2 Week Family Trip Out West

[JVALLEE]

Planning a 2 week trip out west in late July. We want our kids ages 15,12,10 and 8 - 3boy & the baby girl to see Grand Cayon, Yellow stone and more.
We live in alabama and will probably fly somewhere and rent a large van or small rv if possible. I don't want to waste time driving across Texas. I would like to see as much as possible and move around to cover as much territory as possible.

I really would like to rent a van and drop it off at my end destination. I would like to get to SAN FRANSICO / wine country.

I was hoping that someone has already made this trip and could point out
the most important places to see ect....

[txmomrn]

Last year we looped through New Mexico and AZ, places we saw were 4 corners (AZ, NM, CO, UT), Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, some Indian ruins, the Meteor Crater in AZ... White Sands, NM, Carlsbad Caverns... I google "visitor guide (state)" and order the guide from every state we will go through and pick places along our route. This year we go from here to Yellowstone, we'll see Amarillo, TX (Cadillac Ranch), Mt Rushmore, Badlands, Devil's Tower, WY, Montana, Y'stone, Jackson, and slide down the western edge of Colorado to Durango.... there is so much!! And special request for Carlsbad again.

If I was coming from AL, I think I would start with St Louis (see the Arch!) and follow the Lewis-Clark or Oregon trails, and load up with books on the history before we left. This trip it's the "Roadside Geology" books... too much north-south travel!

If you have not been out west before, get driving directions stop to stop from yahoo or mapquest and pay attention to the numbers!!! Towing will slow you down and so will mountains! We have 7-8 driving hours most days and some days that takes us 500 miles (Kansas, Nebraska) and some days 250 (Colorado, NM).

Have a great trip!! I'm glad I started doing this before the kids left home!

[PNW Judy]

Grand Canyon and Yellowstone can easily take every bit of the 2 weeks. I'm really confused about the San Francisco bit. Why? It will add at least 2 days of solid driving to your trip and minimize the time you could use visiting all the wonderful stuff in Utah and Wyoming.

Personally, I would visit Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Cedar Breaks, Canyonlands, Arches, etc. in Utah. Gosh, this could take 2 weeks by itself.

Well, I guess I'm confused. I'm not sure what advise you're seeking. I just think you're trying to cover too much ground and won't really enjoy where you are because you'll be hurrying to the next thing.

I'm thinking you might want to check out Tracks & Trails. They are a company that rents RVs and also does trip-planning for folks. Of course, we're all willing to help you here. Maybe we could do that better if you gave us some of the following information:
* are you planning on doing any hiking, boating, etc. or simply sightseeing?
* do you want to see some things of historical interest or just the beauty of the outdoors?
* do you want to have to drive each day or do you want to drive someplace and then stay for a few days to explore?

Anything else you can think of sharing might help us all advise you better.