Top 5 (travel related)?

[Marmee]

Humor me: What are the top 5 places you'd want to take your kids in the West (Rocky Mountains west to Cali)?


I'm starting to plan my (last hurrah as a SAHM) mega road trip for next summer. I'm taking the girls all over the west mainly seeing all the National Parks, the major cities & some coastline. We are going to camp/shoestring it because it'll take a month+ of travel. DH is going to meet us somewhere for a week or 2. I know i can't do everything I want so I'll need to prioritize. I'm definitely doing Banff/Calgary/Jasper/Glacier first and going south from there. (Start/End in Denver)

[barefootcontessa]

Can I come? Sounds awesome. I would want to see the Redwoods in CA.

[frlcb]

1) We have done Jackson Hole/Yellowstone several times and it is amazing. Number 1 for sure.

2) Seattle/Vancouver

3) San Diego

4) San Francisco

5) Glacier National Park

Followed closely by Grand Canyon/Zion/Bryce

[nessness]

Yosemite
Grand Canyon
San Diego (go to zoo and wild animal park)
San Francisco
Zion/Bryce Canyon

[Deleted]

Jul 2, 2015 9:32:19 GMT -5 milliep said:

We did a road trip to the Four Corners when I was 11 and it was great.  We saw the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Carlsbad Caverns, hot springs and rode a steam train in Colorado (Silverton, I believe), and the Navajo reservation in New Mexico are the highlights I remember and think were great places to visit.

We did a lot of camping and had a blast.  It really was a great trip!

A trip like this sounds amazing! How long did it take you to do all that?

Afer that, my list would go something like Redwoods/SF, visit to a dude ranch, Glacier National Park, and Banff. Also Seattle and Vancouver!

[Deleted]

I love, love, love Yellowstone. I've been twice in the last month. Its my favorite. I've only done day trips, but want to spend a couple nights there and do Teton too.

Glacier is amazing too. I've only been in the fall, but we're hoping to go up there next summer.

Moab! I've never been, but its on my list.

[mlt]

I would definitely want to do Grand Canyon, Yellowstone. Are you going east to Mount Rushmore? There is a place in the Dakotas where you can dig for dinosaur bones so that is on our list for when the kids are a little older.

[Marmee]

Oh yes, Jackson/Yellowstone is #1..,,but we are actually going there in 3 days

[Deleted]

Dinosaur national monument, Mesa verde, Grand Canyon, redwood forest, arches, and maybe cascades?

A friend of mine did this almost exactly last year. Camping/low budget month log road trip. They hit glacier, Yellowstone, redwoods, and cascades.

Looking at a map you might be able to go from denver to Yellowstone to glacier to cascades to redwoods to yosemtite to Grand Canyon to Mesa verde to great sand dunes back to denver. That might be too ambitious though.

If glacier is a must then maybe denver to Yellowstone to glacier to redwoods to arches to dinosaur to denver?

[longtimenopost]

If I were you, I would start by heading South to do Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands, then head West hitting Tombstone and anything else on the way to San Diego, go up the coast to San Fran/Redwoods, then hit everything around there before heading East towards Salt Lake.

[Muddled]

I love Bryce and Zion!

[magpie]

We did a road trip from Seattle to Yellowstone, up to Glacier and back through the Cascades while I was pregnant with DD. It was fabulous. I can't wait to bring DD when she's old enough to enjoy it. I have happy memories of both of those parks from when I was a kid. I also love Zion/Bryce. Zion is probably my favorite National Park both as a kid and an adult. I'd like to bring DD when she's a little older.

[SJ]

Yellowstone
Grand Tetons
Grand Canyon

I LOVE the National Parks!

What do you mean last hurrah? Are you going back to work?

[Marmee]

Jul 2, 2015 11:26:46 GMT -5 SJ said:

Yellowstone
Grand Tetons
Grand Canyon

I LOVE the National Parks!

What do you mean last hurrah? Are you going back to work?

Yes--that's the plan as of now, either Fall 2016 or 2017 when DD4 is in preschool/pre-K. The private HS we are leaning toward is unaffordable (cost for 1 is as much as 4 in elem) without my working.

We are doing Tetons/Yellowstone next week!

[Jalapeñomel]

1) Grand Canyon...detour with Flagstaff/Sedona/Jerome
2) Kartchner Caverns or Carslbad Caverns
3) Bryce Canyon
4)Santa Fe

[niq]

depending on your outdoorsy threshold

Yosemite
Grand Canyon
Zion -- or if you want to do Bryce-Arches-Zion
... I don't have any past that. Glacier, before it disappears?

[pescalita]

If I had to pick just 5 for a Western Bucket List:

1. Grand Canyon
2. Yellowstone
3. Yosemite
4. Glacier National Park
5. Utah/Moab/Monument Valley

Cheating:
6. Olympic Nath'l Park
7. CA Redwoods/Big Sur
8. Banff