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Message
Out west family trip: help me plan route/sights
Posted on 9/9/20 at 3:58 pm
Posted on 9/9/20 at 3:58 pm
I've never been out west other than directly into and out of cities but would like to take the family through there. My wife has made a few trips out west as a kid and there's some spots I'd like to hit for sentimental value. Jackson hole, Coeur D'Alene for sure, maybe Leadville, Four Corners.
General trip logistics would be to fly to somewhere like Flagstaff or Albuquerque , Something like fly into AZ/NM, rent a van or RV, and drive up through Nevada/Utah/Colorado/Wyoming then skirt Montana and end up in Coeur d'Alene (fly out of Spokane).
I feel like there would be two types of things we want to do on on this trip:
-For things like Monument valley, Four Points, etc we would just be driving by or driving through that wouldn't take a full day.
-Then there's full day things like hiking somewhere in a national park for a day or two.
This would be a summer 2021 trip while the kids are out of school.
Please help me plan our route and add some spots to see (both types as listed above)
General trip logistics would be to fly to somewhere like Flagstaff or Albuquerque , Something like fly into AZ/NM, rent a van or RV, and drive up through Nevada/Utah/Colorado/Wyoming then skirt Montana and end up in Coeur d'Alene (fly out of Spokane).
I feel like there would be two types of things we want to do on on this trip:
-For things like Monument valley, Four Points, etc we would just be driving by or driving through that wouldn't take a full day.
-Then there's full day things like hiking somewhere in a national park for a day or two.
This would be a summer 2021 trip while the kids are out of school.
Please help me plan our route and add some spots to see (both types as listed above)
13
Posted on 9/9/20 at 4:26 pm to poochie
How many days are you planning to be there?
Posted on 9/9/20 at 4:31 pm to nctiger71
theoretically fly out in thursday night then fly out the following sunday.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 5:07 pm to poochie
quote:10 nights, 11 days and 2 of the days you are flying; you really just have 9 days to see/do stuff.
theoretically fly out in thursday night then fly out the following sunday.
We’ve found that road trips work best when we stay at least 2 nights, preferably 3, in one place and then move on to the next place. Otherwise you don’t really have time to see anything. My recommendation is to pick 3, 4 at the most, places you want to see and plan your trip around those.
We went out west last year and spent 2 weeks in SD, MT and WY. A friend rented an RV a few years ago and spent 3 weeks in NV, AZ & UT.
It seems like you are trying to cover too large of an area in the amount of time you have but I’m interested to find out what others think.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 6:03 pm to poochie
I would check on closures. We drove through 4 points a month ago and EVERYTHING on the reservation was closed. No gas stations, food, etc for a couple of hours. We were worried about running out of water for a while.
This post was edited on 9/9/20 at 6:04 pm
Posted on 9/9/20 at 6:58 pm to bayouh2o
Four Corners and Monument Valley takes pretty much a full day. It’s worth it. If you fly into Albuquerque I would recommend Bandelier National Monument, it will probably be close to your route. I’ve travel the west in all the areas you mentioned and I put Bandelier at the top of the list.
This post was edited on 9/10/20 at 6:51 am
Posted on 9/9/20 at 8:50 pm to poochie
Driving from AZ to Montana/Washington while seeing sites along the way in 9 days is a bit much. I'd narrow the plans down to a smaller geographic area. You could fly into Jackson Hole and have more to do within a 200ish mile radius than you'd know what to do with.
Same with flying into Denver and focusing on Colorado.
Same with flying into Denver and focusing on Colorado.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 9:14 pm to poochie
We did a 17 day trip from Baton Rouge to Santa Fe to Grand Canyon to Durango via Utah to Estes to Steamboat to Vail and back home.
We also drove from BR to Aspen on up to Bozeman and back.
If interested I can offer some stops.
We also drove from BR to Aspen on up to Bozeman and back.
If interested I can offer some stops.
Posted on 9/9/20 at 9:16 pm to poochie
Unless you have grade school age kids who really want to see it, skip four corners. It is awful and depressing.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 8:00 am to poochie
Plan half as much as you think you’re can do OP and leave yourself time to do the little thjngs and explore sites you don’t see in the guidebooks. The west is a lot bigger than you think.
As said I’d concentrate on one area. There’s more than enough to spend in Grand Tetons and yellowstone for 10 days.
You don’t want to drive every day. So plan some days with multiple nights in the same spot.
As said I’d concentrate on one area. There’s more than enough to spend in Grand Tetons and yellowstone for 10 days.
You don’t want to drive every day. So plan some days with multiple nights in the same spot.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 8:13 am to bayouh2o
My friend was just in Silverton/Durango last weekend and mentioned that Four Corners is still closed. It’s on Navajo land. (All Navajo Nation parks are still closed)
This post was edited on 9/10/20 at 8:15 am
Posted on 9/10/20 at 8:55 am to lsunurse
quote:
Silverton/Durango
Gotta take that train ride. It was the highlight of our trip.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 9:23 am to poochie
I’m still scratching my head as to why people are so interested in CDA. It’s a small town on an average lake with hills (not mountains). There are FAR better places to visit as a tourist. But to each their own.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 9:33 am to canyon critter
“Gotta take that train ride. It was the highlight of our trip.”
My wife and did the train a couple of October’s ago. It snowed in the high country with the aspens in full color. Absolutely beautiful. However I’m pretty sure right now the train is on a limited run north of Durango out of Rockwood Station to Silverton.
My wife and did the train a couple of October’s ago. It snowed in the high country with the aspens in full color. Absolutely beautiful. However I’m pretty sure right now the train is on a limited run north of Durango out of Rockwood Station to Silverton.
