Trip Reports Home | My Trip Reports | Create Trip Report | Recent Reports | Search Trip Reports

Report 1362: Our Big Trip

By Nana from USA, Summer 2007

Trip Description: June 25 2007 - July 25 2007. My daughter-in-law, granddaughter, grandson, and I traveled in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, and Wyoming, visiting nine National Parks. My son joined us for the last two weeks of the trip. Five days of the trip were spent kayaking and camping with O.A.R.S. Cathy, Erik, Katelyn and I visited (in order) Arches, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks.

Destinations: Countries - North America; Regions/Cities - Other North American region, Southwest

Categories: Camping; Family/Friends; Hotels/B&Bs; Day Tours; Sightseeing; Walking/Hiking; Independent Travel; Adults and Young Children; Small Group: 5 to 9

Kayaking in Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, on our O.A.R.S. trip

In the fall of 2006, my daughter-in-law, Cathy, son, Dave, and I began planning our trip. Cathy, my granddaughter, Katelyn, 11, my grandson, Erik, almost 10, and I would drive out west visiting National Parks. Dave would join us midway. After Dave and I flew home, Cathy would drive back with the kids, doing some sightseeing on the way.

The first thing we did was make reservations for our O.A.R.S. trip - this is an adventure travel company and we reserved a kayaking/rafting/camping trip July 17 - 21 in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Dave also reserved his and my plane tickets at this time. We also made our reservations for three nights at Yellowstone for the time after the O.A.R.S. trip.

In the spring, we started to talk about where else we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. Cathy did a lot of research on the National Parks and on driving. We also wanted to visit her mother, who has a house in the mountains of northeastern Arizona. We decided to leave June 25. Their whole family was at our house for Easter and the weather was terrible, so Cathy and I spent a lot of time with AAA Camping books and maps and we used the Internet to make campground and motel reservations. We also looked at tours available for each park and made reservations for some tours.

We all got water shoes, binoculars, hats, headlamps, and hiking boots, and my husband bought me a tent.