Wonders of the American West: Six Friends, Seven National Parks and One Very Grand Canyon

Seven national parks, 2,016 coach miles and six longtime friends. We went west for the scenery, but the people became just as much a part of the story.

Linda and I joined Insight Vacations’ Wonders of the American West Small Group tour with Jeff and Jodi and Mike and Carla, friends we’ve known for years. We traveled September 13–22, 2026, starting and ending in Las Vegas. Somewhere along the way, the rest of the group began calling the six of us “the Six Pack.” It stuck.

Having friends along made the shared meals and coach rides as enjoyable as the stops. Mike became our unofficial restaurant researcher when lunch was on our own—a useful person to have in the Six Pack.

Our Trip at a Glance

Our tour and dates

We took Insight Vacations’ Wonders of the American West Small Group, September 13–22, 2026: 9 nights, with Las Vegas as our start and finish.

Our group

There were 23 travelers on our departure, just under the small-group maximum of 24.

What we paid

Linda and I paid $6,325 per person—$12,650 total—for the land itinerary on our September 2026 departure. This is our trip cost, not a current price quote. Daily breakfasts and a few dinners were included. Lunches were at our own expense, and tips for our Travel Director and driver were extra.

Our route

We visited Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde and Grand Canyon, along with stops around Moab, Monument Valley, Mystery Valley and Williams on Route 66.

Time on the road

Our coach covered 2,016 miles. Our longest coach day was the return from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas.

Is This Trip Right for You?

How the walking felt to us

I think someone reasonably mobile can comfortably take this tour. We found the physical demands moderate, although higher elevations and climbs over rough terrain left us winded more easily than usual.

What I’d bring again

I used Paria Outdoor Products Tri-Fold Alloy UL Trekking Poles, the 120 cm version with a 115–135 cm adjustment range, priced at $54.99 when I bought them. They helped on uneven climbs and made ordinary hiking easier too. For me, they were well worth buying.

What took some getting used to

Some park accommodations were dated, with an old-school-motel feel.

Who we think would enjoy it

We liked having the route and logistics organized for us and getting to know a small group. If you prefer setting your own daily schedule or settling into one hotel, consider how the coach travel and frequent moves would feel.

Would we do it again?

We were happy with Insight and how they handled our trip. For our next journey, though, we would prefer longer stays in each place. Changing hotels every one or two days meant living out of a suitcase for ten days, and we learned that a more settled pace suits us better.

Jenn: Our Travel Director—and Occasional Entertainer

We were fortunate to have Jenn Andres as our Travel Director. Before this work, she entertained aboard cruise ships and worked as a New York City tour guide. Her show-business background resurfaced when she picked up the coach microphone and treated us to several solos. She has a wonderful singing voice.

Jenn also handled the less glamorous work of keeping everyone moving and sorting out the logistics. Over nine nights, she helped a coach full of travelers get comfortable with one another. The singing was a lovely bonus.

Zion and Bryce: Two Very Different Views

At Zion, we were surrounded by enormous sandstone walls. People, trees and vehicles gave our photographs some sense of scale, but it was difficult to capture how small we felt beneath those cliffs. A narrated tram introduced us to the park’s geology and history.

Bryce Canyon looked entirely different. Thousands of narrow spires—hoodoos—filled the amphitheater below us in orange, red, pink and white. We walked between viewpoints taking pictures, each slightly different angle apparently requiring another photograph. How many pictures of hoodoos does one person need? Judging by mine, quite a few.

One of my favorites, though, was the photograph someone took of Linda and me with Bryce behind us. Looking through the pictures at home, that one brought back more than the view: it brought back being there together.

Driving Through the Clouds—and Almost Into the Cows

Our drive toward Moab supplied a memory that wasn’t on the itinerary. On a winding mountain road, thick fog made it feel as though we were driving through the clouds. Cows wandering onto the road provided more excitement than anyone needed. Fortunately, our close encounter remained only almost a close encounter.

Eventually the rain stopped, the clouds lifted and patches of blue sky appeared. Our route through the Grand Staircase-Escalante area and Capitol Reef was a reminder that the drives between parks could be part of the pleasure, even if I could have done without the cows in the fog.

Moab: Arches and Canyonlands

From Moab we visited Arches and Canyonlands. At Arches, the arches, fins and balanced formations had us wondering how some of that stone was still standing. Balanced Rock was a particularly good example.

At Canyonlands, it was the sheer scale that held our attention. Canyons opened into more canyons, with mesas in the distance and a view that seemed to go on indefinitely. After several days together, we were also spending more time talking with other members of the tour and learning their stories over meals.

