Grand Canyon & Lake Powell

[perkinsrose]

Years ago, DH and I took a cross-country trip (a round about meandering way) from MI to Tuscon, AZ and loved our stop in Lake Powell. This was mid-May and pre-kids. We tent-camped at both Grand Canyon and at Lake Powell.

We'd like to take a trip with our kids (when we can manage to pull our annual travel dollars & time away from Disney!) to see the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell. I'm not sure I'm up for a huge road trip with kids but not sure how we could camp if we flew??? If we flew, I imagine, we'd have to rent a car to travel between GCanyon & Lake Powell. I'm not totally against resort stays but the budget is limited. I guess if we drove & made camping possibe, there are so many other places to stopand see along the way and onthe way home...

I'd love to hear from anyone who's done the trip like this with kids (I imagine our 2 kids would be 10-12 years when we go) or if you know what time of year is good for weather/crowds/etc.

Thanks in advance!

[Plantlady]

We drive with our boys all the time. They do great in a car, and have no idea, that some kids fly to their vacation destination.

We set our expectations.. enjoy the drive... and they follow them.

We take long, long summer trips, 3000-4000 miles per trip. We stop at several national parks. We see a lot on the road. And, I think it's probably cheaper than flying.

Good Luck!

[CDoobee]

We did a long road trip like this in 1999. We all loved it! We started from St. Louis and drove straight through to Colorado Springs where we rented an RV (at a campground, not for driving) for 3 nights. My niece lives there and had just had a baby, so we were able to visit with her family. We also drove to the top of Pike's Peak, took an aerial tramway across the Royal Gorge, and went horseback riding at Garden of the Gods. Beautiful!

We then headed for Nevada where we spent a couple of days in Las Vegas. One day my DH and DS went to see the Star Trek exhibit, while I took DD to Circus Circus for her 8th birthday! We also took a day trip to Death Valley, where we visited The Devil's Golf Course, Zabriskie Point, and Bad Water (the lowest point in North America). It was interesting seeing the Sea Level sign way up on a hill above us, especially after just being at Pike's Peak a few days before!

Next was the Grand Canyon. We stayed in a motel the first night and tent camped the second night. I love the Grand Canyon! It's so amazing!

We took the southern route home, after visiting Hoover Dam. We drove through Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, stopping to visit Four Corners (where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado all meet). We then stopped in Branson for a few days before coming home.

My DD turned 8 on the trip and DS was 14. We all loved this trip! My sister and I are trying to talk our DHs into doing a road trip like this together.

Sorry so long! I just got excited reminiscing!

[perkinsrose]

Originally Posted by perkinsrose

Years ago, DH and I took a cross-country trip (a round about meandering way) from MI to Tuscon, AZ and loved our stop in Lake Powell. This was mid-May and pre-kids. We tent-camped at both Grand Canyon and at Lake Powell.

We'd like to take a trip with our kids (when we can manage to pull our annual travel dollars & time away from Disney!) to see the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell. I'm not sure I'm up for a huge road trip with kids but not sure how we could camp if we flew??? If we flew, I imagine, we'd have to rent a car to travel between GCanyon & Lake Powell. I'm not totally against resort stays but the budget is limited. I guess if we drove & made camping possibe, there are so many other places to stopand see along the way and onthe way home...

I'd love to hear from anyone who's done the trip like this with kids (I imagine our 2 kids would be 10-12 years when we go) or if you know what time of year is good for weather/crowds/etc.
Thanks in advance!

anyone?

[Ciao Mickey]

Originally Posted by perkinsrose

Years ago, DH and I took a cross-country trip (a round about meandering way) from MI to Tuscon, AZ and loved our stop in Lake Powell. This was mid-May and pre-kids. We tent-camped at both Grand Canyon and at Lake Powell.

We'd like to take a trip with our kids (when we can manage to pull our annual travel dollars & time away from Disney!) to see the Grand Canyon and Lake Powell. I'm not sure I'm up for a huge road trip with kids but not sure how we could camp if we flew??? If we flew, I imagine, we'd have to rent a car to travel between GCanyon & Lake Powell. I'm not totally against resort stays but the budget is limited. I guess if we drove & made camping possibe, there are so many other places to stopand see along the way and onthe way home...

I'd love to hear from anyone who's done the trip like this with kids (I imagine our 2 kids would be 10-12 years when we go) or if you know what time of year is good for weather/crowds/etc.

Thanks in advance!

We did a big "OUT WEST" tour with my family years ago. We rented two big Astro XL vans. We flew into Phoenix and flew out of San Francisco.

During the course of the trip we stopped in the Grand Canyon on the way to Lake Powell. We stayed at the Lake Powell Resort (3 nights) and our room package included boat rental. We went fishing and to the Rainbow Bridge.

There were 5 kids on the trip. At the time they ranged from 8 to 16 years old.

We did this the last 2 weeks of July and the first week of August. Crowds at the time were low and the weather was perfect.

We loved the trip and would do it again in a heartbeat.

We went to Scottsdale, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Las Vegas, Zion, Death Valley, Yosemite, Carmel and San Francisco.