Southwest Road Trip: CA > AZ > UT > NV > CA

This year both my boyfriend, Zach, and my brother, Nathan, had the same spring break - yay!! My brother is in medical school at the University of Arizona and Zach is in physical therapy school at California State University Long Beach, so you can imagine our family's excitement that they would be out of school at the same time! When schedules align, my dad loves to plan family trips so this time we made it a southwest road trip!

Zach and I drove out from Long Beach to Scottsdale, AZ where my parents live and stayed a couple nights. Nathan and his wife, Deanna, drove up from Tucson and met us in Scottsdale a day later. We then caravanned in two cars (mine and Nathan's) to Sedona/Oak Creek Canyon for two nights. We stayed in the cutest lodge right on the creek and it was super roomy for our group of six. While in Sedona, we hiked, explored and shopped around downtown Sedona, went to Tlaquepaque, etc.

On day three of our trip, we ventured north to Flagstaff and stayed at my aunt and uncle's cabin in Forest Highlands. We did a little bit of hiking, explored downtown Flag, etc. We also went to one of my fave restaurants, Whyld Ass - literally the best vegan mac and cheese and baked goods omg. unreal. 

We continued north on day four and drove up to Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend in Page, AZ. My dad booked us on a tour of Upper Antelope Canyon which was pretty cool! I had seen the Lower Antelope Canyon before but this was my first time seeing the Upper one. The main difference is that the Upper one is more expensive, there aren't any stairs or climbing that you have to do, you get driven in, and you walk through it there and back. After Antelope Canyon, we stopped by Horseshoe Bend. It was really windy and people were getting way too close to the edge it looked like some of them were going to blow off the edge! Serious anxiety there haha but the view was worth it! Nathan and Deanna parted ways with us here and drove back down to Flagstaff for the night as we continued the trip to Utah. 

Once we left Page, we drove into south Utah and made it to our cabin in Duck Creek Village around dusk. It was such a cozy place but every restaurant nearby was closed so we ended up scrounging up some food from the cooler to put together dinner. It was super cold and snowing out too which we didn't prepare for either. 

On Day five, we drove through Bryce Canyon National Park which was spectacular! There is one main road and many lookouts and places to stop along the way. We didn't bother hiking much here because it was snowing, my dad has a bad hip, and Zach recently hurt his ankle. We ended the day at a hidden gem of a restaurant that was super nice! We drove back to our lodge in Duck Creek and stayed for a second evening. 

In the morning, we packed up our stuff and got ready to go to Zion National Park. Because I was so cold the day before, I thought it would be a good idea to wear four pairs of pants (three leggings and one pair of loose fitting jeans over lol). This was a new record for me, but Zion was surprisingly much warmer than Bryce Canyon so I ended up taking off most of my layers. Zion was much more crowded than I was expecting and it made for a less relaxing time there than Bryce. It was still very beautiful and scenic though! Once we were done driving through the park, we started making our way to Las Vegas!

We checked into the Mirage and got settled. They got both of our room arrangements wrong and my dad through a fit haha but they wouldn't do anything to fix it - pretty bad customer service if you ask me. Anywho... we ended up finding this super vegan-friendly steakhouse (lol, weird I know) at the Wynn and ate dinner there! This was probably one of the most expensive menus I've ever seen but everything was amazing and they really catered to vegans so my mom and I were super happy. After dinner, we went back to our hotel and got ready for the late showing of the Cirque du Soleil show Beatles Love. It was very 70's and hippie vibes - pretty cool tricks and acrobatics as well! We finished off our night in Vegas drinking at a cocktail lounge and hanging around the casino. 

We ended the last morning of our trip eating at a buffet at the Mirage for breakfast. Zach and I parted ways with my parents and drove back to Long Beach. It was such a great trip and even better times with my fave people! Can't wait for our next family vacay :)

 

ACC-FamilyRoadTrip-WebSize-1703009.jpg
ACC-FamilyRoadTrip-WebSize-1703029.jpg

NOW ENTERING...

