Driving vaca out west
 

Hi. Could use some guidance in planning a driving vacation from pgh,pa out west, we would like our children to see the grand canyon~something else besides the jersey shore! We will have two kidz with us (12 & 17yo) As kid # 1 will graduate from high school next year this is probably one of the last family vacations, any and all advice on developing an itinerary or resources to make this trip a success will be welcome. Thanks.

Having done this kind of trip for many years from Fla, here are some ideas: If your car is 5 or more years old, have the cooling system cleaned, flushed and new coolant. The altitude and heat can test older systems that may be partially blocked. Replace your fuel filter if over 3 years old. Partially blocked filter can cause failure on those long hills and that's not good. Have all systems checked out well to prevent bad news on the trip. Consider joining AAA so you will have their services available to you enroute. Use their maps & Tour Books for good info. Take lots of CDs/tapes since radio is spotty out there. Always carry lots of drinking water and drink frequently. Carry water on all hikes and drink lots. Good sunglasses are a must. Take loads of film (memory cards for digital) and spare batteries. Can not take too many photos or video. get good hiking shoes with 'vibram' type soles for those hikes on slippery trails. Places to see: Too many to see in one trip so pick your best bets and go slow to better enjoy and make advance reservations. Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce and Moab, UT area (Arches, Canyonlands & Dead Horse Point) are just a few. If you have more time, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly and great. Enjoy!

My wife and I did a road trip from NYC to Wyoming one summer. Yellowstone is a great driving desination. How long will your trip be? If over two weeks you could certainly make it there and head south to the Utah parks easily. Points of interest and cities along the way that we enjoyed:

A few amusement parks (we like old coasters)
Cleveland - (RnR Hall of Fame)
Chicago
The Field of Dreams (Iowa)
Badlands, Black Hills, Rushmore, Deadwood (South Dakota)
Devil's Tower (Wyoming)
Yellowstone (you can spend weeks here alone - we stayed 5 days)

So many more great sights, too many to name. There's lots to see out there!


There's a great book called Road Trip USA that I found very helpful in planning.

My best advice - travel smaller roads from Chicago westward (we did route 20 and then up into the Black Hills on a tiny road). it's a whole lot more interesting off the interstate. There are definitely stretches that are dull (like northern Nebraska) but we still found interesting places to stop.

On the way home we took the interstate for speed and a change of scenery.

If you have any questions, feel free!

Hope this helps,
John

mbiery,

How long do you have for this driving vacation? John127 had some great suggestions, but it really depends on how much time you have.

Utahtea

Thanks all! We will probably take 2 weeks. I am concerned about trying to be spontaneous to a dgreee but do not want to sleep in a car along the way as well. My husband and I went to the grand canyon when we first married on a motorcycle, that was about 25 years ago. I loved utah clorado, just beautiful I think it's important to show our kidz how beautiful this country really is. I know 2 weeks is not really that long so that's why I think its important to plan wisely. Thanks again

Two weeks isn't very long considering that it's 2350 miles from Trenton, NJ to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. That's three days of over 750 miles per day or 4 days of almost 600 miles a day...one way! I realize getting there can be part of the adventure, but with only 14 to 16 days tops, you will lose at least 6 to 8 days of non stop driving. If you take longer to get there & back, then you have very little time to explore the west.

Have you given any thought to flying out and spending the whole two weeks going to Grand Canyon, Utah and Yellowstone? Or maybe consider another week or two?

Utahtea

Utah and the Grand Canyon are going to be very tough, impossible really, with only 2 weeks.

You can do the Yellowstone route though, exploring the northern states a bit (out through Montana even). There's more than enough natural beauty to see in Wyoming alone, trust me.

There's plenty of fun touristy stuff to do on the road as well. You can really get what you want from the trip (off the beaten path or the well-traveled touristy path). We did a little of both - secluded hiking and camping (in Yellowstone and Badlands) but we also stopped at all the fun, kitchy tourist traps in the Black Hills . Mt. Rushmore was definitely something to see in person, as well.

Just a few ideas.

John

Hi guys Thanks for your valuable input! I agree we are being a little bit agressive. We did consider enting an RV....but maybe flying out and driving back is a better suggestion really. Thanks a bunch. Any travle books at Barnes & Noble for example you'd suggest?

John127 is right about northern Nebraska until you get to the sandhills although the Niobrara river is nice. I would say if the Grand Canyon is a for sure and it is something to see than I wouldn't waste anytime sightseeing on the drive there. On your drive back than you can decide what else to see and given your close proximity at the time to Bryce and Zion maybe do one of them.