10 weeks 10 parks 10 museums
This year we took all five kids on a 10 week trip of 10 western National Parks and 10 museums. I’ll write more in-depth about different parts of planning, funding and pulling off a trip like this. But I wanted to give you a high-level overview.
Some might consider this a “once in a lifetime trip” but I don’t think it should be. I think these kinds of experiences should be sprinkled all throughout our life. In each season, we should find the “once in a lifetime” adventure that we add to our highlight reel for the decade.
There are some common misconceptions that hold people back
- You can only do these crazy things when you are in college or after 65. The entire middle of your life has to be a working grind.
- You need a full year off.
- It will cost $50,000+
- Traveling with kids is horrible.
Here is what we did with a National Park Pass ($80) and the ASTC science museum pass ($80-$120). Plus what I think of all those misconceptions!
Western National Park Itinerary
Canyonlands: National Park #1 on the trip. 1 day visit.
Arches National Park: National Park #2 on the trip. Visited two days.
Bonus: Capitol Reef. We drove through Capitol Reef on the way to Bryce. It was worth the extra drive and a great spot to stop. National Park #3. Spent about 3 hours.
Bryce Canyon: National Park #4. We spent two days hiking here. If we didn’t have little kids, we would have spent even more time doing more challenging hikes.
Zion National Park: National Park #5. We spent three days touring around here. We were here in May and it was already getting warm and crowded. But it was amazingly beautiful.
Horseshoe Bend: The parking lot was maxed out, but it would have been a great way to spend an hour or two. I also wish we would have planned for a few hours around Lake Powell.
Grand Cayon: This was National Park #6 for us. We spent a full day and hiked along the top. With our kids being young, we passed on hiking down.
Antelope Canyon: I really wish we could have made it work to see this. It was bizarrly windy the whole time we were in AZ. And apparently a miserable sandstorm in the canyon that week.
Joshua Tree: National Park #7. This was an unexpected favorite. We spent two days camping in the park. It was amazing.
Sequoia/King Canyon: National Park #7 (skipped Kings Canyon which would have been #8). We spent 3 days here. While other places were rather hot in May, Sequoia was chilly and damp. Somehow it added to the magic that are the sequoias.
Yosemite: National Park #8. How crazy is this world? Like these are real places we can just fly or drive to? And these pictures barely do the parks justice. We spent 3 days here and loved every second.
Redwoods: National Park #9 for us. There was something about dense, still, forrest pressed up against a wild coastline. We spent 3 days in the Redwoods and camped among a herd of elk. It was surreal.
Crater Lake: National Park #10. We spent a few days camping in the area and one day at Crater Lake.
Bonus: Fort Washington. We hadn’t planned to stop here. But ended up spending an afternoon with a blogger friend at this National Park.
Museums Included with our ASTC pass
In Salt Lake area:
- Clark Planetarium
- The Leonardo
- Natural History Museum of Utah
- Thanksgiving Point
Arizona area:
- Lowell Observatory (skipped)
California:
- Discovery Cube
- Bay Area Discovery Museum
- California Science Center (skipped)
- Fleet Science Center
- Natural History Museum of Los Angeles (skipped)
- San Diego Natural History Museum
Oregon:
- Eugene Science Center (formerly Science Factory)
- University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History (skipped)
- Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (skipped)
Washington:
- Mobius Science Center
Just for kicks and giggles, we also did 3 full days of Disneyland. We went down to San Diego for 4 days of San Diego Zoo. We also drove up the Oregon coast and stayed in Newport where we watched sea lions and did a museum trio (underwater gardens, wax museum and Ripley’s Believe it or not).
We drove right by a number to museums but opted to skip them either because of timing or just too much other fun stuff to do!
Travel Misconceptions Busted!
You can only do these crazy things when you are in college or after 65. The entire middle of your life has to be a working grind.
