Thank you Toyota for sponsoring this trip. All opinions are my own.

Happy New Year, we’ve made it to 2021! For New Year’s Eve, we took a winter trip and rang in the new year while traveling. Thanks to Toyota for lending us the 2021 Highlander XSE AWD. We had such an amazing time and couldn’t have asked for a better ride.

Our 5-day winter trip (CO, UT, AZ) Itinerary

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Day 1: Starting from Denver, we took a short 1 hour drive to Frisco, Colorado for the day. We stopped at Lake Dillon for lunch and went sight seeing. We then drove to Moab, Utah in the afternoon and stayed at a hotel there for the night.

Day 2: We had take-out breakfast in Moab. We then went for a drive at Island in the Sky Park nearby our hotel. The view here was spectacular. As you can see, there was lots of snow at the park, and not pictured, but there was snow on the drive there too. We then headed for Flagstaff, AZ after visiting Monument Valley and Forest Gump Hill on the way there.

Day 3-4: For the next couple days, we spent time exploring various cities and attractions in AZ including the Grand Canyon, Sedona and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.

Day 5: We woke up early on the last day of the trip and started driving back to CO. We stopped by Horseshoe Bend on our way back. And later arrived back at Denver late at night.

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The 2021 Toyota Highlander XSE

We absolutely loved having the Toyota Highlander for the trip. The AWD and snow driving mode was perfect for us to go through sections of the trip that were snowy and icy. The car offers different driving modes including MUD & SAND, ROCK & DIRT, SNOW and NORMAL. On a winter road trip like this, the SNOW mode was our best friend! When activated, the system is designed to sense slippage and regulate wheel-spin.

It also offers other safety features including: lane center assist, pedestrian detect, parking sensor, and radar cruise control adapt. The car feels like a smart and alert friend who’s always watching for our family on the road.

It drives so smoothly and is very comfortable

The Toyota Highlander XSE drives very smooth. My husband and I both took turn to drive it and we were impressed. The car is also nice and quiet thanks to the awesome noise insulation from the road. It’s a very comfortable vehicle for a family trip and we loved every minute of it.

We also loved how spacious the 7-seater set up is. It was plenty of room for my husband, my daughter, myself and my sister who tagged along. We even utilized the luggage rack that came with this vehicle and put a luggage unit on the roof.

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It is a safe vehicle for the family with AWD and safety features

At the end of Day 5 when we drove back into Denver, we were greeted by a blizzard as soon as we crossed the border into Colorado. It was dark at night and the snow was so heavy, traffic slowed down. I was quite nervous because of the poor driving conditions. My husband was driving at the time. He slowed down to be safe. And he said that the AWD offered by the Highlander, along with the SNOW driving mode really helped with traction while driving in the blizzard. We made it home safe, and I cannot be anymore thankful we were given this Highlander for the trip.

The car is also equipped with Full-Speed Range Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, Lane Departure Alert with Steering Assist, and Pedestrian Detection, all to keep us safe and the friendly assistant we need on a long road trip.

We arrived home late Sunday night with so many great memories from the trip. I just loved that we had already started out the year with a bang. What a trip to remember! Thanks to Toyota for lending us this amazing Highlander vehicle and sponsoring part of the trip. We highly recommend this car for anyone who is looking for a ride with reliable safety features, AWD with different driving modes. Not to mention the car is a roomy SUV with 7 seats, gives you impressive gas mileage. Great family vehicle overall!

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