Several years ago, my husband and I took a 1,300+ mile road trip with our daughter, G, who has autism. We did a lot of planning to make sure that the trip would work for our daughter and be fun for the whole family.

When we first started planning our Arizona road trip, we thought we would go for a week.   We’d go straight from the airport to Sedona for a night on the way to the Grand Canyon, spend a few days there, then return to Phoenix.    One friend told me how beautiful Antelope Canyon is, another told me not to miss Monument Valley, and several others told me not to go at all.   It would be too hot in the summer, and better to wait until spring break.

We weighed all of this information and recalibrated.   One week wasn’t enough.   The only time we could go for longer would be summer.    If we went in summer, we would have to deal with the heat.

We got lucky – it turns out that the end of August is a pretty good time to take an Arizona road trip.   Once you head north from Phoenix, the altitude increases and temperatures drop to a tolerable level.    Arizona schools are back in session, so we never ran into loud and crowded.   Phoenix itself was as hot as an oven - the less time spent there, the better.

Our last few posts have been all about what we did, what we saw, and whether we would go there again.   This post gives you the glue that holds it all together – driving times from place to place, how far in advance to make your reservations, strategies to beat the heat, and a few things I wish I had thought of before we started the trip.

Sedona. We spent five nights at the Hilton Vacation Club. For us, it was the perfect amount of time in Sedona. We spent mornings exploring different Red Rock areas, and afternoons in the pool. If a quick swim to cool off is all you need, you could see all the high points here in just a couple of days.

There are lots of hotel options here; reserving just a few months in advance will give you plenty of good choices.

Learn more about our adventures in Sedona.

Grand Canyon. We stayed inside the National Park at Maswik Lodge for just one night. We were able to see the canyon vista during the daylight, sunset, and sunrise. We weren’t planning on extensive hiking due to the summer heat, so one night was the right amount of time for us. For families that want to take the donkey ride into the canyon, or stay on for longer hikes, add more time here.

The best rooms at the South Rim are taken a full year in advance! The sooner you book, the better. Xanterra has the NPS contract for all of the park hotels and concessions. We’d have loved to stay directly on the rim, but those hotels were already full when we planned our trip. You can learn more about the different Xanterra hotel options at https://www.grandcanyonlodges.com/.

If you want a pool, and don’t mind a 30 minute drive between your hotel and the South Rim, there are lots of hotel options in Tusayan, just outside the park entrance.

Learn more about our adventures at the Grand Canyon.

Page. We spent one night at the Best Western. If we had one more night, we’d have had a buffer in case rain cancelled our trip to Antelope Canyon. That would have given us time to see the Glen Canyon Dam, and maybe take a Colorado River float or a Horseshoe Bend kayak trip.

Reserve your Page hotel a few months in advance.

Learn more about our adventures in Navajo Country, at Antelope Canyon and Monument Valley.

Monument Valley. Our night at The View stood out as the best experience we had on our entire trip. Coming here just for a day trip would have been worthwhile, but the sunrise views made this place an 11 on a scale of 1-10. There’s not enough fun stuff for kids in the immediate area to justify a second night.

The best rooms and family cabins sell out months in advance. I made several one night reservations as soon as I booked my airline tickets, then cancelled the ones I didn’t need once my whole plan was organized.

Four Corners. If I had it to do over again, I’d have found a hotel with a pool in Gallup, NM to break up the driving.

Find out if the detour to the Four Corners was worth the trouble.

Petrified Forest National Park. We stayed in the Baymont Inn and Suites in Holbrook. One night is enough. If you’re planning to do both Four Corners and Petrified Forest, stay one night in Gallup and one in Holbrook. Of course, that means you would need to decide before your trip, not during, about whether to visit the Four Corners.

Phoenix. It’s just too hot in August to appreciate this city. If you travel here in spring or fall, plan to spend a few days. For us, one night before the flight home would have been enough.

When we arrived at the car rental center at the Phoenix airport, we were given a brand new, sparkly clean black SUV with only 3 miles on it.  The rental agent at the desk told us that there was a six pack of water bottles waiting for us in the car, and that we needed to make sure to keep plenty of water with us at all times, especially if we would be driving up into the rural areas around the Grand Canyon.

