A Road Trip of the Western US in Photos

We just got back from a nine day road trip of the Western US. We left from home (Southern California) and went to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and back down through California. It took us nine days, but it could definitely take longer if you wanted to spend more time in some of the places!
Want to take a road trip, but just don’t know where to go? Check out these photos to get some vacation inspiration!
First, lets take a more detailed look at our itinerary from this trip, so you can see where we were as you look at the photos!
- Departure: Murrieta, California
- Jacumba, California
- Tucson, Arizona
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Monument Valley, Navajo Nation
- Arches National Park, Moab, Utah
- Salt Lake City/Park City, Utah
- Reno, NV
- Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California
- Yosemite National Park, California
- Sequoia National Park, California
- Arrived home: Murrieta, California
For planning purposes, we used Roadtrippers!












It truly doesn’t do it justice in photos, but I hope you got an idea of a FEW of the amazing sights the Southwest has to offer!
Now that you have (hopefully) been inspired to take a road trip of the Western US, here is some more info I hope you find useful!
In terms of lodging, we actually booked each night in a 3* or better hotel using the Hotwire app. If you aren’t familiar with it, make sure to read my post about how I use it to book hotels for cheap! Because of this, we were able to keep costs on lodging way down. The exception was Goulding’s Lodge in Monument Valley, which was a ‘splurge’ at just over $200 for the night (during the week). However, I do HIGHLY recommend staying here if possible. The location is incomparable, and the lodge has a lot of amazing history. We also ate at the on-site restaurant and enjoyed Navajo Tacos, which were delish!