Milwaukee to San Francisco in 2 weeks

Hello everyone! I’m a newbie but have been lurking for about a week just soaking in all of your knowledge!
I'm in the midst of planning a big road trip for this summer from Milwaukee to San Francisco. We’re flying into Chicago from Zurich, Switzerland and will be staying in SE Wisconsin for a week to visit my family. We’ll be leaving for our road trip from Milwaukee on July 15 and will need to get to SF by July 30 as our flight back to Zurich is July 31.

We have 4 children ranging in age from 6yo to 12. After a lot of research and price comparison we’ve decided to rent a car at O’hare and camp in tents along the way. We did look at renting an RV but the size we would need + the cost of a one-way drop off makes it a bit too expensive for us. Renting a car and sleeping in hotels is not only an expensive option (we would need two rooms) but we like adventure and sleeping in an anonymous hotel room isn’t for us.

So here’s the plan I have so far. I’d be grateful if you took a look and offered up suggestions for changes, things to do or see that I haven’t included. 

July 15 – Drive from Milwaukee to Sioux Falls, SD.
*camp between Sioux Falls and Mitchell WHERE???
16 – Corn Palace, Akta Lakota Museum, Badlands NP, Mt. Rushmore
*camp in Black Hills National Forest WHERE???
17- drive to Yellowstone NP
*camp WHERE????
18-Explore Yellowstone (Grizzly/wolf center, geysers…)
*camp Yellowstone
19-Day trip to Jackson Hole, WY for whitewater rafting trip
*Yellowstone
20- drive to Dinosaur National Monument, Utah
*camp near Dinosaur National Monument WHERE???
21-visit Dinosaur National Monument, drive to Arches NP
*camp Devil’s Garden campground in Arches NP
22-Explore Arches NP
*Arches NP
23-drive to Grand Canyon thru Monument Valley
*camp WHERE???
24-Explore GC
*last night in GC
25-drive to Zion thru Mt. Carmel Tunnel, Hoover Dam
*camp Hoover Dam area WHERE???
26-drive through Death valley (Zabrinki’s Point), up Hwy 395 to Manzanar , Tioga Pass to Yosemite NP
*camp Pines Campground
27-Explore Yosemite NP
*camp Yosemite
28-Day trip to Sequoia NP
*camp Yosemite
29- Drive to SF
*camp SF WHERE????
30-Explore SF
*camp SF
July 31-fly home to Switzerland from SF
This is what I have so far. What do you all think? Anything that looks good is due to the advice I've been reading on this forum! I
Here are my specific questions:
There are a lot of nights that I don’t know where to camp, would love any suggestions on that.
I have chosen to sleep in Arches NP and drive through Zion and stop there for a quick walk and lunch. There are so many Parks in that area it was hard to decide which to see. Have I chosen well?
There a couple of days where we are ding a lot of driving just to get to our next destination as quickly as possible. If anyone has any suggestions for cheesy and/or interesting things to stop and see, send them my way. From WI to SD? Across WY? Down WY to UT?

Planning this trip has been so amazing. I lived in the US until I was 30 then I moved to Italy and I now in live in Switzerland. I’m so excited to see this part of “my” country with my husband and children.

I really appreciate any and all help/advice you’re all willing to give.
THANKS!

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

I'm sorry, but your plan just screams "Way too Much!"

Without breaking things down day by day, nearly every day of your trip involves 1- driving hundreds of miles, 2 - trying to see multiple things and/or places that deserves at least a full day, 3 - finding, setting up, and tearing down camp, 4 - doing all of that with 4 small children!

Just looking at the start of your trip, Sioux Falls to the Black Hills is more than 400 miles, so 6-7 hours of driving just to cover the miles, then on top of it, you want to see the corn palace, a museum, the badlands, and mount rushmore, and find a new place to camp. That's about 16 hours worth of activity crammed into that one day if all you were dealing with is adults!

