Has anyone taken an "out West" vacation?

[Lucky'sMom]

I've always wanted to take our kids "out west" sometime, when they were old enough to remember it/appreciate it/enjoy it. Well, I think that time is approaching, and I just don't know where to start. I don't even know exactly where I'd want to take them. We live in Pittsburgh, so I was thinking maybe we'd fly "out west" somewhere, and then rent a van to see the sights. Some of the places I've thought about are: Grand Canyon, Yosemite, seeing a "ghost town", Arizona, etc. Have you taken the kids on a trip like this, and how did you do it? Where should we go? I am actually a little worried about the trip being kind of boring, since we take them to Disney every year or so. I just don't know where/how to begin. Thanks for any and all advice!

 

[Camno's Mama]

My parents took us out west a lot in our high school years, and we loved it! It just depends on how far west you want to go. California has a lot, and you can kind of do some small road trips while you are there and move from hotel to hotel. We (in different trips) saw San Fransisco, Solvang (a pretty little Scandinavian town), LA, Palm Springs, San Diego (my personal favorite), and of course, Disney! I remember thinking Rodeo Drive was pretty cool as a teenager, also. And the ocean...can't forget the ocean!

We also did Arizona. Sedona is awesome...lots of hiking and pretty stuff to see. They also have dude ranches and stuff like that. I know Scottsdale is supposed to be beautiful. And the Grand Canyon was amazing, although we just kind of drove around it. We could have spent a lot more time there. And Hoover Dam is in Arizona, also. (If I'm wrong, please correct me...I know we saw it but we were driving around a lot!) And there are some old mining towns there. There is one really famous one, but the name is alluding me. I think it starts with a J. (Sorry, I was a teenager...that kind of stuff wasn't that important to me!)

We stayed with family in Colorado Springs, too. They have Pike's Peak, Garden of the Gods, and I think that there are some old mining towns you could go see pretty close by. And Denver is about two hours from there. It's beautiful there...if you have never been to CO, you must go sometime. Your kids will love it, summer or winter! There is so much to do...no kid could be bored.

And really, if you have a hotel with a swimming pool, they'll get what they want in the end, right???

Good luck...the west is so wonderful. Be careful though...you may not want to come home! I live in Chicago, and it makes what we have look so bland!

 

[Camno's Mama]

Just thought I'd add that my family, growing up, is a lot like yours. There are four of us, and I was the oldest and the youngest was seven years younger than me. And we all enjoyed the trips. We all have good memories of them! I seriously don't remember much boredom.

 

[Juliet25]

My family took two vacations "out West" when I was in HS -- once north to Yellowstone, and once south to Grand Canyon. I've also taken two other roads trips along the southern corridor.

I think if you were to fly in and drive around, the Southwest would be your best bet. There are more attractions within a relatively short drive of each other (and by short I mean about a day in the car). You can fly into Vegas and see the Hover Dam, Grand Canyon, the national parks in Utah. Or you can fly into AZ and see the GC and Sedona. I've driven 3 times from STL to CA, and I think most of the attractions you'll want to see are west of Albuquerque (the petroglyphs are cool), so my advice is to just pick a city around there and plan away!

 

[mjantz]

There's a lot of 'Out West' in TX, where I live. Everything from a daily cattle drive (Ft Worth) to the Alamo(San Antonio) to great parks like Big Bend. You can even go 'South of the Border' & take a day trip into Mexico.

If you're set on Yosemite & the Grand Canyon, keep in mind the distance between the 2. Probably close to a 12-hr drive. I would make sure to give yourselves a good solid 2 weeks to be sure to see everything.

Utah has some very nice national parks like Zion & Bryce Canyon. There's also 4 Corners. You can be in 4 states at once.

