14 States, 11 National Parks

Thanks to COVID restrictions this trip was planned literally in 2 days, one week before we left. Why? Because we originally had an ENTIRE trip planned out Northeast in DETAIL, but with too strict statewide regulations changing I just couldn’t go through with it in the end. At first, I was overwhelmed and disappointed, but I couldn’t let it take me down. I was DETERMINED to still make the most out of my PTO from work. My husband and I both saved our PTO for the year and set a weekly budget to save toward this trip. We also make sure to leave at the beginning of a weekend so we can have additional days to not miss work. Speaking of, let’s get the boring, but oh so important part out of the way first.

BUDGET

Our budget was $5,000-6,000. For a family of 5 for 16 days, I don’t think that’s too, too bad. When I say we went ALL out, we did. There were definitely some things we could have saved on to make this trip probably a grand cheaper, but we saved for months so we wouldn’t feel like we had to hold back in anyway. We just wanted to enjoy it in the moment and not be tied down trying to be strict. We set a range with a tad flexibility and did our best to stick to it without stressing. Of course our biggest expenses were hotel stays and food. I try to pick hotels with a free breakfast so we could save money and time in the mornings. We also like to go places during their off seasons because hotels are usually half the price. Not to mention, it’s way less touristy. For on the road snacks, we packed a rubbermaid bin full for the car to minimize stops and extra expenses on the road. We also brought our ice chest for some produce, dairy free coffee creamer, luncheon meat to make sandwiches, and various condiments. For lunches we tried to either make our own sandwiches on the road or ate as cheap as we could. Some of our lunch options were turkey and ham sandwiches, tuna and crackers, PB&J, etc. For dinners, we liked to eat at the most famous, nostalgic places in town without going too overboard. I usually Pinterest “Best Places to Eat in…” and read reviews to get the best tips. I also pull up the menu so I have a general idea of what it’s going to cost us each day. I pretty much plan out ahead of time the dinner options as much as I can. For hotels, for the most part, we stay at any Hilton owned hotels because we are Hilton Honors members. Being a member gives discounts and points toward future stays. These hotels are usually pretty consistent across the board and are more comfortable as a family. The kids love a good hotel pool, and these hotels usually have nice ones. Every now and then, we will stay at more boutique hotels, but many times pictures can look better than in person. The only two hotels that were different this trip were the historic Strater Hotel in Durango, CO and Chipeta Hotel and Spa in Ridgeway, CO. There were cheaper options, but we wanted something a tad different for these places. When I show you the pictures, you will see why. All in all, this was our cost breakdown:

Hotels: $2,076.23

Food: around $1500

Gas: Around $400-500 (when setting a budget during planning, we looked up the average price in gas at each stop)

Extras (souvenirs/shopping and excursions/activities): around $2,000

*Added*

So for all my camper friends, this area is pretty tricky to travel and tow during winter months. Not to mention, I noticed many campgrounds were closed for the season. There were a couple open, it would just be trickier to find. Campgrounds close to the National Park entrances pretty much close down for the season. We opted out camper travels this time because I didn’t feel comfortable towing something heavy our first trip through mountains in the winter. I’m SO glad we decided not to because my nerves were bad enough with just having our van lol. The cheaper hotel stays and breakfasts made it worth it too. They do a really good job on most government owned highways of treating the roads with sand and salt though (just be prepared to have to wash your car a lot lol). If you do decide to take your camper, look ahead at road closures or for some road tips on mountain highways. Areas around Tetons and Idaho won’t allow pull behind trailers on certain steep grades during the winter. There are people who still travel in winter times though. Good YouTube channels to follow are Keep Your Daydream and Less Junk More Journey. They’ve traveled all seasons and give some really great tips.

How I plan

This is a question I get a lot. We have done road trips for years now so I’ve gotten a lot of practice under my belt. The first thing we do is pick our big stops. For instance, we knew we wanted to see Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Mount Rushmore, Parks in Moab, Utah, and I heard that Durango, CO did a Polar Express so I figured we could hit that up on our journey back home. Knowing that Glacier would be our furthest stop, that’s what I keyed in first in the map app on my phone. I picked the journey that was the closest to all the stops that we wanted to make and went from there. Being those were our main stops, I had to plan to make sure I would get the most time at those spots so if we had to drive longer the first and last days to make it happen, that’s what we had to do. The part where it gets tricky is figuring out how many hours were between stops to know what time we had to leave, and estimating how long we wanted at each stop. I figured out what time we would arrive and have to leave each stop. It was an estimate at best, but I had to get pretty close because driving in remote, mountain areas in potential wintery conditions, I wanted to avoid driving times in the dark. We were able to avoid it for the most part.

