I am a huge fan of doing road trips. You can travel anywhere you want, in the comfort of your own car, absorbing the world around you. You can stop where you want, see what you want, eat where you want, and do all that at your own pace.
Given that this is the last summer before our eldest son goes to college, and since the world is just opening up from the pandemic, we decided to take another epic two-week road trip in the US, potentially the last one as a family of four (who knows what other plans the college student may have next summer).
So, what’s the recipe for a good road trip for our family?
- Duration: about two weeks
- Destination: national/state parks
- Mode of stay: at this point elevated above camping (cabins at campgrounds and better)
- Additional fun (water parks and such): included
Since this is not the first road trip we’ve taken in the last few years from Seattle (we’ve already been to Yellowstone, Arches/Canyonlands, Escalante, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Sequoias National Park, Redwoods), the question is – where else can we go if the north borders with Canada are still closed? And the answer is Colorado! While we may hit some of the same places we’ve already visited, it still leaves the opportunity to see new places.
So, this year trip will be based on the loop that would include Moab (Arches/Goblin Valley State Park), Great Sand Dunes, Colorado Springs, Glenwood Hot Springs, Grand Teton NP, Yellowstone, Coeur d’Allene. This trip includes plenty of things to do and to look at.
The next post will outline the places we will stay at and the use of travel hacking that helped us save some money on this trip.