 

[JaxJags08]

I definitely recommend going to Zion NP in Utah. The town of Springdale is just outside the gates of the park and has wonderful, affordable inns and pretty good restaurants. The view from the balconies of some of the inns are just breathtaking and perfect to just sit and relax once the kids have gone to bed. Many also offer kitchenettes so you can eat in room if you like. Check out the Desert Pearl or Cliffrose Lodge. It's also only a couple of hours away from Vegas so your kids won't have to endure a horribly long drive.

Zion NP also has many easy, paved trails where you won't have to worry about your younger kids falling and getting seriously hurt. But there's also more challenging hikes for those that are more adventurous. Look up The Narrows at Zion - you hike in water through narrow slot canyons. I think your older kids would find it pretty cool.

 

[Julylady]

We did an "Out West" trip a few years ago with my brother and his family (Three kids, Ages 9 - 15). We had a blast!

We flew in to Phoenix and drove to Sedona. We spent 5 nights using Sedona as a base camp. We did the Pink Jeep tours, Grand Canyon, the observatory in Flagstaff and visted many national parks.

We then drove to Tucson for another 4 nights. Our original plan was to drive to San Diego for another 5 nights, but this part of the trip was cut short do to budget considerations.

I would definitely recommend this trip!

 

[the Fidge]

I have been trying to conivnce DH to do this for years! My parents took us in the 70's and it was wonderful!

Yellowstone National Park has great affordable places to stay within the park. We popped around from there to other National Parks. On their website shows all the places to stay.

Good Luck!

 

[Kira G.]

I just took my family to Arizona for a week last month. We have 4 kids, ages 7-16, and had a great time!

We flew into Phoenix, and stayed 1 night in Scottsdale at a beautiful Marriott resort. We had "won" a week's timeshare at our school's silent auction, so then we proceeded up to Flagstaff and where we stayed at a Wyndham timeshare and used that as our base for a week. From there we went to the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Sunset Crater, and did horseback riding at Mormon Lake. There is a lot to do there - we barely scratched the surface! We had hoped to make it to the Hopi Reservation, but that didn't happen.

Flagstaff makes a great base, but if we hadn't had the timeshare I would probably have spent another day in the Phoenix area, maybe 4-5 days in Flagstaff/Sedona and then a couple of days at one of the Grand Canyon hotels (they looked cool!). It was unbelievably hot in Phoenix (115 degrees!), but Flagstaff was very pleasant in June. Originally I was going to combine this with a trip to Southern California, but budget/time pressures nixed that idea.

My kids all had a great time! Being in a timeshare with a kitchen and a little more space was great for us, since they can get on each other's nerves with too much "togetherness." We also had a lot of downtime, and used the resort's pool and activity center. The Grand Canyon was amazing, and we could easily have spent another day there. We also really enjoyed Slide Rock State Park (near Sedona) and Sunset Crater.

Do it! It was awesome, different and you won't be bored!

 

[SGMCO]

I live in Colorado and there is so much to see here.
Some of our Favorite local trips are: The Great Sand Dunes--
(so Unique--and once a Year in the Spring/early Summer there is
a stream that flows thru the Dunes from Snow Runoff).
Siverton/Durango Old Restored Steam Engine Train Tour (thru the
mountains) Silverton is an Old Western Town with lots of
History--there is an old abandoned Ghost Town next to Siverton.
We also love going ot Quray Which is close to
Silverton (it has a Natural Hot Springs pool in the middle of town-
with beautiful Views of the Mountains) Quray is a very old
Town with lots of History-Western, Native American.
Quray has the look of a Swiss Town but it's part of the
Rocky Mountains.
The Black Hills of the Gunisons (is Colorados Grand Canyon--
but not as over visited/ typical Tourest Destination
as the Larger GC--Very Beautiful).
There are Campgrounds everywhere and Family oriented Bed and
Breakfast with reasonable prices.
Any information about these Destinations can be searched
online.