To entertain the kiddos I make them each activity binders (Pinterest has some great road trip ideas). I also bring tons of movies. I try to pick out movies that relate to the theme of our trip because it gets the kids excited and living in the moment. The best thing we started doing years ago to avoid the dreaded question “are we there yet?” is getting Post-it notes and marking the times of when we started till the time we have left to go for the day’s drive. I post up each hour (down to the exact minute) and when it hits that time they pull one down. It’s a fun game for them on top of letting them know how much we have further. Game changer.

Once I figure out our main stops, I pull up faithful Pinterest, or the Google search bar, and type in “best things to do in…”. This is where it gets fun, and you can cater it to what your family likes to do. I always like to read reviews, blog posts, and if we’re visiting National Parks, look on the Park website for suggestions. You HAVE to keep looking on the National Park websites, ESPECIALLY during winter seasons because many roads and park entrances are closed and it changes constantly due to snow falls. Sometimes you have to give yourself flexibility during the day to change visit times in case the roads may open back up at certain parts. Because we went during the 2 week off season in November for Yellowstone and Teton, the visitor centers were closed and there were no open tours. Winter tours (which I hear are amazing) don’t open up till mid December and it’s only for rented snowmobiles. It still was worth it to us though because even 1-2 miles in certain entrances are breathtaking. Once I plan out the main stop days I play a game of connect the dots along the way and estimate hours on the road. The in between days I’m more flexible with and depending on arrival times at places, I will look up things to do while we’re there or ask locals wherever we stop to eat, stay, or get gas. One thing I also do (especially in these parts of the country) is look up all the National Parks around the journey line in between the main stops and tweak around trying to make the stop work out.

I also really wanted to keep a travel journal this trip filled with our itinerary, budget, what we needed to pack, where to eat, and places to sketch out our favorite memories. It was a fun thing to keep up with on our long hours on the road. Not to mention, it’s a keepsake to always have and remember. Here’s how I mapped out our stops:

It was aesthetically pleasing and calming for me to color code it lol. I also made sure to include the hours it took to get to each stop because having it in one place of reference made it easy during the trip to keep looking at.

I also had a separate place where each day itinerary was mapped out. I left room for a tad flexibility, but I needed to make sure my arrival and departure times were going to work out. There were only a couple of minor changes we made while on the trip. For instance, we visited Yellowstone a day earlier than planned because we ended up deciding to leave earlier one day to make it happen. That left the following day open to do an unexpected family excursion that the kids really enjoyed.

Here are some others things I made sure to plan out so I wouldn’t forget. If I don’t write things down, they won’t happen for me. My mind is constantly spinning and I have way too much on my plate to remember things lol.

So let’s get to the fun stuff shall we!

First stop: Kansas City

This stop was a quick one for us because like I said, I save time for our main stops. I made time for dinner the night of arrival and a morning activity for the family. You know we couldn’t stop in Kansas City without trying out their BBQ. We Googled the top BBQ places and read the reviews. We chose this place because it seemed pretty casual and down to earth for our family. I’m so happy with our choice! The food was sooo good. If you ever stop here, take note, the plates are HUGE and we should have let the kids split to save money lol.

We had originally planned to see Mount Rushmore the next day, but we ended up getting done earlier than expected and stopped by that evening and spent an hour or two there before sunset! Being it was really close to our hotel in Keystone, it ended up working out. It also left more flexibility the following day to drive through Custer State Park on our way to Montana.

We woke up extra early the next day knowing we had a long day of driving up through the top right corner of Wyoming to Billings, MT. On the way to Billings there were two National Park stops! Devil’s Tower and Custer’s Last Stand. It was pretty cool to see in person. It also gave us an opportunity to teach them about that particular battle. Homeschool for the win!

