Danellejoy

We are a homeschool family with 2 boys ages 17 and 13. We want to go out West this summer. We have a camper and have no problem staying at Walmart parking lots to save money on our way out. We have 4 weeks and want to see California redwoods, Pacific Ocean and Grand Canyon for sure. After that we aren't sure. We just want to use our time and travel wisely. My husband and boys are outdoorsy. I have decided that I will forgo my desire to make this a historical field trip and keep with outdoorsy crew of seeing nature points of interest. Plus money is an issue, so we can't do Everything. Any advice on how to best utilize our time while traveling to those 3 priorities we have is greatly appreciated!

Gretchen

We did a 6 week trip with 3 kids 14 and under. It is a GREAT thing to do. We camped and also did hotels--and a week in the Tetons at a ranch.
I'd suggest a map--stick pins in it where you want to go and connect the dots.
NO reason it can't be historic and outdoorsy, for heavens' sake.
Do not miss Mesa Verde. Yosemite. Yellowstone.
For the parks you need to make reservations VERY soon if not now.
You have to decide what you want to see.

brubenow

My dad took me on a similar trip as a kid, from Ohio to California and back over 3 weeks. We stayed in hotels, not a camper, so I don't have any insight on camping. BUT, the best advice I can give is to have some unique destination in mind every day if possible, so that you don't spend the first and last week in total boredom just riding in the camper. We took the wide route and left Ohio and went through Chicago, Minnesota lakes, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Montana, Seattle, Oregon Coast, Redwood National Forest and Yosemite, San Francisco, LA and a day at Disneyland, Las Vegas, Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon, Death Valley (I would skip that one!), Petrified Forest, St. Louis arch. I'll always remember that trip.

As a parent, I have since taken my own kids out west, and have been to the Grand Canyon south rim. Highly recommend mule ride down into the canyon. You could also hike, but the heat must be brutal in summer (I went in October) and the hike back UP is the hard part, and takes literally twice as long to hike up as to hike down. You could also do a partial hike. But I would definitely recommend going INTO the canyon, as opposed to just looking at it from the top. It's an unbelievable experience.

Have a great trip!

sludick

If you don't have a National Park Pass, buy one. That will get your entire family into every park you can get to, and save you money. $80 for the year: http://www.nps.gov/findapark/passes.htm

Story - as a wedding gift to two coworkers, I gave them a Park Pass. They were on a budget and hoping to see the Grand Canyon. The funny part was that they had no idea what that pass entitled them to, until they asked at the entrance to GC if they got a discount with the card, and got waved through the to the park pass lane. They changed their entire honeymoon and went to every park they could manage.

db6040

I think you could incorporate historical elements in with the outdoorsy parts to make a great, well rounded trip. Your question is very open ended so it's hard to make recommendations. Do you plan to see any of the national parks in Utah - Bryce, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands? Canyonlands has some easily accessible native American granaries that are great for the history and outdoor lover.

emalloy

There are some great places to visit "out west" and the problem will be deciding what to cut out. If you have some flexibility I would probably plan it either early, starting by mid June or late starting after labor day to miss some of the summer crowds.

The National Park pass is a treasure, do get one at your first park. In addition to the NPs you can camp in the National Forest or Bureau of Land Management lands in many places for free or a very small charge. Go on line to see where/if you need permits and where the BLM offices are.

Years ago another Fodor poster put this map on the site and I've found it very helpful in planning for the area between Mesa Verde NP (both lots of history and activity possible here), the Utah parks and Grand Canyon.

http://ohiohickstraveltips.weebly.co...-utah-map.html


There are lots of places to visit that have plenty of hiking and Native American historic sites.

Since you also want to visit the Pacific Ocean, there are big trees along the coast highway in places like Julia Pfifer state park as well as in the mountains in Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP and Yosemite.

Get a big map of the western US and plan a route. Once you have a general plan, start a new thread with your route and ask for questions about the plan.

Gretchen

Redwoods north of San Francisco in Muir Woods.

ElendilPickle

I was going to mention the National Parks pass, but sludick beat me to it.

Where are you starting from? In summer, I think your best bet is to hit the southwestern parks first (Grand Canyon, Utah parks, Carlsbad Caverns if it isn't too far out of your way, Mesa Verde) and work your way north from there.

Lee Ann