Mighty Trip 2026 - Part 3

Glen Canyon, Grand Canyon, White Sands and Carlsbad Caverns

Week 3

Sadly, I have to wrap up my one month road trip blog and move on.

I woke up on the 21st of June to my mom saying, “ Wake up, wake up, we have to leave.” So, when I woke up and was ready, I realized it was 10:00 and too late for breakfast at the hotel. So once my entire family was ready, we decided to go to the nearby Subway for a “brunch.” When we arrived, we got in line to order our food. I ordered a…well, I honestly forgot, but all I know is that it had 3 meats and it was 6’’. After we finished, my dad said we could choose a cookie to eat, but I did not want a cookie. Something else caught my eye: tea. I don’t love tea, but I drink it once in a while. So my dad let me get a cup of sweetened tea. After my brothers chose their cookies and I got my sweetened tea, we walked to our car and started driving to Arizona.

When we arrived in Arizona, we drove to Page, Arizona, to see Horseshoe Bend.

Once we parked our car in the parking lot of Horseshoe Bend, we used the restrooms, filled our water, and started hiking the trail to get to Horseshoe Bend. The trail to Horseshoe Bend was really easy because it was paved and was very short. When we got to the viewpoint, we took pictures.

Then we started walking back to our car. Once we had gotten back to the parking lot and found our car, we all got in and started driving to the Carl Hayden Visitor Center. When we got to the Carl Hayden Visitor Center, we all rushed in because they had such good AC. We started reading about the Glen Canyon Dam.

Fun Fact: The Glen Canyon was so big that they had to use really big tools to build the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge. Here is a picture with me standing next to one of the bolts they used to build the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge. Look at the size comparison!

After that, we found this model of how electricity works. Here is a video of my brother, Surya, explaining it…kind of.

Then me and my dad went to go to the gift shop to get our passports stamped, and we also bought a magnet. Then we called our mom and brothers so we could go to the hotel. Then we drove to our hotel and chilled for a while in our room. Then we went to the Glen Canyon sign and took pictures there.

Then we went there for dinner. It was this Northern Indian place. Since we had not had Indian food for the last 2 weeks. So we went there, and we ordered our food. It was all good, but not the best. Since we were South Indian, we ate different things than the Northern Indian people. Still, it was good though. When we were driving back to the hotel, we took a small pit stop to walk on the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge. We walked a bit on the bridge, then we drove back to our hotel. When we got back to our hotel, we showered, then slept.

The next morning we woke up, and our dad told us that we were going on a speedboat. Our dad told us that he had hired a captain to drive the boat. He also told us to get ready so we could go on time for the boat. So we all got ready and took our car to drive to the breakfast place in the hotel. At the breakfast place, I got French toast, pineapple, and bacon.

After we finished our breakfast, we took our car and drove to the place where the captain had texted my dad to go. So we went there, and 10 minutes later, we found the boat and our captain, Captain Mike. When we all got in, we put on some life jackets that Captain Mike had. Then he started driving to a place where we could jump. Then the boat got stuck, and so Captain Mike had to get out of the boat and push the boat so that the boat was not stuck anymore. Then he said that we would have to go to a new place to jump. When we arrived at a place to jump, we all immediately started jumping in the humongous lake.

Then we started going to another place to jump. This part was really clear, so we could see our feet.

Then Captain Mike started taking us back to the dock. When we got back to the dock, Captain Mike said he wanted a picture with us, so we took a picture with him.

Then we took our car and drove to the hotel pool and played in the pool for a while. We also ordered our lunch from the pool. I just got some pizza. Then we went back to our hotel room, showered, and watched some TV. Then we drove to Taco Bell to get our dinner. After we got our dinner, we drove back to the hotel and ate our food and slept.

The next morning we woke up and got ready. My dad said that we would be driving to the Grand Canyon, but before that we had to go to Lower Antelope Canyon. So for breakfast we ate leftover muffins that we bought the day before. So after we ate, we all loaded our stuff back into the car and started driving to Lower Antelope Canyon. Before we arrived at Lower Antelope Canyon, we ordered some Starbucks, then continued driving to Lower Antelope Canyon. When we got to Antelope Canyon, we went on a guided tour. We took so many photos on the trail.

We also learned that the Lower Antelope Canyon was formed when the ocean came to the sandy area and shaped it for millions of years. Then once we finished the tour, we went to the gift shop and bought magnets and ice cream. Then we started driving towards Grand Canyon National Park.

When we arrived at Grand Canyon National Park, we checked in and got our campsite location. When we got to the campsite, we first set up our tent and then went to Grand Canyon Village Market and Deli.

I got pizza and hot chocolate. Then we went back to our campsite and slept.

The next morning we woke up and got ready. We ate our breakfast, cereal, and took our car to the Bright Angel Trailhead parking lot.

