Travel Blog for the Savvy World Explorer
In December 2016, we embarked on a trip originally meant for my husband’s conference in Las Vegas. We turned this work trip into an incredible journey. Our goal was to travel the Western US and see as many of the iconic spots as we could with our limited time. The key to making our trip out west a success was all in the planning.
This Western US travel diary is full of great details to help you plan the most incredible trip. In one week we saw Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, and Northern California. It was a whirlwind, but we made it work because it’s all the time we had away from work.
If you have limited time to travel but want to see as much as possible, read these diary posts to learn how we did it!
We were a little bummed because the forecast called for rain ALL DAY. However, we weren't going to let that ruin our Napa wine country experience. As I always do before trips, I did some extensive research to find the best wineries to cram into our one day. I found about 10 that really fit… Continue reading Day 8—Day Trip to Napa Wine Country
The rest of our day exploring Alcatraz and San Francis It's hard to capture the feeling of being on Alcatraz at night with only words. We had purchased tickets well in advance for the Alcatraz night tour. We were told it would sell out, so I think we bought them about 2 or 3 months… Continue reading Day 7: Alcatraz and an Evening in San Francisco
One day in San Francisco doesn't seem like enough time, but we maximized our day to see as much as possible. I was surprised at how much we were actually able to do. Our day started at 7:30 am to make our way to San Francisco, or as the locals call it, The City. We… Continue reading Day 7: One Day in San Francisco
Our day traveling from Las Vegas to San Jose started around 7:00 am to get ready and pack. It was really rough after going all out on our last night in Vegas. Our flight was at 10:00 am, so we hopped in a cab at 8:00 am to head to the airport. The flight to… Continue reading Day 6: Traveling from Las Vegas to San Jose
When we were planning this trip, I decided that on Eric's conference day I would just work a normal day in order to save a little time off for Christmas. It's not like I was going to go out and do stuff on my own for the entire day and working from Las Vegas was… Continue reading Day 5: Working from Las Vegas and Dining at Nobu
After waking up really early in the past few days, we allowed ourselves to sleep in a bit today. Exploring the Las Vegas Strip would be our main priority. We finally got ready and headed down for breakfast around 10:30 am. We were going to go to the regular café but realized it was just… Continue reading Day 4: Exploring the Las Vegas Strip
Most of this day involved us traveling from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. But first, we had to witness one of the most beautiful sunrises in the world. Our morning was nothing short of unbelievable. We got ourselves out of bed around 6:30 am, gathered our things, and headed out on Hermitt Road to… Continue reading Day 3: Traveling from The Grand Canyon to Las Vegas
On the agenda for day two was hiking the Grand Canyon. Not the whole canyon, just a small piece. Of course, as I always do on trips, I woke up at the crack of dawn. Except, I woke up at the Eastern crack of dawn, so it was 4:00 am here. I couldn't go back… Continue reading Day 2: Hiking the Grand Canyon, South Rim
Our day traveling from Atlanta to Las Vegas started at 4:45 am thanks to our fragrant and sometimes noisy neighbor, The Pink Plumber. Normally, we hate this. Also, it's usually around 6:30 am, so I'd like to give PP a gold star this one and only time for being my extremely early alarm clock. Anyway...… Continue reading Day 1: Traveling from Atlanta to Las Vegas