Diary of a Southwestern Road Trip Honeymoon

In late October 2005, my husband and I got married in Las Vegas Nevada, enjoyed a whirlwind weekend of Vegas-style wedding festivities, and then embarked upon a lovely honeymoon that involved renting a Mustang convertible and road tripping through some gorgeous natural landscapes of the Southwest. After the artificial glitz of the Vegas atmosphere, touring through these scenic natural vistas was a wonderful counterpoint. It also happened to be my own very first experience with traveling through that part of the country, which made it even more memorable.

The first full day of our honeymoon was on Halloween and our first destination was Mount Zion National Park in Utah. No monster for us this Halloween, unless you count the monstrous and majestic rock faces. The scenery of Mount Zion National Park was almost breathtakingly gorgeous and regally beauteous-a wondrous panorama of colors, textures, and impressive formations. We slowly drove through the park several times, savoring the wonderful views, snapping myriad photos, and smiling the entire time. I think it very much worked in our favor to be visiting this area during a non-peak tourist season. As we drove through, we saw lots of signs indicating that we should expect traffic delays or stopping & starting for lengthy spans of time-but we were lucky enough to completely avoid such brouhaha. The roads through the park were quite twisty and sometimes close to perilous, so if there had been a great deal of traffic, then I think that our drive might have been more distracting and maybe even stressful. As it was, we were treated to very light traffic and vista after vista of scenic glory.

After spending several incredibly pretty hours beholding Mount Zion, we headed towards Arizona and the Grand Canyon. Driving through an ever transforming landscape so very different from the relatively gray flatness of our home state of Ohio seemed like a delightful treat in & of itself. En route to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at a few interesting-looking vantage points along the way.

The Grand Canyon scenery was not quite as colorful as Mount Zion, but it was very dramatically vast. The vistas extended as far as the eye could see and seemingly much farther, to the point of amazement and incredulity. The canyons and valleys and plunging crags were certainly impressive, but I felt a particular visual fondness for the plateaus. It was the South Rim of the Grand Canyon that we were traversing, as the North Rim was already closed for the season. Again though, I very much appreciated the fact that we were visiting this popular tourist attraction during non-peak season, as I think crowds of tourists might have distracted from the peaceful natural grandeur of our experience.

We started our self-designed Grand Canyon tour near The Watchtower, which we gradually climbed, level by level, photographing the inside and outside views on each level. The inside was filled with bright pictograph hieroglyphs; the outside was a rocky wonder. Numerous windows on the inside provided viewpoints to the vast landscape beyond. From certain vantage points, the Colorado River could be glimpsed, winding through the cliffs far below.

After climbing The Watchtower and strolling through its general vicinity, we returned to our vehicle and drove along a South Rim Trail, studded with various scenic viewpoints at which we could park, observe, absorb, and photograph. We did not stop at every single viewpoint, but we did stop at several. For the most part, these viewpoints were sparsely populated, peaceful, and quietly majestic-but we did stop at one that was overrun with Japanese tourist groups and couples noisily clamoring for photo ops. The view here was stunning, but the view was impressive in its own way from every vantage point. Perhaps this particular vantage point, called Lipan Point, is a more well-known or widely advertised viewpoint, because it was much more bustling than the others we experienced.

As evening approached, we stopped in an area that featured lodges and restaurants and its own lovely views. We entered a smallish bar/restaurant called the Bright Angel Lodge for snacks and drinks. Here we found out that the state of Arizona is apparently not all that conducive to imbibing multiple alcoholic libations, as they had a rule whereby they must place each round of drinks on a separate bill. Still, it was an acceptable pit stop, even though the place smelled like puke. After spending a little time drinking and being subjected to cheesy country music on the jukebox of the Bright Angel Lodge, we headed back outdoors, just in time to capture some of the resonant strains and hues of sunset on film.

Soon after, we returned to our vehicle and embarked on a drive towards Flagstaff Arizona, where my husband wanted to stay the night at a unique hotel he remembered from his past-- the Hotel Monte Vista. He remembered hanging out in the Hotel Monte Vista Cocktail Lounge some years back, when a few of his friends lived in Flagstaff. After checking in, we did indeed spend some time in that very same cocktail lounge-but first, we got settled in the R.E.M. Michael Stipe Room. Most of the hotel rooms were named after celebrities. Adjacent to ours was the Bob Hope Suite. Most of the rooms also featured quirky vintage décor, such as fur-trimmed table lamps, TV tables with mosaic-tiled tops, and ornate bird cage-esque telephone tables. A few rooms at the Hotel Monte Vista are rumored to be haunted, including one in which several prostitutes were stabbed to death then tossed out the window in the early 1900s. Before retiring for the evening, we played a few games of pool in the Billiards Room with its bright crimson walls and purchased some beverages from the snazzy adjoining lounge.

