Father & daughter summer adventure!!!

Hello Everyone!,
I'm new at this so bear w/me....I have read a lot of other stories about your roadtrips and such but I thought I might as well add mine in too. My father and I want to spend some quality time together before I leave for college & I'm in charge of the activites and such. We enjoy seeing beautiful sights but also want to be able to have things to do along the way. We live by Amarillo and are gonna drop to Alb. NM to see family & then head up to Denver and then to Oregon. Or this is the outline anyway, we really don't know what kind of things to expect or see. The planned time gone is a week (and thats about all we have planned I guess we aren't the most prepared of people) So as you can see I could really use your help and suggestions. Thank you so much!! :)

If you guys are driving from denver, I would think either Yellowstone or hells Canyon(snake river) would make a great place to sightsee and camp. But if you guys are not planning on camping then make the trip up to coeur d'alene, i loved it there. me and my dad also went down to Los angeles, long beach, laguna beach, vegas from canada together before i went to college two years ago so Iam sure you guys will have fun no matter what you do.Enjoy!!

Hi,

Sounds like a fun thing to do. My son and I did much the same when he moved across country.

You don't say if this is a one-way or two way trip. I just estimated that a one-way trip, ending in Portland, would be 2,000 miles, which puts you at 285 per day for 7 days. That isn't bad, but if you are thinking of doing a round trip in the same time, I wouldn't recommend it. Assuming you will spend some time with the relatives in NM and you have a reason to stop in Denver, you'll be driving more than 570 miles per day for a week, which isn't fun.

I agree with the suggestion of hitting Yellowstone if you want to go north, but there is a week's worth of stuff to do in each of New Mexico, or Arizona, or Utah, or Colorado.

A few must sees for me would be Taos Pueblo, drive up Pike's Peak (Colorado Springs area) or Mt Evans (Denver area), cross the Rockies through Rocky Mountain National Park, see the Grand Tetons on the way to Yellowstone. Or, if you'd rather head west out of Denver, stop at Glenwood Springs, CO (if you like hot springs), Colorado National Monument, CO and Arches National Park, UT before heading north to Salt Lake City. If you and/or your dad like trains there is a very nice steam train ride in Heber City, UT, SE of SLC, but it will take about half a day. There are lots of interesting things in Oregon, depending on which way you want to go.

Get a map of each state and have fun doing some research.

Craig Sheumaker
co-author of the travel guide America's Living History-The Early Years

You kids grow up so fast.
It hurts when ya move on,,

I have such excellent memories of trips with my daughter.

Examples that might pique your thoughts:

She loved Roller Coasters & Scary dark rides are there are a few in Denver. We did them all.

She was also a Hattie McDaniel fan (Gone with the Wind oscar winner) and we visited spots she grew up and developed her life and career ect in the greater Denver area.

My point is, I loved doing what my daughter loved, and perhaps if ya make a short list of the things you'd like to see and do, that is a good start.

Do I ever treasure those memories.
Have fun.