Trips for Mature Travelers

I’m very excited to start some posts about trips for mature travelers! I’ve written about how I took a memorable trip with each of my daughters for their 16th birthdays (see my post on this), and also specifically about my trip with my middle daughter to Southern California (see this post).

There are also so many great trips my husband and I have taken in the past 11 years we’ve been together. We routinely took a trip in November to celebrate our ‘meetaversary’, as well as February to celebrate his birthday and Valentines Day, dates not far apart.

So after all these years that’s added up to a lot of trips, not to mention side trips to NYC, concerts and visiting friends. Since I met him when I was almost 50 years old, we haven’t gotten any younger, and traveling feels like it gets exponentially harder each year. Throw in some health issues, and it’s a challenge getting through airports, waiting in lines, and all the other hassles necessary to get where you want to go.

We are determined not to let things get in our way. My parents were traveling well into their 80s, so there’s no excuse not to continue our adventures. We are not letting a few aches and pains stop us!

The bottom line for mature travelers is the planning. Our itineraries prioritize what we really MUST see, and weigh that with the physical and mental effort. We balance strenuous and sedentary activities, use terrific modern day conveniences like Ubers, and make sure we fully understand what we’ll be walking into on every trip. See my post on tips for mature travelers that lays out some specific ideas for minimizing obstacles when traveling at 50+ years old.

The first trip I’m happy to write about is our trip to Arizona!

I had been to California of course, and New Mexico (when I was seven, ha). But I hadn’t otherwise been out to the southwest, and the Grand Canyon was definitely on our bucket list. Then a work colleague showed me her pictures of her trip to Antelope Canyon with the amazing rock formations- and I knew we had to go!

So we built a full itinerary using the canyons as the foundation of the trip. In addition to those, I knew I wanted to see the town of Sedona, so we planned to meet a college friend for dinner there.

Getting Around

Flying into Phoenix or Flagstaff are best bets if you’re centering your trip around the Grand Canyon. Since we knew we were looking to see things in multiple towns, we rented a car, which turned out to be a pickup truck.

I wouldn’t really recommend a truck, in hindsight. First, there’s not enough room in the cab for large suitcases, so you have to keep them in the bed of the truck. That, of course, is not too safe if you’re stopping multiple times to eat and sightsee. So every time we stopped, we had to put the suitcases inside. If you have any hip or back pain, just the sheer height of a pickup truck makes it an additional annoyance getting in and out.

Go for a sedan, or better yet a convertible!

Navigating the route was confusing to us, because Arizona is a huge state and we didn’t quite understand how much driving would be involved between locations. It turned out that pretty much everything you want to see is a two hour drive. So be sure to plan your trip in the right order to alleviate extra driving. We made the mistake of driving up to Flagstaff because we had heard about the amazing Mexican food- and it ended up being MORE than two hours, basically out of our way, and in a truck to boot. The food was almost worth it though.

What is Totally Worth Seeing!

Grand Canyon. We wanted to get the full experience of the Canyon, and I highly recommend all these activities. Who knows when you might ever see it again, and it’s pretty spectacular. We started out with a helicopter ride that took us down to the river. It was SO cool, because it starts out over the land, and then suddenly you are over what seems like nothing-because you’re smack in the middle of the canyon. It’s a bit scary at first, but quickly becomes exhilarating. I loved it.

Boat Ride on the Colorado River. I love boat rides in general, so whenever we have a chance on our trips, I always say yes please! The views are incredible and the ride was really fun.

Grand Canyon South Rim Museum and Skywalk. You are bussed up to the main tourist area, because there are issues of ownership of the land versus the parking lot. Don’t ask- just know to expect it! Once you get there, there are some pretty long lines of tourists winding through the museum and out to the skywalk, but it does move pretty quickly. You have to wear special booties over your shoes when you walk out there, and I’m not going to lie- it’s scary.

There’s something about stepping out onto a clear glass platform over ground that is way too far down that your brain has a hard time accepting. Once you see everyone doing it and stop looking down all the time, you’re fine. But the first few steps are a bit challenging, I thought so, anyway.

Antelope Canyon. The way to go through the canyon is via a tour, which I normally don’t love because there can be too much standing and walking. But this was not long, and it was fascinating hearing about how these incredible canyons formed over so many years of flooding water creating designs in the sandstone. The photo here really doesn’t do it justice- it’s honestly breathtaking.

Sedona. When we travel, my husband likes the touristy spots (he was loving Grand Canyon), and I usually go more for the funky towns, restaurants and hotels (and wineries). I had heard the city of Sedona was very cool, so we had to check it out. I am into meditation and yoga, and had read about the vortexes there. Here’s what they are:

What is a vortex? Sedona vortexes (the proper grammatical form ‘vortices’ is rarely used) are thought to be swirling centers of the earth’s energy emanating all around us. This energy is said to be conducive to healing, meditation and self-discovery. Supposedly, these places are bridges between the realm of nature spirits and mankind – the earth here is alive. Many feel inspired, recharged or uplifted after visiting a vortex. Practitioners familiar with the workings of the vortexes speak of how our intentions are amplified by the phenomenon. 

Interesting! We had to take an easy hike up to a vortex to experience it. I’m not sure how inspired we felt, but a man walking along the trail randomly handed us a heart-shaped stone-and I thought this was so touching! Since it was a part of the vortex, I keep it on my table to this day to bring positive energy. We also ran into a pair of older ladies who said they were going out for wine after their hike. Right up my alley!

The food and drink in Arizona impressed us in general, since we love Mexican so much (see my post on hosting a Mexican Dinner Party), and they know what they’re doing, especially with that cuisine.

Sedona had a wonderful, ‘crunchy’ vibe, and when we got into town, we found a restaurant across from our hotel with the best assortment of bruschetta (the Hideaway House), something I make a lot and love.

Every place you go here has the most amazing views, and the coffee shop we visited the next morning actually had theater-style seats on the patio facing the mountains. Drinking my coffee there was so incredibly peaceful.

I may want to move there, seriously.

We decided to do this cute Pink Jeep Tour the next day. I will warn you, they look cute, but driving up over huge canyon rocks was a little rough…you can ask my husband about that.

The driver stopped along the way and pointed out different plants and flowers indigenous to the area. He asked what juniper berries are used to make, and I knew that answer. Gin!

We found an awesome winery outside of Sedona as we were leaving town. The Verde Valley is a rising area for wineries, and I manage to find them everywhere we go!

It was so bizarre to have desert and mountains all around while enjoying your wine tasting! From East Coast farms and forests it was a big difference- and that was partly what was so cool about it for me.

The last night of our trip we splurged on an incredible spa and hotel. I had a wonderful massage, and we enjoyed such a lovely dinner with that view that you almost can’t avoid- thank goodness!

We almost never get room service, but decided to get it for our last morning. Our room opened up onto a gorgeous landscape, and we enjoyed our breakfast in luxury bath robes. OMG.

You see why this is a trip I remember so well and was excited to share!

Have you been to Arizona as a mature traveler? Any thoughts or suggestions to pass along? I’d love to hear them!