How We Van Camped through The Grand Canyon for 1500
For the last 4 years, I’ve BEGGED Brodie to take me out west. As our family prepares to move to another country, I would talk his ear off about how I’ve seen some of the wonders of the world, but not some of the cool things in America — one of those being the Grand Canyon. Crazy, right? When Brodie was growing up, his family took him to see some of these natural wonders in the US, and I was so jealous! Our original plan was to go for my 30th birthday (last year). After Charlotte was born, though, we didn’t feel comfortable leaving her to travel at such a young age. ENTER my 31st birthday surprise: THIS TRIP
OUR PLAN
Day 1: Spirit flight from ATL (Atlanta airport) — LAS (Las Vegas airport)
Uber to pick up our Escape Camper Vans
Drive from Vegas to KOA outside Grand Canyon & spend the night.
Day 2: Watch sunrise at Grand Canyon & spend the day exploring
After sunset, drive to Flagstaff, AZ and spend the night in a Walmart parking lot.
Day 3: We spent the next day exploring Flagstaff, AZ, visiting coffee shops/eating Indian food TWICE, booyow
Drive to Page, AZ and find a camping spot.
Day 4: We woke up early to spend sunrise at Horseshoe Bend.
After watching sunrise at Horseshoe Bend, we spent the day driving to Zion National Park. Explored the park throughout the day, driving and taking photos. That night, we drove back to Vegas where we spent the night outside the city.
Day 4: Spent our final day exploring Vegas and watching the fountain at the Bellagio.
Ubered back to the airport & flew back out to ATL.
We had just picked up our Van and started driving to the Grand Canyon!
OUR BUDGET
Plane Tickets: $354.18
Car Parking at Airport: $40.00
Camper Van + extra mileage: $438.05
Gas: $154
Groceries/Toiletries: $111.72
Eating out/Coffee: $260.47
Uber:
KOA stay: $36.36
Permits: $80.00
DAY ONE
Our plan was to check one bag that included all of our clothes, etc in it. I had my camera bag as my carry on (including laptop) and Brodie had a backpack. Our flight from ATL left at 10 am and with the extra security/precautions that COVID-19 has introduced, we got there at 7 am. We were glad we did because ticketing/bag drop off, etc took about an hour and a half. Spirit left on time and the flight was about 5 hours. Once we arrived, we took an uber to pick up our van rental. It was about a 20 minute drive to the van. We chose to add on the bedding & kitchen set to our rental — and glad we did. After picking up our van, we drove to Walmart to pick up toiletries and food. Since we put both of our clothes in our checked bag, we decided that we would just buy toiletries once we got there. We actually ran into a mother-daughter duo who were on the last day of their trip and gave us a really nice sherpa blanket. The blanket was a game changer because while the bedding set added a comforter, fitted sheet & pillows, it got down in the 20s the first two nights and the sherpa blanket helped keep us the perfect temperature. The only thing cold was my nose!
After Walmart, we started driving to the Grand Canyon. We had miscalculated the time zone (once you leave Nevada, you leave Pacific Coast Time and enter Mountain Standard Time). Once we realized we weren’t going to make it to the Grand Canyon at sunset, we took our time driving. We drove through the Hoover Dam and took in the amazing sights of the West (seriously, everywhere you drive is breathtaking).
On our way, we stopped at this cute little diner on Route 66 for dinner and they had the most AMAZING homemade root beer. Seriously, I don’t even like root beer, but our waitress talked us into it, and I’m so glad we did. It was bottomless and they serve it to you in a frosted glass with the best pellet ice so it’s freaking addictive.
We decided to camp out at a KOA right outside of the Grand Canyon National Park. We were able to take showers, use the bathroom, and sleep safely at a parking spot. We were pretty tired from our day, so we fell right to sleep once we laid down.
DAY TWO
We woke up early so that we could make sunrise at the Grand Canyon. The KOA is about 20 minutes from the park entrance, so while Brodie drive I got dressed and ready for the day so we could start walking once we parked (this is when I fried our inverter trying to use my straightener, ha! 10/10 do NOT recommend). We chose to watch sunrise from Mather Point, and were joined by about 50 other folks with the same idea. Remember the Ron Swanson quote? “Crying: acceptable at funerals and the Grand Canyon.” Totally applicable here!