ACC-FamilyRoadTrip-WebSize-1703086.jpg
ACC-FamilyRoadTrip-WebSize-1703122.jpg

LAST STOP... VEGAS!

Boyce Thompson Arboretum

One of my oldest and best friends, Kelsey Hughes, and I decided to go on a day trip to Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, AZ about an hour or so out of town. I was amazed on how much there was to do out there! We just went on the main trail which passed through multiple greenhouses, a bridge, a creek, and a short scenic hike around the area.

I recommend going here during the winter because everything is outside, not much shade, and your going to be drenched in sweat, likely getting a sunburn in 90+ degree weather if you don't. Unlike most national parks, scenic areas, and nature spots, there is an actual address to pinpoint where you are going and there is a huge parking lot which makes life way easier. You likely won't have cell service all day either and there aren't any food or snacks to buy so make sure to pack your own food! This is definitely worth a trip and makes for an awesome get-out-of-town day trip with friends!

Denim Shirt (Kelsey) - American Apparel

Black Distressed Skinny Jeans (Kelsey) - Topshop

Cream Fringe Sweater (Allison) - Free People

Vegan Suede Brown Hat (Allison) - Gigi Pip

High-Waisted Blue Denim Skinny Jeans (Allison) - Free People

Brown Vegan Western Booties (Allison) - Coconuts by Matisse

Black Vegan Suede Hat - Free People

Army Green Denim Shirt (Allison) - American Apparel

Taupe Shirt (Kelsey) - Kastlfel 

High-Waisted Black Denim Skinny Jeans (Allison) - American Apparel

Maroon Fuzzy Sweater (Allison) - Kensie

Black Tri-Blend Racerback (Allison) - American Apparel

Vegan Waterproof Hiking Boots (Allison) - Jeffrey Campbell, purchased on Poshmark

 

 

Camelback Mountain

Went out for a shoot around Camelback Mountain to feature some of my new pieces I got for the holidays (aka my mom and I went to Nordstrom Rack together over Thanksgiving weekend, I found cute stuff, and she saved it for me to open for Christmas). One of these items being this flouncy pirate-looking top from Free People - at least my dad thought I looked like a pirate haha but it wasn't exactly the look I was going for. Second, being the vegan suede fringe vest! I always love finding synthetic suede and leather, it gives me hope about the future of ethical fashion! 

AC-Blog-Camelback-1701005.jpg

White Top - Free People

Distressed Denim Jeans - Nasty Gal

Taupe Fringed Booties - Coconuts by Matisse, purchased from ShoeMall

Vegan Suede Fringe Vest - Bagatelle Collection, Nordstrom Rack

 

Eaton Canyon Trail & Waterfall, Pasadena

Hey readers, meet my handsome boyfriend, Zach. He really is the best. He's currently working his butt off getting his doctorate in Physical Therapy at California State University Long Beach, but when he's not studying or at class, I'm probably nagging him to go out and adventure with me. This includes but is not limited to traveling, going on photoshoots (he hates that, but also secretly gets into it too haha), trying new vegan-friendly restaurants, going to events/festivals, etc. A few days ago, I used one of the "2 hour photoshoot" coupons he gave me as a birthday gift. Yes, you read that right.. he knows how much I like to take pictures and issues me photoshoot coupons. Haha I love it. Anywho... we went out exploring in Pasadena at Eaton Canyon Trail and Waterfall. To be honest, it was way longer of a hike than we were expecting... like an hour to an hour and a half just to get to the waterfall which was not near as big as I had seen in photos, but it was still a nice time to spend together. We followed our hike/photoshoot with a yummy dinner at Little Pine - a super cute fancy vegan restaurant nearby. Their mac n cheese was to die for. Like I literally thought it was real cheese. Bomb.com. 

Brown Hat - Brixton

Brown Dress - Free People 

Vegan Suede Hat - Free People

Gray Sweater - Free People, purchased on consignment from Buffalo Exchange