Lily’s Senior Trip Out West

Popping in here at the blog once again in the midst of so much going on in our lives to write about a fun trip we took recently! As many of you know it has been our tradition to take each of our kids on a Senior trip of their choice with just us.  Grant and Dave went to the Grand Canyon and Arizona on his trip, Abby and I went to her favorite, Disney, and Lily chose Utah, Arizona, and Nevada!  And she wanted both Dave and I to go, so we worked it out and off we went!

Lily planned almost the entire itinerary herself and we just helped her execute it, and it was a great way for her to get a little experience in travel planning too.  I’ll share several of the highlights of our trip here for those who may be planning a trip like this soon, but there’s no way to cover it all!  So many beautiful sights!

We flew in and out of Las Vegas as we had direct flights there, so we were there for a few hours on both the first and last days.  We stayed at the Bellagio for just a few hours as we had a very late flight that had a major delay.  But we enjoyed what we say while we were there!

Right away we saw the conservatory at night and it was gorgeous!

 

Although we only slept for a couple brief hours, we had a great view to wake up to…

And the Chihuly glass on the lobby ceiling was so amazing…

 

Next was breakfast at Sadelle’s in the hotel and it was fantastic and gorgeous as well!

 

The conservatory with all the flowers was one of the reasons Lily chose this hotel and it definitely did not disappoint!

 

One of my favorite parts were the gorgeous pools! And there were actual large lemon trees lining the pool!

We didn’t have time to swim here unfortunately because we had a busy schedule ahead, starting with a morning helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon which we loved!

Dave and Grant had done this on their trip, so Lily wanted to do it too.  We got an unexpected free upgrade on our flight which included getting picked up at our hotel in a limo!  That was super cool, especially when the driver drove us straight up to the Vegas sign for a photo!

 

 

The views from the flight were simply indescribable and we saw miles of the Canyon, Lake Mead, the Colorado River, the Hoover Dam, and more.

 

 

 

So many gorgeous views!  And then we landed right in the Canyon for a light picnic and a little exploring!

 

 

 

 

The entire helicopter tour was around 3 1/2 or 4 hours and the limo returned us to the hotel afterward!  Check out Papillon Helicopter tours HERE if you’re interested.  We highly recommend this as a great way to see the Grand Canyon!

That afternoon, we left Vegas to head to our main destination which was Zion National Park in Springdale, UT.  There were plenty of beautiful sights to see along the way there as well!

 

 

Over the course of a few days there, we hiked to the Emerald Pools, part of the Narrows, and the Riverside Walk as well as a few other trails and sites.  We also drove for miles all through the gorgeous scenic park.

 

 

 

The hotel we chose was the Cliffrose Lodge and it was very nice and in a gorgeous setting.  (Visit their site HERE)

 

There were deer that live on the property which were not at all afraid of people so they would come right up to us repeatedly during our stay.  So cute!

 

Lily found a cowboy hat she’d been wanting at a trading post and looks so cute in it!

The town of Springdale is small, but has several cute shops and restaurants so we did plenty of exploring there and some surrounding towns, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the week, we headed back to Vegas and explored a little more and visited The Neon Sign Boneyard which was really cool but too hot to stay for long as it was outside in the 114º heat!

 

One more stop Lily had on her list was Omega Mart which is a crazy museum/ interactive mystery activity park we had heard about.  She loved that and it was the icing on the cupcake for her.

 

Just before we headed to the airport for our late flight, we stopped by the Bellagio once more to see the fountain show.  A great ending to a fun trip, but I was ready to get away from the crowds of the Vegas strip at night!

 

 

We were so glad to have this special focused time with Lily in these last weeks before she heads to college!  Lola had a great time with her grandparents in Boston while we were gone as well.   I highly recommend doing individual trips with your kids at this age if you get the chance!  They have proven to be big highlights of each of our lives each time.

Have you been to these places???