The following day, we woke up EXTRA early because we pretty much had to drive clear across the entire state of Montana. We LUCKED out and missed a snow storm the day before. We actually ended up having really good driving conditions that next day driving to Whitefish, MT. I must say WE FELL IN LOVE with Montana. They don’t call it “Big Sky Country” for no reason. It was BREATHTAKING. Every where you look, the views were jaw dropping. I mean, we pulled off on the side of the road at a gas station and the picture I took looked like a postcard! I’ll let the next pictures speak for themselves. The drive doesn’t seem so terrible when you have the most gorgeous scenery in all of the country.

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Once we arrived in Whitefish, we checked into our hotel then drove to downtown Whitefish. When I say downtown, I mean a small, cute, snowy mountain town. I will say it is pretty modern though. It was a cool town and we absolutely fell in love with this area. If you need more mainstream shopping and grocery shopping, you can drive 15-20min down the highway to Kalispell. This area felt so homey to us for some reason. Very down to earth and beautiful. Also, bonus points for being just 30 min outside of Glacier National Park 😍.

The next day I will NEVER forget. We woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel, stopped at the local outdoors store Murdoch’s to get a few things (like sleds for the kids…BEST purchase ever), and headed to Glacier National Park! This place has always been on my bucket list. I’ve seen it in pictures but in real life, it’s better than I could have ever imagined. It felt like heaven on earth. The air was so crisp and clean. The water looked like glass it was so smooth and clear. We skipped and collected some of the prettiest rocks. We stopped off at a river with a water fall that was right on the side of the road. Much of Glacier was closed due to wintery conditions, but it was open until the Cedar Hikes trail entrance right past Lake McDonald. It still was worth every bit of the drive up. I laid out on the rocks for over an hour just listening to the moving water next to me. It was like nature’s perfect sound machine. I stopped, took a deep breath, and I wanted to freeze that moment forever. The glacier water was almost Caribbean blue. Once we spent some time by the water, we hiked in Cedar Trails and it was truly one of a kind. I felt like I was in a fairy’s world just waiting for a little gnome to pop out. Frozen water over the rocks, huge cedars, wooden bridge walks, I could spend days there if I weren’t afraid to run into a bear lol. BTW, if you go, get you some good bear spray just in case. If you like, you can choose to hike the almost 2 mile hike in the Cedars to a gorgeous lake. We weren’t able to do it with the kids at the time which was a bummer, but it still was gorgeous none the less.

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Told ya.

The next day we spent sightseeing around Whitefish and Kalispell. The kids wanted to see it actively snowing so we drove up a mountain and ended up getting caught in a mini blizzard lol. I only let us stay for no more than 10 minutes because I didn’t want us to get stuck up a mountain with no one to shovel us out lol. Once we came back down we drove to downtown Kalispell which is just 20 min down the road or so. We loved Kalispell as well. We went to a state park that was on top of a mountain overlooking the whole city. It was so neat. It’s a little, old, cute mountain town. I even found the coolest bookstore stacked high to the nines with old smelly books. Just how I like it lol. We took the kids shopping for a bit before we made our way back to our hotel for the night. The kids utilized their sleds on a hill behind our hotel parking lot. Oh the simplest joys lol. They also went swimming again at the hotel pool. We ended up staying 3 nights and 2 full days in Whitefish area.

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The next day we headed back down south to Bozeman, MT. Because we arrived earlier than expected, we ended up visiting Yellowstone a day earlier. I was worried we would be disappointed in Yellowstone because only the north entrance was open by Roosevelt Arch and Mammoth Hot Springs. Old Faithful area was closed the time we were there. They didn’t open for the winter season until mid December. We still thought it was absolutely breathtaking to see. Definitely don’t regret making it happen this trip. I probably will visit again in the summer/early fall time, but for now it was still beautiful. The mountains that surround the park are absolutely gorgeous. I collected rocks every where we went and I ended up finding the most beautiful sea green colored agates. We also saw some elk and buffalo there as well. When we exited the park the sunset over the mountains gave the prettiest purple hue. I finally understood the lyrics “for purple mountain majesty”.