If that was just one day where you were trying to do a bit too much, it would be one thing, but the same thing is basically repeated throughout every day of your trip. It bears mentioning that Yellowstone is a HUGE place that really requires 2-3 full days just to see the highlights, and while Whitewater near Jackson is a fun trip, it's both too far from Yellowstone to do as a daytrip, and also counter productive since you'd be backtracking a couple times here.

I think just in general you don't have nearly the appreciation for just how big of a place the west is and how far apart things are. As another example, Sequoia simply isn't possible to do as a daytrip from Yosemite - you're looking at about 8 hours just to drive there and back! Many of the drives you are talking about would actually take longer than driving all the way across Switzerland, and back, in the same day.

The only thing I can suggest is that you SIGNIFICANTLY cut back what you're trying to do. What you've got right now is a recipe for a disaster, where your entire family is all but guaranteed to be tired, cranky, and taking it out on each other rather than enjoying any of these amazing places. Instead of trying to see everything, but not having enough time to enjoy anything, give yourself time to actually enjoy this trip, knowing that there aren't places you'll be able to get to on this trip.

Thank you, Midwest Michael! This is exactly what I needed to know! Europe is so much smaller and everything so much closer. We're used to driving into Italy, all over Switzerland, Austria and Germany without breaking a sweat.
I am using the Roadtripper website to help me plan and maybe they underestimate the driving time between stops?
I will take another look at my itinerary and cut it way down. Will post the new one as soon as I have some better ideas.

Certainly, online mapping programs underestimate travel times - figure about 20% more in the real world (and actually probably a bit longer factoring that you'll have to be driving a large vehicle with 4 young kids that means more and longer stops.)

However, again the drive times themselves are only a part of your problem. There are not really any drives that are impossible in a single day all by themselves, the problem is 1- that many of the drives don't leave any time left to actually see or do anything and 2 - you're doing these all day drives for nearly every day of your trip, which is going to get very tiring very fast. You need at least a few days where you aren't focused on "getting to the next place" so you can actually enjoy what's around you right now.

It's always too easy to plan more than you'll have time to do in one day. The Corn Palace would take 2-3 hours, then it's another 3-4 hours to drive from Mitchell to Badlands (not including a stop at the museum), 3 hours or so to just drive through the Badlands, then it's another 2-3 hours to drive to Mt. Rushmore, find parking and get situated in the area. Plus the time to actually SEE Mt Rushmore.

What I'd do is drive from Milwaukee to just past Sioux Falls -- Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area has 3 campgrounds. It's not far off I-90, which is a plus.

Then the next day, heading for Rapid City and the Black Hills, stop and see the Corn Palace if you like. Wall Drug is worth a stop as well. The Badlands? Well, it's not one of my favorite National Parks (I've been twice). You could do a drive through. Then, find yourself in a campground in Custer State Park. From there you could spend time seeing the wildlife in that State Park (Needles Scenic Drive, Wildlife Drive come to mind) and Mt Rushmore, the next day.

Zion is accessible by Shuttle from a certain point, not easily "driven through" to see the best sights. It has a beautiful campground, Watchman, right inside the park at Springdale.


Donna

Drawing on my own experience camping with our five children, I'd have to agree with Michael. Actually we had a rule of one day no driving out of every three days. If that meant we saw fewer attractions, it also meant that what we saw we explored and remembered. It gave us the opportunity to go hiking, and take on other activities which burnt up all that pent up energy in the young ones.

Just getting little ones up, dressed, breakfast, cleaning up, taking down the tent and packing the vehicle is going to take you a few hours. At the other end of the day it is the reverse, so you are not having the time on the road you would have without children. I would cut the list to such an extend that there is ONE main attraction for every day on the road, and down time at least one day in three.

In July you are going to want a day here and there to just sit by a pool and let the kids have the time of their life. Of all the things he visited and saw, on the family's trip to Britain, my grandson remembers the caravan park where there was a pool behind *that* fence. He does not have a photo of the pool, but he does have one of the fence. He was three at the time, and that was 5 years ago, but he is still telling you of the great time they had.

