The Hartsocks

We had an INCREDIBLE 3 week trip across the USA in June/July (See my IG/Facebook posts for pics/videos). 13 states, 5500 hundred miles, 11 National/State Parks. The goal of this post is to share our info for those interested to take their own road trip. This trip will go down as one of the best experiences I've had as a husband and father. TAKE A ROAD TRIP WITH YOUR FAMILY!!!

We own our own RV, so I included fuel costs and cost to rent a trailer for our tow car. If you don't own an RV, you can rent RV's or just stay in hotels (which is a cheaper option). I broke out or spending in five categories:
Lodging-campgrounds (mainly KOA's)
Fuel/Trailer
Activities
Food-We could have packed more lunches, and saved $300-500 but took the convenient route and ate in many of the national parks. $50 or more every time for our family of 4.
Souvenirs-shirts, hats, toys, keepsakes

A couple of overarching notes:
National Park Pass: Lindsey signed up for the "A Kid in Every Park" program that give free park access to 4th graders and their family. But buying a pass for a family is only $80 per year for whole family.

National Park Passport Stamps/Sticker: The national park sells a passport you can fill with stamps (available in visitor centers of all national parks). The kids love finding the stamp in each park, each one was unique to the park we visited. We also purchased the sticker in each park that gave some info on each location. The girls want to fill up the passport!

Destinations:

St Louis

City Museum: An urban jungle gym for kids and adults. Slides, hidden tunnels, climbing, and more. Hard to explain, but worth the trip.

Cost: $20 per person

Time: 3-4 hours to see everything

Gateway Arch: Book tickets in advance for a specific time slot to go to top of arch. Go to the visitors center and watch the 30 minute movie on the building of the arch before you go up in the inclinator.

Cost: $12 per person

Time: 2 hours including time at top

Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour: There are lots of options for tours. We took the most basic, that lasts about 45 minutes. Includes seeing the Clydesdales, beech wood aging tanks, and historic brew house. We also added the historic package that takes you to a museum with lots of interesting artifacts. This added around 30 minutes to the tour.

Cost: Basic tour is free, $5 per person to add museum access

Time: 2 hours for basic tour and museum, other tours are longer

Ted Drewes Custard: Amazing Custard stand featured on many TV shows. Get a concrete. Thank me later.

South Dakota

Corn Palace: In Mitchell, SD on way to Mt. Rushmore is a small town that build an homage to corn. The building is basically a gymnasium/community center that is used for tourism. There are giant murals made of corn that are constantly being changed. Its totally hokie, but a fun 30 minute break from driving.

Time:30 minutes

Mount Rushmore: You have to visit this place once in your life. Go an hour or so before the evening lighting ceremony. There is a short hike (half mile) to see carving from different angles, and the visitor center has a video showing the process of making the monument. The ceremony explains some of the history behind the carving and a flag lowering ceremony before the sculpture is illuminated for the evening.

Cost: Free with Park Pass

Time: 2-3 hours

Badlands National Park: We left early in the morning to go on a guided ranger walk explaining the geology of the Badlands. It was just average. After that we drove the Badlands Loop Road and stopped at a couple places to look and let the kids climb on stuff. Make sure to visit Roberts Prairie Dog Town.

Cost: Free with Park Pass

Time: 1/2 day

Custer State Park & Needle Highway: Custer is a gorgeous state park where we spotted our first buffalo. Take the 18 mile wildlife loop. Then head to SD-87 and take the Needle Highway. This is a 14 mile twisty-turny road that has 1 lane tunnels carved through the mountain and gorgeous views of giant rock outcroppings.

Cost: $20 per car (its not a national park so our pass didn't work here)

Time: 1/2 day

If I had more time: Would have visited the Minuteman Missile National Historic Sight

Cody, Wyoming

Cody Night Rodeo: We only stayed an evening in Cody and went to the longest running nightly rodeo in the USA. It was a GREAT time! Our girls had never seen a rodeo and they loved the animals, rodeo clowns, and cowboys. Rodeo is such a different lifestyle than what we know and it was fun to experience it first hand. The girls favorite part was where they had all the kids come to the arena floor and chase 2 calves with ribbons tied to their tails. The kids that got the ribbons won free ice cream!!!

Cost: $18 per person

Time: 3 hours

Yellowstone National Park

We stayed in West Yellowstone, and were fortunate to find a spot there. Campsites inside the park book up a year in advance and West Yellowstone is the location outside the park nearest to most attractions. I booked 6 months early and got one of the last spots.

Yellowstone is massive. We spent 2 full days and 2 half days there. It is an hour or more to get from one major sight to another. We felt like we saw all the big sights, but didn't have much time to hike and dig deeper into the park. If/when we go back we expect to skip the tourist spots and hike more trails.

When driving in Yellowstone, expect animal delays. When a buffalo walks in the middle of the road, its common for traffic jams to follow.

Day 1:

Hayden Valley: We drove across this valley on our way to West Yellowstone, saw buffalo and elk.

