When you start the journey of planning your journey, everything is a possibility! Get everyone involved in the research and see what interests you. Obviously, it isn’t possible to do it ALL, but some places and activities will rise to the surface.
Here’s a good way to start:
1. YouTube. This is the best way I have found to research vacation ideas with the family. I try to add the keywords “for kids” or “family” to make sure I am getting relevant results. For example, “national parks to visit with kids” or “family friendly national parks.” You won't get details of visiting each park, but you'll get an overview of what is out there. *This step is a must-do with the children if you want their buy-in. An epic trip isn't much fun if the kids are complaining or bored the entire time. It is hard to plan something so far in advance, but kids can do it and they can really help make those tough decisions about where to go.
2. Pull out a map and mark the places you are learning about. It helps see where everything is and how it could be connected. For National Parks, we like this National Geographic Road Atlas: Adventure Edition
3. Make a list of top places to visit. Revisit the list after a few weeks and *star* the places that really excite everyone.
4. Map out possible trip variations. We loved using the RoadTrippers app to plan different routes. Eventually, we paid for the Plus version for a year to help locate stops on the way. Be sure to check the distance and time between stops and the distance and time altogether. Do you want to visit a lot of places? Or so you want a lot of time in just a few places? Consider how much time you can be on the road in a day and a week. These small details make a difference.
In our planning, we knew we wanted to visit multiple national parks. After doing our YouTube research, there were a lot of places we wanted to visit. We all had our favorites—the oldest child wanted to see the Grand Canyon and redwoods; the youngest, Death Valley, four corners, and sand dunes; my husband wanted to see Arches and the Grand Canyon; and I wanted to go to a hot springs and travel through New Mexico to see a dear friend in Albuquerque.
We made many different versions of a trip trying to include it all, but it just didn’t make sense to spend so much time in the car. We realized we could all get one thing, but probably not everything. BUT, no matter what, we’d all have a great time and see some pretty cool stuff. With that set as an expectation, we narrowed it down 3 main trips:
1. the north for large and grand parks (Glaciers, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons)
2. California for the variety (Beaches, Death Valley, Yosemite, and Redwoods)
3. the southwest for a taste of Mexican cuisine, deserts, and sandstone (White Sands, Arches, Zion, and Grand Canyon).
For this trip, we decided to focus on the southwest, but we were all pretty excited to see the other parks on another trip.
With a region in mind, we looked for the major airports, mapped out the national parks, and looked for some main tourist spots. Our plan was still very loose, but it needed to be because there were some major logistical decisions we still had to make!
Step 2: Traveling Logistics
Yours in Adventure,
The Family that Rambles
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