14th September, 2018

Road tripping is lots of fun. We love having our own wheels, the freedom to stop wherever and whenever we please.
The USA makes road tripping so easy for tourists and locals alike. There are service station villages evenly scattered along the highway. Bathroom stops and lots of options for food.

We usually planned out each day the night before, factoring in time for breaks. Lunch, petrol, stretching of the legs etc. No matter how long the journey, we like to break it up into 3 hour blocks.
The kids will do a 3 hour block of school work, then we will break – before heading on again for another 3 hours. Free time, card games, eye spy or naps.
Some days, our journey from place to place was only 5 hours, some days it was 8 or 9.

“Teddy’s Diner”…one of the many games they invented in the backseat

Lil loved this job!

Stopped off in Beaver, Utah

After our fabulous day at Yellowstone, we were on a mission to reach the Grand Canyon. We crossed 3 states in 2 days, taking our time and enjoying the ride.

From Tetonia, Idaho (where we stayed the night after Yellowstone), we drove down through Idaho, and onto Provo, Utah.
Utah is gorgeous. So mountainous. So hot.
We only had one night here, so it was a quick stop at Walmart for a few snacks and supplies and dinner at the kids favourite – Denny’s Diner before we hit the hay, ready to do it all again the next day!

We then drove right through Utah before hitting Arizona. Another gorgeous drive through what felt like the movie set of “Cars” – the kids loved it!
In particular, the cruise along the Vermillion Cliffs Scenic Highway was just incredible!
We stopped at the historic Navajo Bridge. It was so dry, hot and dusty – but worth stopping for.

Navajo Bridge

Navajo Bridge

Navajo Bridge

Vermillion Cliffs Scenic Highway

Vermillion Cliffs Scenic Highway

HELLO Arizona!!!

ROAD TRIP TIPS AND TRICKS:
Kids and road trips – two things that don’t always mix. “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”
We always make sure we have lots of snacks, water, fully charged iPads for both school work, and some fun. Cards, and games (We love Skip-Bo and UNO, as well as Pass the Pigs…), books to read. School books, with pens and pencils in the backseat – easy access for little hands.

Another thing we do is set our destination into the GPS so the kids can watch the time tick away and know how much longer we have, rather than asking every half an hour. Spencer loved to watch the clock and work out how many more minutes or hours we had left on any given day.

It was a few long days of driving – but we were so pumped to arrive at The Grand Canyon!!!

Stay tuned…

Cxx