We planned on walking just a bit down, then coming back up. So we walked about 1 mile down, then 1 mile coming up.

It wasn’t that hard due to its duration and the time that we did it. After that, we took a shuttle to Hopi Point. At Hopi Point, we just took pictures and used the bathroom. Then we went to Hermit’s Rest and bought snacks and took pictures there.

Then we took the shuttle back, and we went to our campsite. At our campsite, we ate our lunch inside our tent because it was raining, then went to sleep for a nap. When we woke up, we went to this place called Harvey’s House Cafe. Then we went back to our campsite, roasted marshmallows, and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up, got ready, and ate our breakfast. Then we helped my parents take down the tent and pack up. After we packed everything up, we started driving towards a lunch place. We ended up getting Chipotle and eating it at a rest area.

After we finished our food, we got back in the car and started driving to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We drove to a nice pizza place for dinner.

Then, after we finished dinner, we went to a nearby ice cream shop.

After we ate our ice cream, we drove to this neon Route 66 sign.

Then we started driving to our hotel that we would be staying in for that day. When we arrived at the hotel, we all showered, then went to sleep.

The next day we woke up and got dressed. We ate breakfast at the hotel and started driving to the Route 66 Visitor Center.

At the Route 66 Visitor Center, there was a whiteboard that you could color on. So we spent most of our time coloring. When we got in the car, we started discussing why they would even build a Route 66 Visitor Center because there was literally nothing but that coloring board. Like how do the people working there make money? Then we went to this city named Truth or Consequences.

We bought some Sonic for lunch at the Sonic place itself. Anyways, after that we started driving to White Sands National Park. But just 5 minutes before we reached White Sands National Park, there was a Border Patrol. Now let me tell you a little bit about my parents…stuff. So since my parents have Indian Citizenship, but still came to live in the U.S., they are trying to get a Green Card and are in the middle of the entire thing. So at Border Patrol, we had to wait for a while because the guard at Border Patrol was checking everything. Then after 10 minutes of waiting, the Border Patrol guard said we were good to go. So we drove for about 5 minutes until we reached White Sands National Park Visitor Center.

We first got our passports stamped. Then in the Visitor Center we all used the restroom, while my dad bought sleds, wax, and a magnet. You might be wondering why he bought sleds and wax. Well…White Sands National Park is actually a bunch of white sand dunes. So my dad bought sleds so we could sled down the sand dunes. And the wax was to actually make the sled go downhill. So we played in the sand dunes for a very long time.

Then our parents called us to eat our dinner. A chicken salad sandwich. Then all of a sudden it started getting really windy. My parents told us to eat inside the car, while they ate theirs outside and packed everything up. 10 minutes later, we were driving to another place to see the sunset. My mom and Deva did not want to come, so just me, my dad, and Surya went. We saw the sunset even though it was cloudy and took multiple pictures.

Then we got back in the car and started driving to our hotel. Once we arrived at the hotel and got our room, we all showered because we were covered in sand from our head all the way down to our toes. After that we slept.

The next day we woke up, got dressed, and headed down for breakfast at the hotel. I got some Swiss cheese and other things I forgot. When I took my first bite of the Swiss cheese it tasted…HORRIBLE. It was the worst thing I ever tasted. Anyways, after we all ate, we got in the car and started driving to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. When we arrived at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, we went to the Visitors Center. First, we got our passports stamped. At the Visitor Center, we asked the rangers about the Big Room hike in Carlsbad Caverns. Then we went to the Visitors Center Cafe and got some lunch. For lunch, I got a taco and a fruit cup. Then we went to the elevator that takes you down into the caves. The elevator went 750 feet down to get to the caves. When we got down, we used the restrooms and started hiking. In the hike, we saw stuff like the “Lion’s Tail”, “Fairyland”, “The Sun Temple”, and also “Mirror Lake”.

After we finished the hike, we took the elevators back up and bought a magnet and toys for my brothers. Then we started driving to a hotel in Big Springs, Texas, the border between New Mexico and Texas.

Before we went to our hotel, we took a small pit stop at the gas station and got our dinner from DQ. Before we ate our food, we showered. Then we ate our food and slept.

The last day of our trip we got ready. We were so excited to go home after such a long and tiring trip. So after we were all ready, we went down to the breakfast area and ate our breakfast. Then we got in our car and started driving to Jr. Kuppana in Little Elm, Texas. It only took about 3 hours, and then we arrived.

At Jr. Kuppana, we saw our friends and ate our yummy lunch. I got a kids’ meal biriyani. After we finished our delicious lunch, we drove our car back to our house.

When we first stepped into our home, it smelled like paint. I guess our house is still really new! This is how many miles we traveled in total.

Fun Fact : Ouray is now in a forest fire, so i suggest you don’t travel near Ouray at the time I published this. Also there is discussion of draining Lake Powell.

I hope you enjoyed my one month roadtrip blog, and stay tuned for future blogs!