Family trip on the southwest, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado
Hi,
We are planning a "long-ish" family trip for the summer (up to a month). The goal of the trip is to get to Grand Canyon but we want to use this trip, our fifth road trip but the first in three years, to also visit other national and state parks, towns, and cities. We haven't defined the route yet but we know that we want to visit, in addition to other locations you may suggest, Zion, Arches, San Juan and Carson National Forests. We are starting from College Station, TX and are planning on doing this during June next year. The group is composed of two adults and five kids, ages between 10 and 1, so we prefer to avoid long driving stretches, unless unavoidable, and prefer to break them down into smaller ones around other attractions and interesting places, even if these are not the most popular ones.
In terms of logistics, we have learned that it is often difficult to find lodging inside the parks for families of this size, but we could stay in towns around the parks if these are not too far away. Do you have any recommendations of towns that could serve this purpose and that are worth staying there for a couple of days? Towns that we could use as center of operations for a longer period and visit different places from them? (don't need to be parks, but places that you would recommend visiting as well).
Thanks.
More than two children......?
Here's another site you may li9ke to check out, it lists accommodation which caters for those who travel with three, four, five or six children. Altough I notice that they have precious few listings for the south west.
With our five children we always found it easier to tent camp in a central area, and explore the surroundings from there. I know that's not for everyone, but we found it ideal, both summer and winter, when we'd go skiing.
Lifey
Lots of Possibilities, But One Big Problem
This is the type of trip, especially with wanting the kids to have some sort of new adventure each day, that calls for a 'loop' trip rather than one in which you go somewhere and take the same route back. I'll be describing such a loop in a clockwise direction, but you can always do it the other way round.
We'll get to more details in a moment, but first... Since you've done this before, let's get the 'big problem' out of the way first. That problem is that there's a whole lot of nothing between College Station and, say, Phoenix AZ, using I-10 as your main artery. Now, that would be a full two days if you were to drive more or less straight through, but given your adopted travel style it's going to be more like three. So first, let's look for some smaller venues on that leg, remembering our motto "There are no boring places." A few stops where you could spend some significant and enjoyable time would be: the Caverns of Sonora, Fort Lancaster, Balmorhea State Park (SP), Socorro Mission,
Rockhound SP and Shakespeare Ghost Town. In and around Tucson, there's Colossal Cave, the Pima Air and Space Museum, Kartchner Caverns, and Saguaro National Park (NP).
Then, once you're past Phoenix, you'll be getting into some pretty serious national parks and monuments as well as other scenic and kid-friendly sites, including Montezuma Castle National Monument (NM), Tuzigoot NM, and Oak Creek Canyon. Flagstaff AZ would be a good place to settle down for a few days while you visit Grand Canyon NP (South Rim), Walnut Canyon NM, Sunset Crater Volcano NM, Wupatki NM, the Museum of Northern Arizona and others. Indeed, Flagstaff is one place where renting a house for a week would make some sense. You'll have been on the road for a while; there's lots to see and do; and you'll get a chance to relax and get caught up on a few things.
Next up would be southern Utah, dominated by the Mighty Five: Zion NP, Bryce Canyon NP, Capitol Reef NP, Canyonlands NP and Arches NP. These make a nice turn around point for your trip since just following them from one to the other in the order above (or in reverse) moves you between north-south and east-west driving. And there are other attractions along this general routing including Cedar Breaks NM, Batty Caves near Escalante and the Sego Canyon Petroglyphs.
Actually, eastern Utah and western Colorado is another place where you might want to settle down for a few days before the final drive home. Within an hour-and-a-half drive of Grand Junction CO, there's Colorado NM, the Million Dollar Highway, Highline Lake SP, the Dinosaur Journey Museum, McInnis Canyons NCA, and Grand Mesa NF. Dinosaur NM is two hours away via the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway, so it might make a nice day trip out of Grand Junction.
Finally, you'd need to close the loop by getting back to College Station, so if you're starting (or ending) that leg around Grand Junction, your drive would take you past Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP, Curecanti NRA, Capulin Volcano NM, Kiowa NG, Cadillac Ranch, Lake Arrowhead SP, and LBJ NG.
You'll note that I haven't mentioned a whole lot of route numbers. I think at this stage of your planning you should be, as you are, concentrating on what to see and how to apportion your time. Once you and your family have a basic outline of those two elements, determining the routes should be relatively simple.
AZBuck
Another Alternate Alternative
I'm glad you're getting other opinions on this. If I were in your shoes, I would probably be looking to continue east from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison through Pueblo and or Colorado Springs to Dodge City and then turn south through Oklahoma to DFW and home. That's only about 150 miles longer than the shortest route possible from the Black Canyon to College Station, and for that you get to see some things and areas you didn't see on your way west and north, including crossing the Continenta Divide where there are some real mountains, the USAF Academy, Dodge City, and several Native American museums and cultural sites in what was until relatively recently known as Indian Territory but is now the State of Oklahoma.
AZbuck
How do you organize your car for a long road trip?
We are close to our departure day and I find myself thinking about how to get the car organized. We have games for the kids, physical maps, chargers, and a long list of things that will leave with us and hopefully get back with us as well. It will be a long road trip (almost 30 days), so I expect that anything I plan will only survive the first couple of hours and, if I'm lucky, the first day or so.
Having said that, now the question: how do you organize your cars when you'll be driving for an extended period of time (and with kids)? What do you keep close to you? How do deal with clothes? Snack? Anything you thought would be crucial (and you had near you) ended up not being that important (and could be relegated somewhere not in the "prime" real-estate area? Anything you have learned over time that you are willing to share? Things you would do better? Mistakes to avoid? Any gear that could help with this?
Thanks!
Please keep all posts about the same trip in one thread. Thank you.