 

[mamacatnv]

All great ideas BUT don't forget about N. California and the Pacific NW - From San Francisco to Seattle there are a ton of things to see and do (and it is relatively cooler temp wise)

 

[RMulieri]

My parents always took us .In Arizona we were at the Grand Canyon alot( mule train down and then river rafting)we also visited Old tuscon ,Tombstone,Sonora desert museum and many other places as well as Utah, and Mexico.It is so much fun.I want to make my DD there next year.

 

[wilderness01]

Maybe you are thinking of Jermone in Arizona?

Sedona is so pretty and like others said, lots to do. Scottsdale has grown so much, but the hotel we stayed at was awesome.

There is alot to do with kids and you won't regret it. If you want cooler temps then I agree, I would do Northern California and up to Oregon. You could see the red woods, the pacific ocean, if you start a little further south, you could go to Carmel and do the 17 mile drive (? it's been a while but I think it is called that.) Then go up to Oregon and stop in Gold Beach for the mail boat tour. So much fun and adults/kids all love it. It is beautiful scenery there.

Whatever you choose, have fun.

 

[vcgirl925]

I say go for it! Life is too short to sit around thinking about it.

One trip i would highly suggest is Arizona. We stayed in the Phoenix area and drove to the grand canyon. This is an experience NOT to be missed. The drive is beautiful. It goes from desert, to mountains, to snow capped mountain tops. It's really great. There are also winding roads down the sides of mountains where you look over and theres....gulp....a mile long drop. There are great little places to stop along the way and we always just stop if we see something worth stopping at. Then there is a town called Sedona, totally stop there on the way back (you have to start this trip early). Great little place.

 

[melancholywings]

What about staying on a houseboat on lake powell?

http://www.powellguide.com/

It's very beautiful and I know goblin valley is near there (It's in the movie Galaxy Quest - where he fights that big rock monster). You could also go from there and drive to like the Grand Canyon or one of the other big parks.

 

[minkydog]

We took our kids last summer on an RV trip around the U.S., from Florida to California to Washington and back to Georgia. 6000 miles. The kids were 14 & 12; the youngest is also severely mentally handicapped, non-verbal and wears diapers. We lived in a 19ft travel trailer for 2 months. And you know, we *all* had a blast!

One thing to understand is that coming from the East coast, you will be surprised how big the West is. Everything is farther apart than you think. So unless money is no object, you'll want to limit your trip to one or two general areas. And never let your gas gauge get under 1/4 tank--trust me on this one.

My favorite area was Arizona, even though it's very hot in the summer. We drove through the Petrified Forest NP and saw the Grand Canyon NP. I would have loved to have spent some time in Flagstaff--there is a lot to do in that area. Also, GC is about 4hrs from Las Vegas, if you're interested in that. My kids loved Vegas.

My next favorite was Yellowstone. I take that back, Yellowstone was my favorite favorite. Its a very different place, cool, lodgy, outdoorsy. No cell coverage or WiFi, which my DD thought was just horrible. But it more than makes up for that with lots of natural beauty. If you're into the great outdoors, this would be my pick.

Ahhhh, now you've made me want to go out west again. I grew up on the East coast and I love what it has to offer, But there is nothing like the American West.

 

[bethbuchall]

We just returned from our family "West" trip. We had only two weeks or there is so much more we could do and further we could have gone. I sure hope that there is a "next time" for us, though my oldest is 17...

We started in central NY and made the following stops:

Day 1: Dayton, OH
Day 2: St. Louis, MO
Day 3: Salina, KS
Day 4: Colorado Springs, CO
Day 5: Casper, WY
Day 6: Grand Tetons NP
Days 7,8,9: Yellowstone NP
Day 10: Mt. Rushmore area plus Wind Cave NP and the Mammoth Dig site
Day 11: Badlands NP
Day 12: Onalaska, WI
Day 13: Chicago, IL
Day 14: Toledo, OH
Day 15: HOME

We didn't really do anything in Dayton or Toledo, though we could have found a few things to do if we had more time.