By the time we returned that SUV, the odometer read 1316 miles, and badly needed a run through a car wash to regain its former shiny black color. The inside had room for improvement too.

Once we left Phoenix, almost all of our driving was on open highways with minimal traffic through very isolated areas.   We frequently drove for an hour without encountering a gas station, store, or other place to stop.   Every gas station we stopped at had a toilet, but not all of them were up to my spoiled suburban standards.   In rural areas, your toilet could be a parking lot porta-potty that has been baking in the heat all summer long.    Plan accordingly.   

If you’re on the road in the middle of nowhere, and you see a sign offering a wet restroom, you’ve found a facility that includes a flush toilet and a sink with running water.   Never let a flush toilet pass you by!  

Play it safe, and keep a package of wet wipes and hand sanitizer in the car, too. Don’t make that emergency porta-potty stop any worse than it has to be.

Here’s a list of distances and travel times between the towns where we slept, plus the Four Corners detour.    We racked up a lot of extra miles driving around Red Rock Country in Sedona, and between our hotels and local attractions along the way.

People who are used to a humid climate often associate overheating with feeling hot, sticky, and sweaty. In Arizona's dry heat, sweat evaporates quickly, so you may not realize how much you're sweating or how much fluid you're losing. Don't wait until you feel thirsty to drink water.

Here are a few things you can do to stay safe in a hot, desert environment:

Carry plenty of water. Keep water in the car, not just in the trunk, and bring it along whenever you leave the vehicle. You can drive a surprisingly long way between services in northern Arizona.

Start early. Plan hikes and outdoor sightseeing for the morning. Don't count on being able to comfortably explore in the afternoon.

Don't underestimate the sun. Sunscreen, hats, and lightweight clothing are essential, even when the temperature seems manageable.

Keep your gas tank topped off. Gas stations can be few and far between in rural areas. Don't wait until you're nearly empty to look for one.

Be prepared for limited cell service. Download maps before heading into remote areas, and don't assume you'll be able to call for help everywhere.

Never leave anyone in a parked car. Even a quick stop can become dangerous in extreme heat.

Most important, learn the warning signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke before you go. Headache, dizziness, nausea, unusual weakness, and heavy sweating can be signs of heat exhaustion. If these occur, get out of the heat, move somewhere cool, and begin cooling down immediately. Confusion, fainting, or loss of consciousness can signal heat stroke, a medical emergency. Call 911 and begin rapid cooling while waiting for help.

Keep in mind that many children, especially children with sensory processing difficulties, may not be able to communicate when they’re not feeling well.

The CDC has excellent information about heat-related illness and how to protect your family.

When we started planning, people told us to skip Arizona in August. Now that we’re home, I’m glad we didn’t listen. Heading north from Phoenix got us out of the worst of the heat, school was back in session so the crowds stayed away, and 1,316 miles later we had a trip our whole family still talks about.

If I had to boil it down to three lessons, they’d be these. Book the places that fill up early (the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley) before you book anything else. Build in a buffer, whether that’s an extra night in Page in case of rain or a pool stop in Gallup to break up the longest drive. And treat the heat as part of the plan, not an afterthought.

We noticed something on this trip: we didn’t feel like we were working around G’s autism the way we usually do. I can’t say for sure why. Maybe it was the quiet. Remote places are calm, and there’s very little noise or bustle to manage. Maybe it was that we weren’t watching the clock, so we could go at G’s pace. And maybe it was all the swimming. She was in a pool almost every day, and I suspect she was better regulated because of it. She was 8, so she had her moments. But mostly, she was just a kid on a family vacation, and that was a gift to all of us.

The hardest part wasn’t the driving or the heat. It was figuring out which pieces were worth including and how to fit them together so the trip stayed fun for everyone. I hope this series saves you some of the heavy lifting, so you can focus on the part that matters: watching the sun come up over Monument Valley with your family.

Thank you for following along on our Arizona journey!

Sedona with Kids: Red Rocks, Swimming Holes, and Easy Adventures

The Grand Canyon with Kids: A Sensory-Friendly Two-Day Visit

On Navajo Land: Antelope Canyon and Monument Valley

Is the Four Corners Worth the Detour? Long Drives, a Dinosaur, and 115° Heat

National Park Passes Explained