Our hotel in Bozeman (The Lark) was more on the boutique side. It’s modern and really neat. What I like best about it is that it’s right in the heart of downtown. You can walk anywhere in town from there. They also had a fireplace sitting area right outside the lobby. It was small and the walls were a tad thin, so I would assume in busier times it may not be as pleasant, but we enjoyed it. They also provide earplugs if needed 😂. We were only here one night and it was clean, cute, modern, and near EVERYTHING. We woke up the next morning, walked down to a local cafe to eat breakfast, hit a store or two, then on our way leaving out of Bozeman we stopped at a Bear Encounter exhibit for the kids. I didn’t plan this, but after seeing the signs along the road, and the fact that the kids hadn’t seen a bear yet, I thought why not? They really enjoyed seeing the bear. They only keep one bear out at a time to look at, but the kids really enjoyed it so it was worth it to us.

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Once we left Bozeman, our next stop was Jackson Hole, Wyoming! Jackson Hole is such a cool mountain town. I will say though, it’s COLD and it’s on the pricier side so prepare for both. It ended up being -4 degrees 👀 in the mornings, warming up to a whole 9 degrees during the day and 14 the following day thank God lol. My son left a snowglobe souvenir in the van overnight and let’s just say it was frozen the next morning. It was a literal snow globe, until the pressure made it shatter 😬😭. Jackson was beautiful though. Just make sure to layer. My husband and I are MAJOR coffee drinkers and connoisseurs so everywhere we go we have to hit up the best local shops. Our absolute favorite the whole trip was Cowboy Coffee. Even during the off season this place had a line out the wazoo, so just a head’s up. Worth it though. Just outside of Jackson Hole is Grand Teton National Park. Breathtaking as you would imagine. Again, most of the park’s roads were closed, but it stopped at a parking lot just past the visitor center that leads to some cool trails. If you come in the winter however, I do recommend renting some snow shoes or cross country skis. There were so many people out there cross country skiing and it looked like a blast. If we didn’t have the kids, we totally would have done it. We did bring the kids’ sleds with us though. We always kept them in the back of the car just in case we were to pull off on the side of the road at a spot to sled. Another tip, have a separate, easily accessible place for your winter bibs, boots, and clothes. I wore clothes (like leggings) that I could easily slip them over. We would keep them in the back of the van if we wanted to stop off to hike or sled. The Tetons were absolutely beautiful, but because it was so cold, our toes could barely take more than 45min out there lol. We enjoyed it while it lasted though.

Our next stop after Jackson, was Moab, Utah! We’ve been to Moab before, but it had been awhile and we wanted to see more of it. The first day in Moab we stopped by Arches National Park. Oh, by the way, I didn’t mention this before, but if you plan to visit more than 2 National Parks a trip, I suggest getting the annual pass for $80. Each park is usually around $30 a family to visit. So the annual pass is worth it if you plan to visit multiple. It’s good for a year and the park visits are unlimited. We ended up hiking to Delicate Arch and OH MY. I wish I would have read the sign before starting the hike lol. It ended up being a 2 hour hike up a mountain with some cliffs. It wasn’t too scary, but you do have to be careful and hold on to the kids for dear life lol. We had to do a little bribing to get them to continue the hike because we underestimated it lol. Make sure to bring some water, good hiking shoes, and maybe a walking stick if you think you may need more stability. It was cool to see though. We ended up not making it completely down before dark, but there were plenty of people out there with us so we didn’t feel alone or nervous. It was a really cool unexpected experience hiking Arches at night. It was so peaceful. My 2nd favorite thing we did the whole trip was rent a jeep on the second day. It. was. so. stinking. cool. If you own a jeep, you HAVE to go to Moab. This excursion should be on anyone’s bucket list. We rented our jeep at Canyonland Aventure Jeep Rentals and they were fantastic. The jeeps were well taken care of and pretty much brand new. They gave us a map of where the off road trails were and the lady did an excellent job explaining how to navigate. Before we left for this trip I looked up “best things to do” once again and jeep rentals popped up. I found this place and so glad I did. They actually ended up having a 1/2 off coupon with a gift certificate purchase for the Rubicon rental. All I had to do was buy the gift card first, call to reserve the jeep for the date I wanted, then cash in the gift card. Super easy. It doesn’t cover tax and the windshield insurance (if you choose it) though. That was an extra $50. You also have to fill the tank up again at the end, but we only used around $10 so it wasn’t bad. It was worth it still and saved us money. They provide a small ice chest with a few waters. We ended up bringing our own ice chest with us though because we made lunches on the trails. The rental lets you keep the jeep for the day (from 8:30-5). We ended up riding off road in Canyonlands National Park and WOWZERS talk about thrilling and amazing. You’re legit riding on cliff ledges almost 😳. Definitely had my nerves on high, but man oh man was it beautiful. I jammed up Need to Breathe’s album, “Out of Body” and it was the perfect soundtrack to cruise to. Riding the trails is truly a one of a kind experience. We ended up eating lunch on the cliff overlooking the Colorado River (same cliff Thelma and Louise drove off ha!). We just opened up the back of the jeep and had a picnic. A family memory for the history books. Once we left out of Canyonlands, we stopped off on the side of the nearest highway and there just so happened to have a short hike up to see ancient petroglyphs and dinosaur tracks! It was really neat to see, but I will say I was a tad afraid of being slightly cliff side with the kiddos so I made it a very quick hike lol. We ended the day with the jeep top back just staring at the bright blue sky on our drive back to the rental shop. Memories we’ll cherish forever.