Lifey

Thanks so much for the input given.
Here's the new (and hopefully improved) plan:

Monday July 15 - Leave MKE (long driving day)
*Sioux Falls (Vermillion SP) (HOTEL?)

Tuesday July 16 - Short detour to Corn Palace (drive by)
Stop at Akta Lakota (museum/lunch)
Drive through Badlands
*Custer SP

Wednesday July 17 - Visit Mt. Rushmore/lunch
Drive thru WY up thru MT
*near MT/WY border (before Bear Tooth Pass)

Thursday July 18 - Drive Bear Tooth Pass into Yellowstone
*Yellowstone
Friday July 19 - Explore Yellowstone
*Yellowstone
Saturday July 20 - Explore Yellowstone
*Yellowstone

Sunday July 21 - Drive south to Utah- (long driving Day)
*Near WY/UT border (HOTEL?)

Monday July 22 - Drive to Dinosaur National Monument (visit/lunch)
Drive to Arches
*Arches NP – Devil’s Garden
Tuesday July 23 - Explore Arches
*Arches NP – Devil’s Garden

Wednesday July 24 - Drive thru Monument Valley to Page
*Page
Thursday July 25 - Explore GC
*Page

Friday July 26 - Drive to Zion (visit/lunch)
*Near NV/CA border (HOTEL?)

Saturday July 27 - Drive thru Death Valley
Stop at Zabriski’s Point
up hwy 395 to Tioga Pass
*Yosemite-Pines Campground
Sunday July 28 - Explore Yosemite
*Yosemite-Pines Campground

Monday July 29 - Drive to San Francisco
*San Francisco
Tuesday July 30 - Explore San Francisco
*San Francisco
Wednesday July 31 - Flight home

I think for the three particularly long driving days we will sleep in a hotel to give ourselves a bit of a break. The end of the trip still seems pretty busy but I'm not sure how to fix that. There is, of course, the possibility of leaving Milwaukee on Sunday instead of Monday. It would give us one day less with family but could make our trip in the SW a bit more comfortable.

I do have to say that our kids are pretty good about being in the car. My husband's family lives in Rome and we make that trip at least 2 times a year from Zurich and once a year we go to the south of Italy for our beach holiday and to the Dolomites to ski. So they are used to being in the car for long streches at a time. This trip's longest driving day is the first one I think, just to get us to SD. Hopefully the promise of seeing "the mountain with the faces", "bears and wolves and geysers", and the Grand Canyon and Golden Gate will keep them patient to get through the driving days. They were born in Rome and have only ever been to Chicago and my part of WI on our previous trips to the US, so they are really looking forward to these big sites.

Let me know how I'm doing with the changes! :)

CW

Me again.

I did another plan last night but it still seems way too busy. The last week of the trip is just too full of things to do and driving time.

We are currently pricing airplane tickets to Denver from MKE or CHI.
It would give us a lot more days. We don't really even want to ADD anything to our plan, we just want more time! And cutting out that drive across the Midwest will help with that.

CW

Quote:

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We are currently pricing airplane tickets to Denver from MKE or CHI.

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Thats exactly what was going through my mind when reading your previous post. Depending on how fussed you were about seeing the Black hills and Mt Rushmore etc, you could look at flying into SLC and starting with Yellowstone. You could then visit Arches, Canyonlands and have plenty of relaxed time to see the rest, although even then time will quickly pass you by, but at least it will be enjoyable and give you time to appreciate your surroundings. You could also include Bryce canyon between Page and Zion. Another option would be to skip Monument valley and drive to Bryce via UT24/scenic 12 which is an amazing drive and one that will take you through Capital Reef NP. It would also give you the option to visit the North rim of the Grand canyon which is quieter than the south rim.

Just bought tix from MKE to Boise!! We will rent our car from there and drop it off in SFO.

Now I will work through our itinerary again and this should really help us have more time to slooooow down and enjoy our vacation. I'm already more relaxed about planning.

Will post updated plan asap to bug you all for more advice. :)

CW