Colorado, Arizona, and Utah

2026-10-14 7:32 PM

#colorado #utah #arizona #grand canyon #wedding #trip #journal

My wife's cousin sent a wedding invitation last April inviting us to the Grand Canyon for the nuptuals. Lindsey and I had been talking about planning a trip out west with the kids at some point and this seemed like the best opportunity to make it happen. It turns out that October in the west/southwest is the slow season, so we were able to pull off a 9 day, 3,000+ mile road trip with the kids.

Colorado

We left in the early hours of a Saturday morning with the hopes of making it to eastern Colorado. We ended up stopping for the night in Fort Morgan, about 60 miles east of Denver. There isn't much to see in Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, so I don't have anything to say other than they're great states for wind farms.

As we headed into the Rocky Mountains, we stopped at St. Catherine's Chapel on the Rock. The church has been there for about 100 years and has survived both wildfires and floods. It was a beautiful location at the base of Mt. Meeker and we enjoyed a few minutes in the silent sanctuary.

We pushed west into Estes Park and wandered around the craft fair that happened to be going at the time before moving on toward Keystone. We had an apartment on a golf course for the weekend which turned out to be quite nice because the course had shut down for the winter and we were pretty much the only people there. There were some nice hikes around the area which gave a pretty good view of Dillon, the nearest town.

The kids took some time to get used to the altitude (Michigan's 750 ft above sea level is very different than Keystone's 9,500 ft) so we took it easy for a couple days, sticking to drives to scenic overlooks. When they were feeling better, we drove up the Loveland Pass to give them an idea of how tall some of the mountains really are. The parking lot for the pass is at 11,990 feet and a couple of the kids were brave enough to hike up a short path with me to about 12,200 ft. It really sunk in just how high we were when we spotted a helicopter flying below us.

Utah

When our time in Colorado had finished, we headed out of Keystone through the mountains toward Utah. My only western United States experience had been a short trip to California 15 years ago, so I didn't know what to expect. I was blown away at how fast and how dramatically the landscape changed. The sizes of the rock formations in Utah were just staggering. The change from driving up over mountains to down into vallies really threw me off, but I think I enjoyed the scenery more because it just kept surprising me.

We stayed in Orderville, UT, just outside of Zion National Park with the intent of driving into Zion the next day. It turned out that the eastern road into Zion had suffered a rock slide, so the road was closed. Instead of a 20 minute drive in, we had to go nearly two hours around the south end into Springdale. The drive was long, but the scenery didn't disappoint.

We rented bikes from Utah E-Bike Adventures which was one of the best decisions we'd ever made. We rode about a half mile through town to the park's pedestrian entrance where we bought our pass for the week. Then, we followed a foot path into the park itself and enjoyed the entire day riding up and down the scenic highway, taking in as much as we could.

The altitude was still getting to the kids a little, so hiking was at a minimum, but we did do a short trek to the Lower Emerald Pools (which were more like puddles in the drought) and Weeping Rock. I would love to go back some day and do some of the longer east or west rim trails to see some of the more remote areas of the park.

The next day, the east road actually opened back up, so we drove the 20 minutes back to the park and did the Canyon Overlook Trail on the east side and it did not disappoint. The hike was more rugged, but still doable for the kids. Everything about Zion was overwhelming and breathtaking all at once.

Arizona

Finally, we got to the wedding weekend itself. Both my wife's cousin and his wife are Colorado River boat guides in the canyon, so the wedding on the rim felt like the only option. We drove about 50 miles out of Fredonia, AZ, mostly on dirt roads to some public land out in the woods. When we pulled into the clearing, we were greeted by tents, pickup trucks, and dogs. Most people (without kids) were camping in the woods for the party, which was really cool to be a part of. Since they're both working with outfitters, there was a full-blown camp kitchen already set up and churning out food for after the ceremony.

About two hours after arriving, we all piled into more robust vehicles and made the rugged two-mile drive to Crazy Jug Point right on the north rim.

Dear reader, I know in my head that the canyon is large. Grand, even.

The sight of the canyon peeking out through the trees as we hiked to the point was shocking. There were no words for what I was looking at. Everything about the Grand Canyon is overwhelming. Knowing that what I was seeing was a tiny fraction of this place made me stop and just gape. I can't think of anything else I've seen that has made me feel the same way.

All of us - maybe 200 people - piled out on to the point. It was a party. Strangers were laughing and looking, some people just sat and stared. We all felt excited to be there, on the point, waiting for this wedding.

After the ceremony, we all went back into the woods for a huge party. Rain moved in, which only made the party better. Panchos and rain jackets came out of nowhere and pop-up tents flew out of the kitchen trailer, ready to be put up over the tables. Kids were playing flashlight tag and capture the flag as night fell and we all just enjoyed being together in a really special place.

Unfortunately, we had to end our trip there. I had already taken six days off of school (which is unheard of in October in most cases) and we had a 1,700 mile journey ahead of us. We said some tearful goodbyes, piled wet kids into the van, and started our trip home that night.

I can't imagine having done this trip any other way, but we're all looking forward to the next time we get to go explore the southwest again.