After the sun came up, we walked back to the van to grab the camper stove, breakfast, and coffee. Walking down the Rim Trail, I’d say we found the most perfect spot to make coffee and breakfast. I believe this memory is going to be one of my favorite lifetime memories with Brodie!
DAY TWO (part 2)
After enjoying our coffee, bagels and summer sausage, we decided to explore a little bit (and try and track down another inverter — but with no luck). The park is pretty touristy, and we drove around to get our bearings. They have a general store, several restaurants & museums. They also have several trails for hiking and biking. If you choose, you can ride a train up to the Grand Canyon. You can also do trail rides or bus tours. We chose to drive down one of the trails to catch a view. We stopped off after driving around 10 miles or so and were able to park the van on the side of the road. By this point, it was lunch time and I was able to take some pictures of the van with the view before we ate. And then? We took a nap. On the side of the road. Beside the Grand Canyon. It was glorious.
The rest of the day was low key and we stopped over at one of their hotels to charge our phones in the lobby. We made it back out to our sunrise location for sunset — but I’ll be honest, it was a literal underwhelming. The sun sets behind the Canyon, so you don’t really get to enjoy it — sunrise is where it’s at!
After sunset, we drove to to Flagstaff, AZ where we intended to spend the night. It was about a 2 hour drive, so when we got there we stopped and ate Indian food. We couldn’t find what we felt was a safe place to park for the night, so we made our way to Walmart where we finally got a new inverter & parked for the night. Thankfully, Escape Camper vans have blackout curtains and I fell right to sleep.
DAY THREE
On this day, we had a lot of online meetings to attend, so we spent most of the day in coffee shops and parking lots. We visited Kickstand Kafe several times!
One of my favorite parts of this day was when we drove to Page, AZ. Like I mentioned before, the views our west are absolutely insane as far as beauty is concerned — and I loved sitting in the back taking it all in. Once we got to Page, we enjoyed the nighttime views and I set up some long exposure shots of me and Brodie.
After photos, we went to Walmart to get some fresh dinner (we were tired of bagels and summer sausage by this point, ha). We landed on a makeshift charcuterie board with some crackers, fruit, cheese, a fried egg and some more summer sausage. We camped out on the side of the road about 10 minutes from Horseshoe Bend.
DAY FOUR
This day was also a highlight! We woke up early to catch sunrise at Horseshoe Bend. The gate doesn’t open until about 30 minutes before sunrise. It’s $10 per vehicle to park, and a 20 minutes walk to the view. We were the first ones at the gate and had to wait about 15 minutes before we were allowed in. We booked it out to the point so we wouldn’t miss sunrise and it was amazing! This morning was particularly cold, and we had another early meeting — but it was worth it to see such a view!
DAY FOUR — part 2
After Horseshoe Bend, there’s not really much else to see in Page, so we started the drive to Zion since the next day was our fly out day. The drive to Zion was one of my favorites — I sat in the back and edited pictures with so many epic views. Zion was breathtaking — and honestly pictures don’t do it justice on just how majestic it is. After Zion, we booked it back to the outskirts of Vegas to camp outside of the city one last time before our trip was over. On our way, Brodie agreed to let us eat Papa Johns (SHUT UP IT’S MY FAVORITE PIZZA)
DAY FIVE
We woke up on the outskirts of Vegas the next morning, made coffee, ate breakfast, (wolfed down some extra frescas bc we had bought too much, ha), and cleaned up the van. Brodie planned our where we would go after we turned in the van, and we slowly made our way to the city. We had to drop it off by 10:00, so after we finished, we grabbed an Uber and went to the Bellagio first. While their coffee shop we originally wanted to go to wasn’t open, we were able to grab coffee at another bakery. We mostly pal-ed around Vegas, saw the strip, watched the fountains at the Bellagio, then grabbed some ALL YOU CAN EAT SUSHI before heading to the airport. Caught the red eye flight back to Atlanta, drove to Charlotte & picked up our baby girl from my parent’s house!
