From LA to Houston on Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone,

So I am making my iternary for our road trip to Houston but we really wants to stop at Grand Canyon.
Please have a look and tell me what changes I should make in this. Keeping in mind that we have 2 kids( 3 and 1.5 months old).

Friday 6:00 Pm leave home ( 8 hrs drive ) 2:00 am Grand Canyon national Park.

Stay night at GC (Any hotel suggestion?)

Saturday 11:00 am leave Grand Canyon (9 hrs drive) 8:00 pm Amarillo Tx. (2 stops in between)

Stay night at Amarillo Tx.(Any hotel suggestion?)

Sunday 8:00 am leave Amarillo (9hrs drive) 6m Houston (2 stops in between).

Is that ok? Do you think we can do this. Considering we have two drivers.
Thank you everyone.

Sorry, but no you can't do this safely and shouldn't even attempt it for safetys sake. You plan to drive through the night into the small hours and then get up 6 hours later to spend 2 hours at the canyon before taking on a 10.5 to 11 hour drive, that's right there is no way will you do drive from GC to Amarillo in 9 hours. You would then be exhausted and have another 10 hour day ahead of you to get to Houston. This would be bad enough if you were sleeping all day friday, but as you are leaving until 6pm I can only presume it's because you are working and that could turn into a disaster.

Having 2 people driving makes little difference as you need two people awake to be able to keep an eye on the children and make sure the driver isn't going to nod off while left alone. You need more time, even without the Grand canyon this is a full 3 day drive and to be honest, that's only just enough with 2 young children to consider.

I would echo Southwest Dave's comments - you're trying to cram to much into to short a time. If you do manage to do Grand Canyon, this might be helpful: Grand Canyon Nat'l Park Lodging.

Maswik Lodge is a good choice. It is moderately priced (For Grand Canyon) and within easy walking distance of the Village Rim. If cost is no concern, El Tovar, Kachina, Thunderbird and Bright Angel are all right on the rim.

Just outside the park are: Red Feather Lodge, Tusayan, AZ, The Grand Hotel, Tusayan, AZ, Best Western Squire Inn,Tusayan, AZ and Grand Canyon Holiday Inn Express, Tusayan, AZ. I believe all offer shuttle service to the Park.

Sorry, but this is an extremely bad idea that will put your lives, your childrens lives, and the lives of everyone else on the road in danger.

Dave has already gone through some of the serious problems, but it can really be summarized like this:

LA to Houston all by itself, with no detours, is a pretty full 3 day drive. You are trying to do in 2 and a half days, and adding in a 250 mile detour to the Grand Canyon, and doing it with 2 young children!

A couple other things to add on.

The Grand Canyon to Amarillo is a 700 mile drive! I'm not sure you are figuring 9 hours for that drive, as even the over optimistic projections of online mapping program put it at an unreasonable 10 hours. I think even Dave miscalculated, as this really a drive that is going to take you at least 12+ hours. It is also significantly farther than professional drivers are allowed to travel in a day. Not only is this day way too long in the best of circumstances, you want to do it after driving late into the night the day before, and while squeezing in time at the Canyon, which makes it more dangerous.

I'm also a bit alarmed that you're only planning to stop twice a day with 2 young children. Do you really think your 3 year old is going to be content sitting, strapped into a car seat, for repeated 4 hour stretches? Do you really think you can go 10 hours while only feeding and changing your infant twice? You will need to stop much more often, and that's going to push your real world drive times up even more.

I'm sorry, but you need to add at least another full day before you can even consider a stop at the Grand Canyon. If you insist on doing the trip in 2.5 days, then I-10 is your only option, and even that will be a pretty grueling slog to try with children.

Thank you for telling us to be realistic. I made this with the help of my friend who did this . Anyways I really need to reconsider this. Thanks

This past summer, we traveled with 4 adults, a toddler of about 18 mos old, and a baby of 7 mos old. We had to stop A LOT: feedings, diapers, pit stops for the adults too.

Two hours at the Grand Canyon?????? I would save this for another trip, perhaps when your children are old enough to remember it. We took our girls there when they were 2 and 1, and they remembered nothing. We returned when they were 9 and 8, and they loved it! You will love having more time to stop and explore -- it would take you every bit of the 2 hours you're allotting, to just DRIVE through it without stopping at any of the viewpoints - especially on a holiday weekend when others will have the same idea to visit the GC!

Donna

Yes, There is one border check in El-Paso and a random one in Arizona. Be sure to slowdown 10/15MPH when approaching border patrol station as you don't want to freak out dogs (one goes around vehicle and smells for drugs) accompanying patrol officers.

Is driving back from GC to flagstaff is dangerous due to wild life after the sunset? I am confused about should we book a room in Flagstaff or GC national park. Some people says that driving in the GC at night is dangerous due to wildlife so should we stay in the park lodging?

What does your current plan look like?

If you leave LA in the morning you won't even be getting to the Grand Canyon until it is nearly dark, or after. The sun sets around 5pm at the end of November, and you'll be losing an hour of daylight traveling east.

Yes, driving after dark is more dangerous than driving during the day, and yes, animals are a part of that factor. However, I strongly suspect you've got bigger issues than that. It's just not reasonable to drive from LA to Flagstaff and expect to have time to see the Grand Canyon in the same day.

I would plan to spend the night as close to the Grand Canyon as possible, so you'll have some time to see it the following day.

If you are looking for the best balance between cost and having enough time to see the park, spend your first night in Williams and the second night in Flagstaff.