American Southwest roadtrip – Page to Williams, Arizona through Grand Canyon

We are saying goodbye to Utah and following the Colorado river towards the highlight of our trip – the majestic Grand Canyon. Crossing the picturesque mountains and valleys, sparsely populated parts of Arizona, until finally arriving at the East entrance of the Grand Canyon.

September 16. We are greeted by a lovely park ranger at the entrance. She asks where are we from, I say Slovakia and she goes with “I had one family from Slovakia here!” So I proceed with asking “today?” and she says “no, like in the last 6 months.”

After taking the obligatory pictures by the entrance sign, we drive through the Desert drive. We stop at the Desert View viewpoint and walk towards the rim. My mom can’t hold her tears – she has been dreaming about seeing the Grand Canyon since high school.

Grand Canyon is majestic and unlike anything else in the world, there is no doubt about it. Definitely a place to see once (or multiple times) in your life.

After stopping at a bunch of viewpoints, it all start to look the same. Beautiful nonetheless, but the same. So we head to the café and buy a few souvenirs, ready to drive down towards Flagstaff.

Right before leaving the park, we are bid farewell by a family of elk. What a lovely sight to see them just roaming around, freely!

We will be spending the night in Williams, on Route 66. The drive towards the city is super monotonous, but at least the scenery is changing a little – the rocks have been replaced by forests and green trees.

Williams is a quaint little town with a great atmosphere. Do you want to see the remains of the famous Mother Road? Taste some of the best steaks in the country or buy a souvenir in a shape of rattlesnake or tarantula? You can find it all here.

After learning that tarantulas live in the forest right by our hotel and knowing we left the window open in our room, we are running back. I check everywhere, but no arachnids to be found. Luckily.

We enjoy the rest of the evening in the hotel restaurant, where we are suddenly a part of a live country music performance and we are loving every minute of it.

Tomorrow, we are starting the long-ish drive back to Los Angeles!