Jeremy K
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 p.1 #1 · road trip preliminary path, what to see along the way? | |
There are a lot of places me and my roommate would love to stop but we picked the most logical ones that made up a loop so we're not spending hours backtracking or driving all over the place. As far as how long to spend at each place, hotels, etc we're winging that so if we decide we're bored somewhere we just go on to the next place. Or if we really like somewhere we'll stay there for longer and maybe drop another stop from the list.
I've included the major cities we'll run through on the way out by taking I40 out and I70 back.
Cities on the way out:
Columbus, OH
Springfield, IL
Indianapolis, IN
St louis, MO – Gateway Arch
Springfield, MO
Tulsa, OK
Oklahoma city, OK
Amarillo, TX
Albuquerque, NM
The major stops:
Painted desert/petrified forest - 1 day
Meteor crater - couple hours along the way to the GC
Flagstaff, AZ (passing through mostly)
Maybe sunset volcano (only a quick stop if we do it)
Grand canyon - 1-2 days
Antelope canyon/horseshoe bend - 2-3 days
Bryce - 1-2 days
Goblin Valley state park - 1 day
Arches NP - 1-2 days
Valley of the gods - part of the day, mostly interested in monument valley
Mexican hat - quick stop
Monument Valley - 1-2 days
4 corners - quick stop
mesa verde - 1 day
great sand dune NP - 1 day
On the way out:
Pueblo, CO
Colorado Springs, CO
Topeka, KS
St. Louis, MO
Indianapolis, IN
Columbus, OH
I know the first thing you guys will say is "you'll be on the road all the time" and "spend more time at places" but this is just a guess at about how long we'd spend there once we get there. So say we get to the painted desert in the late afternoon, we may go around and if we feel like we didn't see much in 2-3 hours we'll spend the next morning around the park and leave whenever we feel like it. The general idea is to spend every sunrise or sunset at a park, so after the sun sets we may drive to the next park (since the sun will be going down at like 5pm still) as most parks are around 2-4 hours apart. If we find we've spent a lot of time at the first handful of parks we'll drop a park we didn't want to visit as much, but generally have about 2 weeks to drive around the mid west.
Also we're keeping in mind the fact that it's winter so spending hours on end outside will not always be that wonderful. More important, I had surgery on my ankle about 2 months ago and it'll be up to walking a lot, but I shouldnt push it and try to hike a lot. It's mostly a driving tour of the parks and getting out to walk the easier trails and major attractions.
I've figured about 4 days to get out there, with like 10ish hours on the road each day, leaving plenty of time to drive more if need be. Now to break up all that driving in each of the major cities I listed, is there anything that is REALLY REALLY worth visiting, like in St Louis we HAVE to stop and see the arch. I'm looking for a place to stop for an hour or 2, maybe grab food and get back on the road again. We'll also be making more trips like this and can spend more time at places we really liked in the future.
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