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“The Best Road Trips from Phoenix?” Where’s the Grand Canyon?

Morning everybody ~  “Crazy From the Heat” as David Lee Roth once proclaimed himself to be, but I’ll bet you guys in Phoenix sure are! Wouldn’t you love to be somewhere where a hot day is considered to be, oh, 80-85 degrees (Fahrenheit of course) and evenings cool down to an exquisitely  crisp 60-something degrees? That place is of course the Grand Canyon, the South Rim to be precise. At 7,000′ above sea level, summer weather here is balmy instead of beastly. Those with the endurance and wherewithal to drive 5 hours further to Grand Canyon North Rim can lop almost a full 10 degrees off those temperatures since the North Rim is at an almost dizzying 8,000′ ASL.

If I could switch gears a bit, most of you know that I am a regular contributor to and reader of various travel websites and forums. TripAdvisor is my current “go to” site, with Fodors and Frommers earning the “Silver” and “Bronze” spots. But these certainly aren’t the only travel websites and forums out there; indeed, there are up-and-coming travel sites, well, up-and-coming all the time. One of these is Oyster.com  Their main reason for being is to review various hotels, destinations, attractions, etc. in a truthful and unbiased fashion. In fact one of their taglines was “we investigate like your mother-in-law.” I read that and laughed like crazy. I was officially intrigued and signed up for their e-mail newsletter.

Like many travel websites, including GrandCanyon.com, Oyster.com also has a blog, and the subject of one of their recent blog entries was entitled “The Best Road Trips from Phoenix.” In it, they assert that residents of this hot desert metropolis have many options to escape, of other things the summer heat, and I was all – “great! They have to mention the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, the White Mountains, right?” Wrong! Denied! They instead suggest equally sizzling destinations such as Las Vegas and Tucson.

Grant you Las Vegas hotels have a/c constantly on overdrive, plus a wonderful array of pools, so if this is your scene, go for it. But if you prefer to lower your core temp courtesy of a cool breeze wafting through tall Ponderosa pines, or perhaps a dip in the azure waters of one of America’s most scenic lakes, come visit us up here in Northern Arizona and enjoy what we have to offer at the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell. Either park, as previously indicated, is just 4.5 hours from Phoenix and a beautiful drive to boot! And if you have a long weekend, such as the Labor Day Holiday in 3 short weeks, why not visit both parks? Got another day (or two)? Swing through Sedona. Here’s how:


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Come on, Phoenicians – summer’s almost over so get your “trip” on to the Grand Canyon today!

Make it a “grand” day friends and we’ll see ya tomorrow. And Oyster.com: keep up the good work 🙂

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