Mesa Verde: Imagining Daily Life Here

Mesa Verde turned our attention from the rock formations to the people who had built homes among them. Seeing the Ancestral Pueblo cliff dwellings beneath those enormous overhangs made me wonder about the practical business of living here: raising families, finding food and water, and building a community.

Photographs had shown us what the dwellings looked like. Standing there gave us a much better appreciation of where they had been built and how challenging everyday life must have been.

Monument Valley: A Wagon Ride, a BBQ and Helen

One evening we took a horse-drawn wagon to an outdoor BBQ. Dinner offered steak, chicken or a vegetarian entrée, multiple sides and soft drinks. It was a fun evening with great views and good company. My one disappointment was leaving before dark. I would have loved to stay and see that night sky without light pollution.

The next day, our Navajo guide Helen took us out in all-terrain vehicles. She was proud of her Navajo heritage and spoke warmly of her children, who had attended college and entered professional careers. Hearing her talk about her family helped make the visit much more personal than a series of scenic stops.

Helen showed us two traditional structures and explained their uses and meaning. She described the rounded, earth-covered female hogan, associating its form with pregnancy and motherhood. In an open timber structure, she explained how it offered relief from the desert sun and could also be used while drying meat from a hunt.

Those were Helen’s explanations, shared with us in the place she knew as home. They gave us more to think about than the familiar Monument Valley scenery we recognized from photographs and Western movies. Our visit to Mystery Valley added another memorable view.

The Grand Canyon—and a Change of Hotel

Our first stop inside Grand Canyon National Park was Desert View Watchtower. We had sunshine, a few clouds and temperatures in the mid-70s. I knew the canyon would be enormous, but knowing that and standing at the rim were two different things. My reaction was simple: what an awesome experience.

The visit did come with a practical complication. Our planned lodging inside the park became unavailable because of damage to the park’s waterline. Insight arranged a replacement hotel, which cost less, and credited the difference back to us. We appreciated that adjustment.

Tim “on the Rim”

At Mather Point, a picnic lunch was followed by a presentation from geologist Tim “on the Rim” Wilson. He made the rock layers in front of us understandable and entertaining. Instead of seeing only bands of color, we began to appreciate the different environments and immense stretches of time they represented.

During our September 2026 visit, Tim pointed out Bright Angel Canyon and recent flooding and waterline damage. That connected what we were seeing to the water problem that had forced our hotel change. The canyon’s continuing changes suddenly had a very immediate connection to our trip.

Tim gave me written permission to use all the photographs and recordings I made during his presentation. I’ve shared the detailed geology in our companion article, Tim on the Rim: The Geologist Who Taught Us How to Read the Grand Canyon; you can learn more about his work at Tim on the Rim.

Meanwhile, the local ravens seemed entirely unimpressed by the view. They provided one of my favorite photographs.

2,016 Miles and Two Truths and a Lie

The return from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas was our longest coach day. By the end of the tour, our coach had traveled 2,016 miles, and we had spent enough time together to think we knew our fellow travelers fairly well. A game of Two Truths and a Lie suggested otherwise.

Among the claims we heard were “I’ve had two holes-in-one” and “I’ve met three U.S. presidents.” Each of those was someone’s lie. The claim about living in Saudi Arabia for two years was true, though almost nobody guessed it. Between the stories, the laughter and Jenn’s songs, the coach rides became part of what we’ll remember about this trip.

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at Historic Barrel House in Williams, Arizona, on Route 66. After days of canyons, mesas and cliff dwellings, Williams brought us back to a much more recent slice of history before we continued to Las Vegas.

After the Tour: The Six Pack at Sphere

Our Insight tour had ended, but the Six Pack had one more outing together: Sphere for The Wizard of Oz. Linda and I sat in Section 307, Row 8, with an excellent, nearly centered perspective from the 300 level. This was our own post-tour plan, not part of the Insight itinerary, and a fun way to finish our time together. Linda and I stayed in Las Vegas for another day before flying home.

What Stayed With Us

We came home with plenty of photographs of rocks and canyons. Yet many of the pictures that bring back the strongest memories have people in them: our friends, Jenn with her microphone, and Tim explaining the view. Helen’s stories and the laughter on the coach belong in those memories too.

The trip wasn’t all effortless. We got winded on some climbs, lived out of suitcases and found some of the park lodging dated. I’d bring the hiking poles again without hesitation. We were happy with Insight and glad we made this journey with our friends. Next time, we would choose an itinerary with longer stays in each place. The scenery gave us the reason to go; sharing it gave us so much to remember.