![\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/grand-canyon-usa-national-park-1235221\/\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2017\/11\/grand-canyon-1235221_960_720.jpg\")
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So it\u2019s November.\u00a0 It\u2019s getting cold \u2014 the perfect time to start planning, or dreaming, anyway, about a summer vacation, in particular, the big road trip we\u2019ve talked about for years.\u00a0 This will be the last summer before our oldest goes away to college, too.<\/p>\n
This is what I\u2019ve mapped out.\u00a0 Readers, please share your experiences.\u00a0 What\u2019s realistic in terms of travel times?\u00a0 How much time should we allot at each destination?\u00a0 How quickly will hotels fill up?\u00a0 etc.\u00a0 I think this would be (if it\u2019s not wholly illusory that we could make this work) targeted for immediately after school gets out \u2014 but there\u2019s the issue of whether my middle son\u2019s hoped-for camp counseling gig fits in or not.<\/p>\n
Day 1: Home (suburban Chicago) to Mount Rushmore, 13 hrs.<\/p>\n
Day 2: Mount Rushmore<\/p>\n
Day 3: Mount Rushmore to Yellowstone,\u00a08 hrs; might stay the first night at Cody, and see the rodeo.<\/p>\n
Days 4 \u2013 7: Yellowstone<\/p>\n
It\u2019s already apparent that the only possible in-park lodging is camping, which is fine, though I\u2019d probably tend towards eating in the cafeterias rather than cooking at the campground.\u00a0 How quickly the campgrounds fill up I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
Day 8: Yellowstone to Bryce Canyon NP, 8.5 hrs.\u00a0 Possible stop in Salt Lake City \u2014 is it worth it (other than catching up with an old friend who lives there)?<\/p>\n
Day 9: Bryce Canyon NP (maybe also Zion NP next-door?)<\/p>\n
Day 10: BC NP to Grand Canyon, 4.5 hrs<\/p>\n
Day 11: Grand Canyon<\/p>\n
There seems to be one South Rim hotel with availability.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure if this is a fluke and this last remaining room would fill up any day now.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019d also need to read up to know how much time to allow for the Grand Canyon; other than people taking trips into the canyon floor, the only thing you ever see is people standing on a single overlook.<\/p>\n
Day 12: Grand Canyon to Mesa Verde NP, 5 hrs<\/p>\n
Day 13: Mesa Verde NP<\/p>\n
Day 14: Mesa Verde NP to Arches NP, 3 hrs<\/p>\n
Day 15: Arches NP<\/p>\n
Day 16: Arches NP to Denver, 5 hrs<\/p>\n
Day 17: Denver<\/p>\n
Day 18: Denver to Kansas City, 8.5 hrs<\/p>\n
Day 19: Kansas City (visit relatives)<\/p>\n
Day 20: Kansas City back home, 7.5 hours<\/p>\n
Google-forecasted driving time, 63 hours.<\/p>\n
Of these destinations, the only one I\u2019ve seen is Yellowstone; that was a trip when our oldest was just a year old.\u00a0 We flew into Cody, rented a car, bought a styrofoam cooler, and drove into Yellowstone, and stayed in the \u201cold house\u201d part of the Old Faithful Inn, cheap and available since the bathrooms were down the hall (though now, even in November, the \u201cold house\u201d is booked up, which I suppose is the result of the advent of the internet).\u00a0 The baby was old enough that he drank milk instead of formula, and we washed the sippy cups out in the room\u2019s sink, and bought the milk, and ice at the convenience store in the hotel, and ate a combination of convenience-store baked goods for breakfasts, and either sandwiches or cafeteria food, with the baby eating some finger foods off our plates at that time.\u00a0 The Old Faithful Inn was fairly central but it was still a long drive to get to the other sites, upwards of 2 hours.\u00a0 The one difficulty was that the baby wasn\u2019t walking, and there really weren\u2019t any park-like\/grassy areas for him to crawl around in, which I felt bad about; he was in the backpack-carrier whenever we hiked (or \u201chiked\u201d \u2013 a lot of the sights were boardwalks), but then we had enormous difficulties getting him to sleep at night.<\/p>\n
So what do you think?\u00a0 Is this a reasonable plan, or too ambitious?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Image:\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/grand-canyon-usa-national-park-1235221\/<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So it\u2019s November.\u00a0 It\u2019s getting cold \u2014 the perfect time to start planning, or dreaming, anyway, about a summer vacation, in particular, the big road trip we\u2019ve talked about for years.\u00a0 This will be the last summer before our oldest goes away to college, too. This is what I\u2019ve mapped out.\u00a0 Readers, please share your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":7649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[417],"class_list":["post-7648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-vacation"],"yoast_head":"\n