Mud Volcano/Dragon's Mouth: First geothermal features we saw, but it also sleeted on us...in July!

Fountain Paint Pots/Midway Geyser Basin (includes Grand Prismatic): On way to Old Faithful we stopped at these sights, spent 30-40 minutes at each.

Old Faithful/Upper Geyser Basin/Old Faithful Inn: We visited near dusk, smaller crowds. Walked part of the upper geyser trails, and watched Old Faithful erupt from behind the main viewing area. It's not a good place to watch, all you see is the steam coming towards you instead of seeing the water shooting into the sky. Not recommended. Go to the visitor center, watch the movie offered. Also be sure to check out the Old Faithful Inn. Built in 1903 with a massive fireplace and rustic architecture. Worth walking through.

Day 2:

Norris Geyser Basin: We spent about an hour here. Didn't see everything, but felt like we saw enough.

Upper/Lower Falls/Yellowstone Grand Canyon: These were spectacular to see. Be sure to visit the "Brink of Upper Falls" and "Brink of Lower Falls" overlooks. Its staggering to be so close to the edge. Both rim trails were closed so we visited Artist's Point (must see).

Lamar Valley: This turned out to be one of our favorite destinations. Its far less busy, but the views were spectacular, saw lots of wildlife, and we stopped along a stream and let the girls put their feet in the water.

Day 3:

Mammoth Hot Springs: Mammoth is home to Fort Yellowstone that was operated by military in the early 1900's. Now it serves as administrative area for the park. There are elk that walk the streets as if they lived in the homes. The hot springs area is beautiful, just like the rest of the park. Cascading pools with endless colors.

Old Faithful: We weren't satisfied with our first viewing, so we went back and watched from the front. So much better.

Jackson Hole, WY

Day 1:

Grand Teton National Park: We drove through the park on the way to Jackson on Hwy 191. The vistas of the mountain range are breathtaking.

Snow King Alpine Slide & Cowboy Coaster:
Cost: $17 per person per ride. Kids loved doing this.

Day 2:

Hiking: Took a easy hike in Wilson Wyoming

Spring Creek Horseback Riding: 2 hour ride with spectacular Tetons mountain views. 2 hours is the most riding I would want to do. Haven't properly broken in my saddle I guess...
Cost: $70 per person

Jackson Hole Shootout: Every evening a local theater has a shootout in the town square. Corny, but a must see.

Day 3:

4th of July Parade

Mad River White Water Rafting: Cost: $96 per person including wet-suit rental.

Grand Tetons National Park: Drove to Signal Mountain overlook, Cunningham Cabin, and Mormon Row

4th of July Fireworks

Provo, UT

We used hotel reward points and stayed in a hotel. Drove around BYU campus. Did you know Brigham Young had 55 wives???

Glendale, UT

Bryce Canyon-We drove to the majority of the Bryce Canyon overlooks. Our favorites were Inspiration Point and Bryce Point. We would have like to hiked the Queen's Garden trail, but ran out of time. We went back to the park after dark for a star gazing demonstration, but clouds canceled it.

Time: 1/2 day

Zion National Park: Two must do things in Zion.
1. Drive in or out the east entrance to the park on Hwy 9. The scenery is unlike anything I've seen and there is a long tunnel carved out of the mountain.
2. Hike the Narrows. Sheer rock walls on either side as you hike IN a stream. To get here you must park in Springdale and take a city shuttle to the visitor center and transfer to another shuttle that takes you to the Temple of Sinawava stop that is the entrance to the trail. It's quite an experience. Take water shoes and a walking stick for balance.

Time: whole day

Tusayn, AZ

Day 1:

Dixie Ellis Lower Antelope Canyon Tour: This slot canyon might be my favorite stop of the trip. Down a set of unimpressive stair into what looks like a small crack is some of the most spectacular rock formations I have ever seen. The canyon is on an Indian Reservation and your guide explains some of the history of the area.

Cost: $41 per person

Time: 2 hours

Grand Canyon: Desert View Overlook

Time: 1 hour

Day 2:

Mather Point: Visitor center and a couple overlooks

Bright Angel Trail: Hiked only a portion. May go back for the whole thing!

Kolb Brothers Studio: Interesting to learn about these brothers that made a career in the Canyon.

Cortez, CO

Monument Valley: Driving by was enough, gorgeous views. Like an old western.

Mesa Verde (Native American Cliff Dwellings): Must reserve tickets the day before you go. We reserved the Balcony House and Cliff Palace. So amazing to see home built in the sides of mountains 800 years old.

Albequrqe, NM

Musical Highway: A nondescript stretch of highway on Route 66 that resonates your tires to the tune of America the Beautiful. Its over before you realize it happened. May take a couple passes to hear it.

Once we finished the musical highway, we headed east. It was a long 3 days getting home! One tip on this itinerary is I think we visited the sights in the right order. I think if we would have reversed it, we would have been disappointed with the sights in South Dakota.