want to see any other parts of the world other than the view from our tent in the dirt. No thank you. But in the end we did 'earn' our reward - 8 tickets to the Highroller ferris wheel. Other seasoned timeshare attendees told us that we could have asked for more. One couple said their entire vacation was from going to the previous timeshare presentation. Wow. We have a lot to learn. 
Don't go on the New York Coaster if you don't like towering drops and multiple upside-down loops. It's an iconic feature at the New York New York hotel but one look at how high the drops were and I knew I was out. Big Sis was up for it but no one else in our immediate family was brave enough. Luckily Auntie Driz was there and they bought the $25 tickets for the fearful ride. They enjoyed it so much they did it twice! It's $10 if you didn't throw up the first time and want to go again. They gave it 10/10 for fun and 3/10 for nausea, so that's a win. The fact that I didn't have to do it was the win for me.
Don't stop for In-N-Out Burger. Maybe it was all the hype, but I was expecting this burger to be really good and it wasn't bad but I am not on the In-N-Out bandwagon yet. But if you're looking for something cheap on the Vegas strip (because everything is outrageously overpriced), In-N-Out is not a bad option.
Don't walk the entire strip in one day. We split up the different ends of the strip into two days because it’s a lot to do it all in one day. You want to have enough energy to walk all 4 floors of the M&M Factory, the Coke store, the Hersey store and so many candy shops! 
Don't fall for all the over-priced gimmicks and food venues. I almost spent $10 USD on a robot that served warm milk in a cookie cup but someone else paid for the machine, and we just got to watch the robot serve the milk & cookie which was good enough. The entire Food Network of chefs all have their own restaurant on the strip. Gordon Ramsay, Bobby Flay, Giada, and we started taking pictures with all the posters. I think Lil Bro nailed this pose.
Don't run over any tortoise! No, they're on the Vegas strip, but if you drive through Red Rock Canyon, apparently they're known to take shelter from the scorching heat under vehicles to their death and demise. We checked under our rental vehicle and hoped we could rescue a tortoise, but alas, could not find one. .jpeg)
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Don't gamble it all away. As soon as you step off the airplane, the slot machines and casinos are unavoidable. We weren't tempted - we have watched enough movies to know the House always wins but you can't go to Vegas without at least taking a picture with one of the iconic larger-than-life slot machines.
What to DO in ARIZONA
Do get a guide. We booked a small tour through Max Tour and it was the best thing ever. The tour group was only 10 people, and 8 of them were our family group. There was a couple from the UK and our guide, Cash, who was awesome. It is so helpful going to see all these places with someone who has done all the research and literally has done it so many times and knows exactly where the most scenic spots are, which restaurants are worth eating at, which bathrooms are gross and should be avoided at all costs and Cash also did all the driving so we could just stare out the window awing at the topography of the canyons and desert.
Do take a picture halfway in Nevada and Arizona. Our tour started out at the Hoover Dam and there's a spot where you can have a foot in each state. Did you know that one state observes daylight saving and the other one doesn't, so if you stand in the middle, you could be in two different time zones? And in case you were wondering Vin Diesel didn't actually jump the Hoover Dam in Fast & Furious X, but still pretty cool to be there and imagine it happening.
Do get your kicks on route 66. Cash, our guide had a curated playlist that corresponded with the places we were at and cranked out the song "Route 66" as we drove along the iconic highway and pulled over for us to take this iconic picture. 
Do eat at the places the locals love. We tried real brewed iced tea and stone-baked pizza at a fun pub in Williams, Arizona. Big John's BBQ in Page, Arizona has We ate delicious beef brisket on a picnic table outside while listening to a live band at Big John’s BBQ. And our tour guide was right - Bird House in Page, Arizona has the best fried chicken I've ever had. Get the honey butter chicken - it's so good. 
Do stay on track and on time at the Grand Canyon. I had no idea just how GRAND the Grand Canyon was, it took most of the day just the drive along it. You could easily spend all day just at one part of the canyon. Our guide was great drove us to the best spots and had us set our timers at each location so we could see as much of it as we could in our limited time. I could have spent so much more time there!
Do celebrate milestone birthdays at one of the most scenic spots in the USA. My sister celebrated her 40th birthday the day we were at the Grand Canyon and I packed along some celebration decor to remember standing at this gorgeous lookout. Pretty epic way to ring in another decade!
Do Lower Antelope Canyon. It is just as spectacular as your 2007 Windows screensaver. Go in the morning - it's an underground canyon and the first tour starts at 8:30 am. There's less people and when the light comes into the canyon, it's magical and stunning. Antelope Canyon is on native (Navajo) land so the only way to see it is with a local Navajo guide. Our guide (Kenny) was so knowledgeable. When you first start the tour, you can't even see the canyons. You look out at the vast desert and wonder where you're going, and then you walk down these steep stairs and you're suddenly transported to this magical sandstone majestic place. It was so neat walking through the narrow crevices of the canyon, touching the sandstone and listening to our guide play the Navajo flute inside the tunnel. 
Do Horseshoe Bend. This is another iconic spot that is worth seeing in real life. There are lots of trails to explore, and if you go farther out there are no crowds of tourists and you can climb mesas and really take in the incredible topography of Arizona.
Do trek a little into Utah. Cash took us also to Glen Canyon which, according to our guide and Wikipedia is a natural canyon carved out by the Colorado River. We crossed the border from Arizona to Utah to explore this less crowded canyon, which is pretty spectacular. We’ll have to come back to Utah to explore Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park in Utah. I promise there will be a future blog post when we properly see Utah.
Now onto the DON'T DO in ARIZONA
Don't forget to marvel at the mysterious jackalope. Mounted on the wall in the small time of Siegelman is the jackalope. Siegelman is the town of barely 400 people which inspired the movie Cars in the fictional Radiator Springs. You see find Tow Mater and the police car in town still! And if you go inside the visitor center you’ll see this mythical creature 
Don't look down. At the Grand Canyon and Glen Canyon, Cash asked if we wanted to go on a bonus trek to a great look-out spot. YESSSS we do! Then we saw the gap, but my Ennegram 7 self was fully activated and fun always trumps fear so we followed his instructions to cross the gap. Then I watched the kids bravely cross the divide and we climbed up to the most epic spot. I am sure my Garmin watch was registering off the chart heart palpitations at this moment. But we made it, and we didn't look down because if we did, I would have puked and passed out.
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| Standing at the edge of the canyon gap 😳 |
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| Little bro takes a big leap |
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| We all jumped the gap and made it to the other side! |
And that’s a wrap!!
It was an amazingly memorable trip and I’m so glad we did it! What a privilege it was to have a three-generation week away together!