It’s not really common yet, but a LOT of people are taking mini-retirements. I have a unique position because I run a class on mini-retirements, so I get to watch ordinary people pull this off all the time. Some negotiate a month off, others a full year. Some walk away from jobs, others try to walk away but get extra accommodations as soon as they put in their notice. People go back to the same job, find new jobs or do a career transition. I swear, this is a thing. A real thing.
You need a full year off.
This was a 10-week trip. If we had taken 3 months off, it would have given us a week to prep/pack and a week to unpack. (For 7 people, both do take a full week!) But this kind of trip feels like half a lifetime. We saw so many amazing sites and had really incredible experiences.
It will cost $50,000+
I’m still sorting through all the expenses, but it looks like we came in under $5,000. And that includes $1000 for Disney (the mouse is expensive!) We rented our house out while we were gone which covered $2650. If we didn’t do Disney, we would be out about $2,000. It was an incredible trip and not even close to $50,000!
Traveling with kids is horrible.
I told a lot of people in real life what we were doing and 9 out of 10 times the response was, “That’s not a vacation!” or “Oh, that sounds horrible!” or a slightly nicer, “Good for you! Your braver than I would be!”
Oddly enough, this was the number one concern people had. Not the time off, not the cost, not the craziness of doing this mid-life. Nope, they all thought traveling with kids is horrible.
Traveling with kids is….different. I’ve solo traveled. I’ve traveled with friends. I’ve traveled with one or two kids. Traveling with 5 little kids is just different. Setting that expectation is the key to having fun. Don’t try to drag a 2-year-old to 7 attractions.
It’s slower. We do fewer things per day. But it’s also incredibly fun. 5 years olds simply know how to have more fun than adults. Everything I thought was lame they were over the moon about. And visa versa! Bathrooms, shuttle buses, mud puddles, sand, and everything in between. It was just SO MUCH FUN for them.
We did exactly one thing a day. Despite what might appear to be a packed itinerary, it never felt rushed because that way we were doing exploring one part of a National Park. It’s hard to feel rushed on a slow, winding hike. (And trust me, hiking with 5 little kids is SLOOWWWW!)
We skipped some museums. We opted out of dangerous hikes. We made a few mental notes of things we would come to see again when the kids are older. The trip looked different than if it were an adult only trip. But that season of our life is coming again. This season with little kids is short.
A lot of things in life have an expiration date. The opportunity just won’t last forever. This trip couldn’t wait on the shelf for us another 20 years. I highly doubt my kids would do this trip with us in their 20’s. Besides we have other adventures to pack into that decade when we get there!
We have made a lot of unconventional and some would say hard choices to get to this point. But it’s because we always had our eye on the prize. I started dreaming and scheming on this trip 10 years ago. Having that clear goal, the “hard choices” we made along the way, like paying cash for our house, seemed like the perfect option.
For Conversation: Any park your love? Which one do you most want to see, or see again?
LOVE IT! Great Post. My wife and I were fortunate enough at one point in our lives to live in Western Colorado. We managed to visit the Utah parks you mentioned. They are so amazing in the day and downright breathtaking at night! I’ve mentioned this to you before but I absolutely love what you and your family are doing. Such an inspiration!!! If you can travel with 5 kiddos on the road, my wife can certainly travel with 1.
You can totally travel with 1! The best way to start is just practice where you live. Go out for the whole day: parks, picnic, festival, walking around. Kids can learn just to be “out and about” for 8 hours then your good anywhere. When we just had 1 little we lived in Europe and did 27 countries with that kid!
I love this so much! We did a “big” 2-week National Parks trip last summer with our 5-year-old and it was a blast! We were pooped and definitely tried to do too much each day. (And we only had 1 kiddo instead of 5.) So I would do it differently next time. But I can’t wait to do it again with my two kiddos (when Lucy gets a little bigger). Love all the stops you made – and I’m taking notes because this is our favorite part of the country.
