Having finished up the National Parks leg of our trip we are now in Hawaii, but before we start bombarding you all with photos from here we thought it might be fun (maybe even interesting to some people!) to each do a round-up of our highlights so far, without conferring. We decided on a few different categories which are below.

Si’s picks

Favourite Park

I think overall my favourite park was Bryce Canyon. It wasn’t the biggest in terms of number of hikes, but it had some of the best overall hikes I think we did. The scenery was great, there was even some snow on the ground in places which made it look really nice. There was also a long scenic drive with great look out locations and places to stop. The area we stayed in was very small with hardly anything to do, but our hotel was really nice, it had the best breakfast selection of the trip, and the local restaurant where we ate was really nice too.

Favourite hike

Although it was a freezing cold day, probably the coldest we had on the whole trip, I think the most fun and interesting hike was one we did in Arches National Park, hiking up to ‘Double O Arch’. It involved some steep climbing and clambering sections, we had to find our way in various places, but we passed loads of amazing look out points and sights on the way. Definitely one of the most varied and interesting walks we’ve done I think.

Favourite bar

No trip would be complete without a trip to a local bar at the end of a long day walking. My favourite for the trip was probably Sedona Beer Co. This was the first time we’d been able to sit outside in the sun and enjoy a pint on the trip, as the weather was warmer in Sedona. It had amazing views too, and we sat out until it got dark and then walked back to our hotel.

Favourite beer

Linking in with the previous category, my favourite beer of the trip was at a bar in the Grand Canyon, a Pineapple IPA from Huss brewing co. We haven’t seen this on tap anywhere else yet sadly, nor in cans at the supermarket. I’ll keep looking 🙂 I’m hoping they have a nice selection of tropical flavoured beers in Hawaii now – I’m sure they will.

Best food

This would probably have to be the fried chicken we had when we were staying in Glen Canyon, from a place called Bird House. It was walkable from our hotel, the chicken tenders were amazing and they had good sauces to go with it. Amazing fries too. So good that we (shamefully) went two nights in a row! I need to go back!

Best wow moment

I couldn’t really call this a “hike” for the previous category as it was only a short distance on a guided tour, but one of the highlights of the whole trip was our visit to Antelope Canyon. It was so cool being down in the canyon, climbing down ladders and steps to get in, and stopping about every 5 metres for another amazing photo. Such a great and unique place.

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Lucy’s picks

Best Park

You could make a case for any of the parks really as they are all unique in their own way, but I chose Arches National Park because there were a lot of great hikes to choose from, ranging in difficulty, and each hike centred around an impressive arch along the way, sometimes multiple arches depending on the walk. There was also a scenic drive through the park with various “look out” points along the way.

Best Walk

I chose Cassidy Arch which was a challenging walk which had a bit of everything. Scrambling up rock staircases and along slick rock, narrow ledges, great views, and of course a huge arch at the end of it. And unlike some of the other arches we’d seen on the trip you could actually go and stand on this one! The arch seemed so far away when we first clocked it, that we couldn’t comprehend that that was where we eventually would end up. It didn’t have an obvious route in places too so you had to look out for cairns or just follow your instinct and hope for the best.

Best Pub

Again there were a lot of contenders for this but there were a few things that tipped it in favour of the Zion Brew Pub. Firstly the location, as it was situated right before the entrance of the park, making it super convenient for when you’d finished a hard days hiking. Second there was a great selection of beer and they also had amazing bar snacks (the warming cup of chilli was excellent on the cold days!). Finally the bar was small so it had a really cosy feel about it. That’s why it was my winner!

Best beer

My favourite was Yacht Rock Juice Box from Proper Brewing Co. in Moab. It was a juicy hazy IPA. The only issue was we only went to this bar once as you had to drive to it. I have fond memories of this beer though.

Best food item

For those of you who have been avidly reading the posts, you will know this was an easy one…the fried chicken at Birdhouse in Glen Canyon was basically the tastiest “melt in your mouth” chicken ever.

Most “Wow” moment

There are so many to choose from as each place had lots of incredible sights and experiences…finding the Grand Canyon covered in snow was pretty spectacular, as was the enormous birthing cave in Sedona. But I would give the edge to the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It was such an unbelievable sight to see a church sitting on the middle of a cliff face, that this has to win as the “wow” moment. Not only did it pack a big punch from the roadside, looking up, but the inside was just as memorable, with the sun streaming through the huge glass windows illuminating the inside.