This post was edited on 9/10/20 at 9:35 am
Posted on 9/10/20 at 9:40 am to nctiger71
quote:
10 nights, 11 days and 2 of the days you are flying; you really just have 9 days to see/do stuff.
and don't forget over 24 hours of driving based on where he wants to start and finish.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 10:16 am to lsunurse
thanks all, this is the insight i'm looking for. Will definitely check to be sure things are open next year when we pull the trigger on this. And yes, 3 grade school age kids.
It might be a biting off a big chunk but we're really not set up to take longer vacations and don't know if this will be a one time trip. That's why instead of driving from louisiana then back i figured we'd save a few days on the front and back ends by flying in and out.
yes please any tips/sights would be greatly appreciated. that's about the same duration we're looking at while skipping the drive to and from louisiana.
i'm figuring 24h driving if we leave the beaten path (20 hours is straight through with no sidetracks form Albaqurque to Spokane). One thing that's good is my kids are great road-trippers. we regularly see 5+ hour car trips with very little complaining. I think we made it to atlanta with 2 stops from SELA. That's why i was trying to break it down into big driving days vs "stay around one location" days and trying to determine what were some sites we would just be driving by vs places we need to stop and set up camp for a few nights.
idk, my wife went there and they talk about it a lot with her sisters and she wants to bring our kids. happy wife, happy life.
could see us doing 3 big driving days, something like NWNM (near Four Corners) to Provo (or something that distance, using provo as an example) then from there to Jackson hole a few days later then JH to CDA
Th Day1 fly into Albaqurque, drive to Farmington, NM (3h driving)
Fr Day2 Farmington to Provo hitting four corners and monument valley (8h driving)
Sa Day3
Su Day4
Mo Day5 drive to Jackson Hole (5h driving)
Tu Day6
We Day7
Th Day8 drive to CDA (8.5h driving)
Fr Day9
Sa Day10
Su Day11 Drive to Spokane and fly back (1h driving)
It might be a biting off a big chunk but we're really not set up to take longer vacations and don't know if this will be a one time trip. That's why instead of driving from louisiana then back i figured we'd save a few days on the front and back ends by flying in and out.
quote:
We did a 17 day trip from Baton Rouge to Santa Fe to Grand Canyon to Durango via Utah to Estes to Steamboat to Vail and back home.
We also drove from BR to Aspen on up to Bozeman and back.
If interested I can offer some stops.
yes please any tips/sights would be greatly appreciated. that's about the same duration we're looking at while skipping the drive to and from louisiana.
quote:
don't forget over 24 hours of driving based on where he wants to start and finish.
i'm figuring 24h driving if we leave the beaten path (20 hours is straight through with no sidetracks form Albaqurque to Spokane). One thing that's good is my kids are great road-trippers. we regularly see 5+ hour car trips with very little complaining. I think we made it to atlanta with 2 stops from SELA. That's why i was trying to break it down into big driving days vs "stay around one location" days and trying to determine what were some sites we would just be driving by vs places we need to stop and set up camp for a few nights.
quote:
I’m still scratching my head as to why people are so interested in CDA. It’s a small town on an average lake with hills (not mountains). There are FAR better places to visit as a tourist. But to each their own.
idk, my wife went there and they talk about it a lot with her sisters and she wants to bring our kids. happy wife, happy life.
could see us doing 3 big driving days, something like NWNM (near Four Corners) to Provo (or something that distance, using provo as an example) then from there to Jackson hole a few days later then JH to CDA
Th Day1 fly into Albaqurque, drive to Farmington, NM (3h driving)
Fr Day2 Farmington to Provo hitting four corners and monument valley (8h driving)
Sa Day3
Su Day4
Mo Day5 drive to Jackson Hole (5h driving)
Tu Day6
We Day7
Th Day8 drive to CDA (8.5h driving)
Fr Day9
Sa Day10
Su Day11 Drive to Spokane and fly back (1h driving)
Posted on 9/10/20 at 10:47 am to poochie
If you are really going to concentrate on covering that much ground, I'd highly consider opting out of some things like the 4 corners. Its literally only where 4 states come together, it may be memorable because of that but I feel like you will be missing out on other stuff.
To me with that much time you are going to have to choose:
1.) See a lot of country and some highlights
2.) Really enjoy the beauty of fewer highlights
I'm all about roadtrips, but I'll give you an example and that's my FIL has a place in Jackson Hole. Its 1.5 hours drive to Yellowstone. To drive there and see stuff for a day and drive back is leaving at 6am and returning about 10pm, driving all day, and pushing it most of the day to see maybe 1/3 of the "big" stuff and the highlights of half the park.
Its just, A LOT of big country.
You can have a great trip either way. I just personally think you can still have a great road trip but you'd be better off focusing on a smaller area.
To me with that much time you are going to have to choose:
1.) See a lot of country and some highlights
2.) Really enjoy the beauty of fewer highlights
I'm all about roadtrips, but I'll give you an example and that's my FIL has a place in Jackson Hole. Its 1.5 hours drive to Yellowstone. To drive there and see stuff for a day and drive back is leaving at 6am and returning about 10pm, driving all day, and pushing it most of the day to see maybe 1/3 of the "big" stuff and the highlights of half the park.
Its just, A LOT of big country.
You can have a great trip either way. I just personally think you can still have a great road trip but you'd be better off focusing on a smaller area.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 10:58 am to poochie
Mesa Verde
Posted on 9/10/20 at 11:10 am to RogerTheShrubber
Have you guys been to Las Vegas? Just a thought but flying into or out of there would probably be a hit with the kids and something different to do. Go to Hoover Damn, etc.
Posted on 9/10/20 at 11:13 am to RogerTheShrubber
Four Corners is overrated. Worth seeing once but that's about it.
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