As for cost, we saved a lot of hotel points and planned stops along the way based on the lower level of points. My son said one of his favorite parts was hotel pools (face palm) – so I guess that was a win. And it saved us money on breakfast, too. We would eat the free breakfast on our way out in the morning and grab a piece of fruit or granola bar for a snack.
What is it about kids and hotel pools?
Yes! With kids, someone is always happy. Hotel pools are the BEST….for them. My kids favorite part of Zion was (drum roll) the shuttle bus! LOVED it.
i like that you made a plan and put in the work and choices to execute it. we don’t have many national parks in the east, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other wilderness areas, which is where we’re heading in a few weeks. how did you tote 7 people around? a van pulling a pop up camper? you gotta reserve sites a long time in advance for reserve american, no? thanks for the good info.
We have a Toyota minivan and a pop-up. Good gas mileage and easy to tow. Some you can just show up, but we reserved between 6 months and 2 weeks out. Mostly because we are less flexible with 5 little kids. Sleeping in the van would have been a rough night. Where I totally would do that solo.
Your kids will remember this trip and talk about it fondly after you are gone. They will likely do the same for their children as well.
I really hope so!
So awesome, I’m jealous! I have been to all of those parks except Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Wells, but it’s been a while for many. I need to revisit some of those gems and spend some quality quiet time. Our country has SO much beauty!
It’s crazy! I had never been to any of these. I was constantly in awe that all this isn’t on another planet or something. It blows my mind that we can just drive to this stuff.
Awesome! You guys are an inspiration. Traveling with kids can be difficult but that shouldn’t stop anyone if you really want to do it. We just finished a 3 week trip to the northwest that included staying at 4 different relatives’ houses and camping at Mount Raineer. There were several day trips that included going to the beach two different times, kayaking down a river, and a few hikes. We have 6 boys ages 11, 9, 6, 4, 2, and 2 and boy is it fun to see peoples’ heads turn and hear the comments about our family!
We are discussing buying a pop up trailer to do an adventure similar to yours now.
P.S. When you say Point Reef, I believe you mean Capitol Reef.
6 boys! Wowza, and I thought we got weird looks. =) And I fixed the Capitol Reef, I don’t why I confused that the whole trip! And I LOVE the pop-up. We can pull it with our van and because it’s 20 years old it was only about $4,000. We have gotten a LOT of use out of that thing. =)
This is so awesome!!! I’m inspired. Once you’re done sorting through the trip expenses I’d love hear more about those in detail 🙂 . Spending reports are super helpful when I’m trying to budget for something I haven’t done before. Thank you for sharing!
Yeah I’m planning on writing a few more posts breaking down the trip to help people out. But didn’t want this one to be too huge. =)
Love reading about your adventures with the family! One objective a day is the key to sanity in traveling with kids – it’s the overly ambitious parent who feels somehow held back by their child that calls family travel horrible.
In addition to the face palm from the pools being a highlight, our kids recall the food they ate far better than the sites we visited. “Where did you go this summer?” usually elicits the reply: “To ice cream, souvlaki and burritos.”
We are thinking of a national parks trip through the Southwest next summer, so this is terrific fodder for our bucket list.
Fondly,
CD
Hum, that’s an interesting observation about overly ambitious parents. I might add, perfectionistic tendencies. Traveling with kids is a compromise. In SO many ways. PBandJ sandwiches in the car, messy shirts, late bedtimes, skipped attractions, you name it!
Hard to beat that lineup of parks; those are all places I’ve wanted to explore for a long time. I’m hoping we can take a similar path on our own 2 month camping journey. I’m sure your 5 kids keeps you on your toes but on the flip side, we bring along an often lonely 10 year old who would love siblings to bicker with!
This is why all our friends need to hit FI as well, so we have camping friends!
