Recently, I took two weeks to go on a road trip through the state of Arizona. Traveling, or not traveling, right now is a very personal decision and one that I did not take lightly. My friend and I agreed on some important things ahead of time - we would not be doing any indoor dining, museums, bars, etc.
Some nights we cooked in our Airbnbs. If we encountered people without masks, even outdoors, we distanced ourselves from the situation. I will mention things throughout these Arizona city guides in regards to how certain areas, restaurants, etc. But our overall goal for the trip was to hike, run, and generally spend time outside - alone.
You can read about our second stop, Tucson and Saguaro National Park here! To say we stayed in Williams would be a little misleading. Seeing as the hotels and lodges within the Grand Canyon need to be booked about a year in advance, we were lucky to be within 30 minutes of the entrance. But we felt very much in the middle of nowhere - and our second night we returned to find no power and no flushing toilet.
Had we been coming from Flagstaff the closest major city to the South Rim , the 90 minute drive may have deterred us from our full-day hiking plans. After a 15 hour day and 19 mile hike - it might have been the happiest meal ever. This was nothing to write home about, especially seeing as we took it to go and ate it in a motel room with plastic cutlery - but it was something easy to pick up as we passed through Williams on the way to our Airbnb.
Yep, you read that right. This popular highway stop is equipped with gift shops, a restaurant, a gas station and really really popular pie. If you only have one day to experience the Grand Canyon - this is how you should experience it. To avoid that logistical nightmare, many people opt to hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon via the South Kaibab trail and back up along the slightly longer and less steep Bright Angel Trail.