The next day we woke up and made our way to Colorado. That drive was also so incredible. We were staying in Ridgway that night and we went from red rocks to a winter wonderland. We stayed at a resort/bed and breakfast type place called Chipeta Resort and Spa. It’s a quaint little homey place. Our favorite part was a private balcony with a jacuzzi tub. It was neat to sit out in the hot tub overlooking snowy mountains. Ridgway was a super quiet town. We felt like the only ones there at the time lol. It was beautiful though.

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Ridgway was another short stay for us only because I have always wanted to visit Telluride. Telluride is not too far away from Ridgway so we made it happen. The drive to Telluride felt like we were driving in a real life snow globe. I couldn’t get enough of the views. Telluride is such a cute mountain ski town. If we were to ever come back to take a ski trip this is where I would want to come. It is pricey from what I’ve seen to stay here, but maybe if we save long enough 😬. They were pretty strict with COVID restrictions here, but I could’ve cared less because the views were just too pretty to let anything bother my joy. I ended up finding the coolest thrift store there too. We parked in town, then road the gondola ride up the mountain! No joke, I felt like I was at the North Pole. My eyes did feel like they were going to burst out of my head at one point with the quick elevation transition, but I ended up feeling okay once we got up there. There is a whole other side of town on top of the mountain. That’s where their ski resort area is. It’s a pretty fancy ski town I must say. We ended up taking it causal style and hitting up the local boujee hot dog joint lol. There was a cute little area to eat lunch and COVID approved lol. They had made mock gondolas families could sit in. We ended up spending half the day in Telluride before driving to our next destination which was Durango, CO. Oh, and tip in the winter: park on the sunny side of the street lol. We didn’t realize and parallel parked where the ice wasn’t able to melt and almost had a disaster. We were sliding and couldn’t find grip to pull out of our spot. We almost ended up sliding into a parked truck, but luckily my hubs slipped our van in a lower gear and made it out. This is where some spare kitty litter would have come in handy. I’ve heard that sometimes locals keep some in the back of their car in case they need to pour it out in times like this so their tires can catch some grip to pull out of tough spots. Duly noted lol. ✅