The trip looks amazing, Jillian! I’d be one of the people that wonders how people travel with (little) kids. I think once they get past 3-4 years of age, traveling with them gets much better. However, I’m pretty type A and get easily frazzled when things don’t go according to plan. I’ve been working on that since having kids though. 🙂
Taking a trip like this is definitely on my bucket list (actually two trips!). When I tell people that I want to take a couple of months and do a camping trip with my kids in a few years, they get excited and want to do it as well. Our plan is to go to some parks when my oldest is in 4th grade (free parks pass) and than again to another few when my younger one is in 4th grade. I can’t wait to see all of the natural beauty and amazing sights along the way.
I’ll add my vote to getting a detailed cost break down since I’d love to know what to consider when planning this.
Yes! I will get that out. =) I love to see people’s budgets as well. When I started thinking about a big trip like this 5-10 years ago, I was planning on $20k. Ha! I am often an over budgeter. Even before we took this trip I estimated about $7k. Better to come home with pockets full of cash than run out, I suppose.
These are some of the most beautiful places in the world. We love the USA national parks and feel very blessed to have spent so much time in many of them. I wish more Americans would get out and see their own backyard.
Antelope Canyons is great, but I think I loved the slot canyons in Spooky Glulch just a little better. They are a lot less crowded. They wouldn’t be good with small kids, but on that trip you plan for much later the might be a great option. There are three slot canyons are at the end of Hole in the rock road and they are spectacular.
There is SO much here. I was constantly in awe during this trip. I never feel back about having to miss something. Because I know it’s never the last time. We’ll do it again when our kids are older, and when the kids have moved out, and when we have grandbabies in tow. It’s nice having a few things to come back to. =)
I so agree! There is so much beauty in this world to see we can never get to all of it and I love that there is always more to see.
Thanks for posting this big overview. It’s inspiring! So many beautiful places and time together. 🙂
It was so lovely. Such a variety of landscapes, history and habitats!
Great post Jillian! When I was kid, my dad and stepmom took the 5 of us kids on an RV trip through the Pacific Northwest. I had my 12th birthday in the Grand Tetons. It’s a trip I’ll never forget.
Just today I told my 5 boys today (ages 11-21) that I really want to do this with them next summer.
In June, I hiked Half Dome with my dad – for his 80th birthday! – together with my husband and sister.
And my husband and I just returned from a 4-day, budget-friendly family vacation with our 5 boys. The BBQ and the crockpot were my best friends.
I’m looking forward to reading how you organized and budgeted your 10-week family trip. It sounds amazing.
Those are really great ages because you can do more of the technical hikes and adventures. Traveling with a 2-year-old is a beginner level kind of experience. There were a few hikes we thought “That will be really fun in 10 years!”
You’ll get there, Jillian. One day at a time.
Don’t count out traveling with “kids” in their twenties. My wife and I took a RV trip across country this year. My 24 year old quit her job (had another in hand) and flew half way to join us for the second half of the trip visiting NPs further south. She loved it (and so did we). Keep up the positive articles. They inspiring and informative.
I really hope we are still doing trips when they are in their 20’s!
Wow!! You are amazing!! We spent a week in China this summer with our 2 kids(ages 5 and 3) (still working on my blog post;)). It was amazing, and our kids had a great time. You are so right when you say traveling with kids is different, but I loved being able to travel with my kids even though they are small.
A National Park trip like you took is inspiring, and I am already looking forward to planning a trip like that with my family.
China is on our bucket list. My kids are super interested in the culture and history there, so it might happen in the next few years.
Awesome! We want to do a similar trip someday across the parks out west, but we’ll probably wait a little while. We could certainly do it with a one year old, but it’d be good if she was a little older and could enjoy it all too.
I’m not sure there is a perfect age to start. We traveled with our kids at every age. Before 4 they don’t really remember the specifics, but they get good at traveling. We often think it’ll be fun to come back to this again.
Color me green with envy, Jillian. I’ve always said you were a national treasure, and this post only confirms it. Thanks for showing us how to exploit two of the most amazing things life has to offer: kids and the natural world.
Here is another reason to look at a camper or RV! You both would have a blast. There is so much amazing stuff out there to see.