Our plan for the following morning was a diner-style breakfast in Flagstaff, then a drive towards Sedona Arizona, passing through Oak Creek Canyon en route. From Sedona, we would drive to Jerome and then later, head back towards Flagstaff, perhaps via a different route. This was another beautiful drive. My husband just adores the gorgeous natural landscapes of Sedona and wishes he could live there, but it's a pricey area with not a lot of land left to buy or build on. I can understand his infatuation, as the skies are so blue and the foliage so green and the rocks so red; it's akin to a vibrant yet idyllic painting.

Jerome, nestled in the Black Hills, used to be a booming mining town, then became a ghost town. Now it has a population of a few hundred, many of whom are artists or artisans or keepers of eclectic, artsy shops. We toured the Jerome Mansion-a huge home of one of the wealthy mining families back in the day, now converted into a museum filled with curios and details of the town's history. Then we strolled through the town itself, bopping into a unique little shop here & there.

When we returned to our vehicle, we headed back towards Sedona, but detoured off onto a primitive road that led to the Palatki Ruins, in the Coconino National Forest area. I must admit that this primitive road made for a rather nerve wracking drive; it was so debris-laden and bumpy that I was not only concerned about the possibility of a flat tire, but was even worried that the whole vehicle might shudder into pieces. A Mustang convertible is not exactly an all terrain vehicle, after all. At one point, we even passed some free range cattle hanging out on the side of the road and I wondered who owns these livestock and if they're allowed to just roam hither & thither, then how does the owner ever manage to wrangle them up?

Once we reached our destination of the Palatki Ruins, the harsh drive suddenly seemed well worth it. We had been approaching closer & closer to massive red rocks until it looked as if we were going to drive straight into them-and we pretty much did. We were right there-right in the gem-like core of a secret treasure with gorgeous jutting rock formations surrounding us and hanging above our heads like awesomely grand scale natural awnings.

The area featured several different trails, with each endpoint staffed by volunteer park rangers who were pleased to provide information or answer questions. We started with the Grotto Trail, the endpoint of which featured an open cave-like area with a shallow water hole (marked with javelina hoof-prints) and strange Indian hieroglyphs decorating the rock walls. The park ranger in this area informed us that nobody has ever been able to definitively translate these symbols or attribute them to a particular tribe. Although theories and conjectures abound, there are no concrete answers.

We then embarked upon the Palatki Ruins Trail itself, although after seeing those footprints at the last trail, I felt a bit worried about the prospect of encountering a javelina. Javelinas are wild pig-like creatures called Javelina because of their razor-sharp tusks; javelina is Spanish for javelin or spear. They usually travel in groups and are supposedly highly territorial. At one point, I thought I heard a menacingly animalistic huffing sound close by, obscured in some heavy brush. Maybe it was just another free range cow. The endpoint of the Palatki Ruins trail featured the remnants of some old Indian dwellings that had been built into the cliff face. It was quite an interesting sight to behold. The rangers at that site pointed out some smudgy black streaks upon the side of the rock and informed us that a black streak like that indicates there used to be a waterfall in that location. We didn't see any actual waterfalls during our visit and nor did we see any snow-capped peaks, with the possible exception of the San Francisco Peaks visible way off in the distance during some parts of our drive. Perhaps they were capped with snow or perhaps they were crowned by fluffy white clouds.

I had been experiencing a hankering for hot tamales for hours and one of the rangers at the Palatki Ruins site recommended the Javelina Cantina, back in Sedona, as a good restaurant to satisfy such a craving. Our meal was tasty and our backdrop was wonderfully scenic. We sat at a table outdoors, enjoying the weather, the view, and the margaritas. It was a delightful dining experience, after which we headed back to the Hotel Monte Vista for one more night. We skipped the Cocktail Lounge that evening, opting instead for a stroll through the town of Flagstaff and the acquisition of some yummy gourmet coffee, at one of the many indie coffee shops in the town.

The next morning, it was time to make our way back towards Las Vegas and the airport and our flight home. We did allow ourselves enough time to stop and check out the Hoover Dam on our way back. Although I don't think either of us was entirely thrilled with the idea of returning to reality, we had certainly enjoyed a multi-faceted good time during our Southwestern honeymoon. It can be such a wonderful change of pace to enjoy the companionship of one's significant other in the context of new scenery, thus a road trip style honeymoon is an experience that I would recommend for other newlyweds or for any couple who could use an infusion of the fresh and new. And remember, if your trip is going to include any big tourist attractions or other especially popular hot spots, do consider planning your excursion during the off season, in order to enjoy a more tranquil environment. Especially though, enjoy each other's company in the midst of a new setting.