Death Valley and Valley of Fire State Park Adventures

Hey friends, I hope you are having a wonderful day! Today, I’m sharing Part 5 of our incredible USA trip. So far, I’ve covered our arrival in Part One. A day of unexpected mall exploring in Part Two. Because our original plans had to change due to the LA fires. Then, in Part Three, I shared our magical two days at Disneyland. Part four was all about Universal Studios, where we had an unforgettable time experiencing the rides, shows, and behind-the-scenes Hollywood fun.

Road Trip

In today’s post, I’m sharing the next leg of our adventure, where we road-tripped through Nevada and Utah. I’ve spent the last couple of days retracing our steps to write this recap. We just packed so much into our days and saw so many incredible sights! It’s been hard for me to remember exactly when we did what. Luckily, I took heaps of photos of everything and anything. So it’s really helped me to piece everything together. I’m still kicking myself for not writing any notes along the way—big travel fail!

Steve, Sam, and I got to enjoy the trip without stressing over the logistics—my cousin and her husband took care of all the flights and hotels while we focused on planning the fun stuff! It honestly felt like we were kids on holiday with our ‘mum and dad.’ Since they already have two kids, I’m sure to them it may have felt like they were travelling with five kids!

I can’t thank them enough for all the planning and effort they put into making this trip such an incredible experience for us. And Cousin S definitely deserves a medal for all the driving he did! There are just no words to describe how amazing this adventure was.

So, today, I’ll be covering the first couple of days of our road trip. We made our way from California, driving along the iconic Route 66, and then through Las Vegas on our way to Zion National Park. Along the way, we explored the stunning landscapes of Death Valley and Valley of Fire State Park. I can’t wait to share all the details (plus another hundred or so photos) of these unforgettable stops and the incredible sights we saw! I hope you like travel posts!

Route 66

For part of our drive, we followed Historic Route 66, passing through spots like Victorville and Barstow, where old gas stations still hold onto that classic Americana charm. The petrol stations were incredible—they’re nothing like the ones we have here in Australia. Some were decked out with old artifacts, vintage signs, and even classic cars on display. And they sell alcohol!! Haha, that totally blew my mind. In fact, my mind was blown earlier in LA when I saw alcohol sold at Target. In Australia, alcohol is only sold in licensed stores, so seeing it in places like Target was such a huge surprise!

I loved how we stopped at so many interesting places, and this country store was incredible! They sold everything—from clothes and snacks to jerky, stones, and even more alcohol. I’m not a huge drinker, but I must sound like one with how often I mention it! I just couldn’t get over how different it was here.

The next stop was McDonald’s, where my cousin J introduced us to the most delicious breakfast ever—sausage biscuit. I had mine with hot chocolate, and honestly, it will go down in my mind as the best breakfast ever!

I’ll be doing a separate post about all the food we ate and how I struggled with eating so much fast food. But this sausage biscuit was something else—soft, buttery, and so satisfying. I had no idea what to expect since we don’t have biscuits like this in Australia. In fact, we refer to biscuits as cookies! But in the US, “biscuits” are more like our savoury scones (only better).

The Chevron with all the cool artifacts on display.

On the road again!

Look at the landscape! It’s nothing like what we have back home. We passed so many of those massive trucks, and even though I completely trusted Cousin S at the wheel, I still found myself closing my eyes. Big trucks on the road are definitely not my favourite!

Death Valley National Park

Three hours after leaving California, we made it to Death Valley National Park. In the following pic, we got caught just as we were about to do our jump! Before we left on our trip, one thing we all agreed on was that we would film ourselves jumping at all the major signs. I’ve put all our jump shots together in a reel, which you can check out here if you’d like! It was hilarious, and we definitely had to do a few takes because, well, we weren’t always the most coordinated!

Oh my gosh! Death Valley is just something else! It honestly felt like I could have been on the moon, or even better—Tatooine! Yep, if you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Death Valley was actually used as the filming location for many of the desert scenes in Star Wars: A New Hope..

So yeah, I guess this was me during the whole trip!

I love this photo of my family.

This path is where R2D2 walked! Pinch me now!!

Here we are, heading back to the van, but I could have stayed forever!

Next stop–The Visitor’s Centre

Then, it was back in the van again, where I took this incredible photo.

Las Vegas at Night

It was starting to get dark just as we got to Las Vegas. We stopped at Olive Garden for dinner. Then jumped back in the van for a nighttime drive through Las Vegas.

It was incredible! Along with being eye-opening! Some of the nighttime activities we saw were a bit sketchy, to say the least. This time around, we just drove through, but on our way back after visiting the national parks, we spent a morning exploring Las Vegas. All that’s coming in a later post—probably travel recap No. 357. Haha, only kidding!

We checked into our hotel and called it a night. We had an early start the next day for our drive to Zion National Park, with many places to stop on our road trip.

Valley of Fire State Park

After visiting Death Valley, where everything was sandy and white, here we are in Valley of Fire, where everything was a vibrant red!

I’m running out of adjectives to describe what we saw—incredible, amazing, breathtaking. I mean, how do you put into words something so beautiful that it makes you want to cry because you never knew places like this existed in the world?

All the visitor centres were so interesting. It would have been so easy to spend an entire day learning all the fascinating information about the places we visited.

I don’t know all the details surrounding what I’m about to say. But it breaks my heart that since we visited and experienced the value of the visitor centres, as well as the helpful park rangers. I have learned that the current administration has made budget cuts that have severely impacted national parks, including the staff and resources available at these incredible places.

The reduction in funding has affected the services and support that make these parks such memorable experiences, and it’s devastating to think that the preservation of these national treasures and the work of dedicated park rangers are being threatened. I find myself shaking my head in disbelief a lot these days.

We were all starving and looking forward to a meal at one of Cousin S’s favourite spots—First Watch in St. George. It was about a two-hour drive from Valley of Fire State Park. After eating there, I can confidently say it’s now one of my favourites too!

Then it was back in the van for a stop at Walmart (oh, Walmart, how I miss you!). We grabbed some snacks and essentials like bread, turkey slices, ham, and cheese to make dinners and lunches for the next few days. This was the moment I discovered ranch dressing. My taste buds were literally ignited to another level later that night when I tasted its wonderfulness!

About three hours later, we arrived in Springdale, a town just five minutes from Zion National Park, and checked into our hotel.

Look at the view from the entrance!

We dropped our bags in our rooms, and then we were off again to Zion Outfitter. It was near closing time, but the staff were super friendly and helped us grab everything we needed for our adventure the next day—hiking The Narrows!

We got back to the hotel, and Steve and I made up a fancy meal using the delicious ingredients we picked up at Walmart earlier.

Love those disposable plates! I see them all the time on Instagram Reels, and now I can proudly say I, too, have eaten from that fine China!

Wow! That sure was a long post about our road trip to Zion National Park, stopping at Death Valley and Valley of Fire State Park. And if you made it to the end, you’re amazing! Thank you so much for stopping by today. My next recap will be all about hiking The Narrows, where I truly discovered what a cold winter feels like! I don’t think I should ever complain about our Aussie winters again!

Have a wonderful day or night wherever you are ☺️

Linking up with Andrea and Erika