Upcoming Southwestern road trip with an Irish lass

The Southwestern part of the U.S. (Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico) is probably one of my favorite areas of the country to road trip/explore. I won’t say I’ve covered every inch, but I have done it many times and it never gets old. The Southwest is truly a unique part of the country, if not the world. The history, culture and awe-inspiring sights are simply stunning.

After speaking with an Irish travel journalist friend of mine (Yvonne Gordon) and discovering that we would both be attending IPW (a large travel conference) in Denver, I suggested that she fly to Phoenix and we would road trip to Denver together so I could show her some of the highlights of the Southwest. It really is the least I could do given that Yvonne has shown me around Ireland on two occasions. I have put together a route that won’t hit every highlight of Southwest, since we only have two weeks, but it will be a remarkable trip nonetheless.

Our trip begins in early May when Yvonne flies into Phoenix. We will be staying at the new Mountain Shadows resort in Paradise Valley for a night before heading to Sedona. The first part of our trip will be a bit of a whirlwind as we had to readjust the schedule to accommodate an opportunity to stay at Amangiri in Southern Utah, one of the most expensive hotels in the world. We will only have a single night in Sedona. The next day we will drive all the way to Amangiri, but with the afternoon spent at the Grand Canyon. Then we will head to Page Lake Powell for a few days, then to Zion National Park (staying in Springdale). We will then make our way to Moab for several days with a stop to see Bryce Canyon. In Moab we will be staying outside of town at Red Cliffs Lodge and Sorell River Lodge, both are situated along the Colorado river and scenic highway 128. After Moab we will head to Gateway and Grand Junction, Colorado with a night in Vail, finally ending up in Denver for the travel conference.

This is going to be an amazing trip and we are both really excited. Have you ever done a road trip from Phoenix to Denver? Or the Southwest in General? If you have any sights/suggestions we should not miss, please leave a comment below.