#164: An Epic Winter National Park Road Trip in the Southwest

Dear Bob and Sue: A National Parks Podcast

Matt and Karen Smith

Places & Travel, Nature, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

5 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are you looking for a break from the cold, gray days of winter? We have a perfect solution: a road trip loop through the American Southwest that will take you to four national parks with some bonus stops along the way. We start and end the road trip at the Las Vegas airport. From there, we drive east to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park before heading south to the red rocks of Sedona for a couple of days. Continuing on, we make our way down to the Tucson area, where Saguaro National Park is waiting with its incredible desert landscapes. We also discuss the many other public lands and cultural attractions in and around Tucson before driving west to Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. From there, it’s north to Death Valley National Park for a couple of days before returning to Las Vegas for our flight home. Not only can you escape the frigid temps up north, but touring this part of the country during winter is the perfect time to visit many of these places that can be extremely warm later in the year. To see the detailed outline for this episode, check out our companion blog post here. ----- The best way to support our podcast is to become a member of our Patreon account. Follow this link to check it out. Subscribe to The Dear Bob and Sue Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen, and if you’ve enjoyed our show, please leave us a review or rating on Apple Podcasts. Five-star ratings help other listeners find our show. Follow us on Instagram at @mattandkarensmith, on Twitter at @mattandkaren, on Facebook at dearbobands, or check out our blog at www.mattandkaren.com. To advertise on The Dear Bob and Sue Podcast, email us at [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Sun Express Airlines.
0:04.0	Planning your next get-away, early bird offers are here.
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0:13.0	Soak up the sun in Antalya or explore Izmir's vibrant streets.
0:18.0	Why settle for tea time when happy hour in Turkey awaits? These nonstop flights
0:22.8	won't last long. So book now, tan later at sunexpress.com. And this creates a unique environment
0:31.4	that promotes healing, introspection, and personal transformation. All things, Matt, that I think would benefit you.
0:40.5	Oh, is that right? You think I need to be healed and I could benefit from some introspection?
0:50.0	This is the Dear Bob and Sue podcast, stories from our journey to all the U.S.
0:58.3	national parks and other public lands.
1:00.8	I'm Karen Smith.
1:02.0	And I'm Matt Smith.
1:03.0	We're the authors of the Dear Bob and Sue series of books.
1:06.1	In this episode, we're taking you on one of the best winter road trip loops throughout
1:10.2	the southwest, where you'll visit four national parks along the way.
1:14.3	On this trip, you'll peer into the grandest canyon in the world.
1:18.5	Get up close and personal with the largest cacti in the U.S., walk through forests of whimsical Joshua trees, straight out of a Dr. Seuss book and visit the hottest,
1:29.3	driest, and lowest national park. And we'll be sharing some of our favorite hikes and other
1:34.4	things to see and do in the area. Thanks for joining us today as we road trip through the
1:39.0	Southwest. You haven't done this in a while, have you?
1:47.1	I'm feeling really rusty.
1:49.5	Not going to lie.
	...

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