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Next stop, DURANGO! We ended up spending our Thanksgiving here as well. Besides the jeep, I had to book our two extras here ahead of time. One being the Polar Express train ride, and the other being our traditional Thanksgiving meal reservation at our hotel. We ended up staying at the historic Strater Hotel! It was built in the 1800s and it literally felt like staying in a museum. So timeless and they had old displays of Indian artifacts, cowboy apparel, women’s clothing and accessories, etc. Western author Louis L’Amour stayed here often when he needed an escape to write his books. He always requested the room 222 because it was right above the saloon where they played the piano. Our room was so roomy and gorgeous. We felt like we stepped back in time. The thing that the kids loved the most were the staff showing them little secret compartments in the lobby that the “Christmas elves” would hide candy in. They got so excited to randomly check the compartments for candy. Durango is an old railroad town and it sure feels it. It’s a quaint town and it really surprised me. Driving in Durango after Telluride at first seemed a little disappointing only because we went from winter wonderland feel to dry western town lol. Once we got out and walked around town though we really fell in love with it. It was timeless. We found a really cool coffee shop, candy store, kombucha on tap, as well as a really neat antique store where I scored the most amazing vintage turquoise ring! Later that night, the kids put on their best Christmas pjs and we braced ourselves for the amazing Polar Express Train ride! During Christmas time, Durango transforms their train station to a Polar Express theme! This was one family splurge that was worth it. I couldn’t help but to tear up when I witnessed my kids jumping up and down with excitement as the steam train rolled in blowing it’s nostalgic horn. They even danced and did a whole skit for the kids on the train platform. And, thanks to COVID, we had an entire train car to ourselves! They read the story to the kids, gave us each mugs, a golden ticket, and a bell, and we sang Christmas carols the whole ride. It was such a fun family experience that they’ll never forget. Once we got off at the “North Pole” at the end, they had a hot chocolate and sugar cookie stand with Santa and his reindeer waiting just around the corner so we could take a picture (on the other side of a barricade of course lol). We then were able to walk through the train station’s museum and that was really neat as well. The kids had so much fun.

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The next morning was Thanksgiving! The only thing open for us to get a small breakfast and coffee was good ole faithful Durango Joe’s! It actually was quite good! Once we filled our bellies, we drove outside of Durango to visit the 1,000 year old ancient cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park! It was so neat to see and I have ZERO clue how they could have lived like that back in the day on the side of a cliff, with kids no doubt!! Due to COVID, the tours to the dwellings were closed, but it was still neat to see regardless. I wasn’t feeling all that great anyway this day because of the high altitude. This below sea level Louisiana girl didn’t tolerate the above 9,000 feet elevation all too well that day. I had a headache, mild nausea, and fatigue for most of the time up there, but once we got down and back to the hotel I started to feel better. I needed to for our Thanksgiving meal! This was BY FAR the most expensive meal this whole trip and of course the kids wasted a lot of it 😬. Oh well, we still enjoyed the traditional feel of Thanksgiving as a family. The staff at the Strater were wonderful. Not to mention, again thanks to good ole señorita Corona, we had a whole parlor room to ourselves to eat! Once dinner was over, this momma hit the sack early while the kids decorated turkey cookies I bought from Trader Joes before we left and brought with us for them to do lol. Momma got sleep while the kids made a mess, BUT had fun lol. WORTH IT lol.

Our last and final stop before we headed back south was Alamosa, CO. On the drive there, just when we thought the snow was over for the trip, we drove through more mountains with TONS of it! We even pulled off on the side of the road to take the kids sledding again! This was the best sledding experience they had all trip! They loved it! The coolest part, the same day we took them sledding on the snow was the same day we took them sledding on the sand in Great Sand Dunes National Park! That was our last and final National Park on this trip 😭. It was so neat to see. They even had snow left over on the dunes. Who would have thought you could ever see snow and sand to be a pair lol. The sledding wasn’t as great in the sand as it was in the snow, but it was cool to experience with the kids. I’m so glad we stopped to see it. We even were greeted by a HUGE buck on the way out lol. Once we left Alamosa the next day, we headed back down to good ole Louisiana. We were supposed to stop in Dallas for the night on the way home, but the hubs ended up feeling good and wanted to drive as long as he could so we would have a shorter drive time the next day home. We ended up driving 19 hours all the way to Alexandria, La!!! It was tiresome toward the end, but the 3 hour drive home the next day so we could spend the day catching up before a work week made it all worth it lol.

This trip was truly UNFORGETTABLE. I didn’t think we could top last year’s trip to NYC, DC, and Philly during Christmas time, but I think we did with this one. Both trips were memories that I hope our kids will remember for the rest of their lives. Home is wherever I’m roaming with this crew. It was so hard to come back, but here’s to planning next year’s trip! We loved every bit of this and I’m so glad I didn’t give into the fears of COVID restrictions and the potential chaos being two weeks post election travels. If it weren’t for the mask wearing and slight closures here and there, I totally forgot about everything going on. It was a much needed getaway of peace and joy spent with the family. 2020 didn’t end up being so terrible after all. Life is what you make it. I’ve said that my whole life, and I plan on sticking to that motto for the rest of it. I hope you enjoyed my trip deet spiel! Cheers to all your family travels, memories, and joys!