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Epic Summer Vacation - Florida to Montana!

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10miler

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My family is planning a cross country trip from Orlando Florida to Northwest Montana. We at first planned to buy or rent an RV, but decided instead to rent a minivan because it will simplify everything. Our plan is to hit up the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Mt. Rushmore, and my hometown in north Idaho, among other things. My son wants to include a trip to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, and I've yet to discover anything in particular that my daughter wants to see. There are a lot of things we could include in the trip, and we want to take about 7 days to get to Montana, and maybe 5-6 on the way back if possible. What are some "must see" sites that we should include in our itinerary? I'll be sure to update this thread with pics and updates for sure. I'm excited to get planning this great adventure!

To keep this on topic for Q-talk, we will likely hit some great BBQ places along the way. Possibly in Missouri or Kansas. I'll definitely give my opinion on any places we go on the trip.
 
What place is going to let you rent a van and take it out of State and not hammer you with milage charge??
 
What place is going to let you rent a van and take it out of State and not hammer you with milage charge??
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Wow, Debbie Downer! (j/k) But a good question. I have thought of going to Denver and renting an RV from there. 10 Miler, will you be camping along the way?
I think 14 days is a pretty ambitious for that many miles, no way to stay in one place more than a day. The good thing is most of the trip is on this side of the mountains.
Is your family into American History? Car racing? Are they 2 and 4 yrs old or 14 and 16? You gotta provide some context.
 
mchar69 said:
10 Miler, will you be camping along the way?
I think 14 days is a pretty ambitious for that many miles, no way to stay in one place more than a day. The good thing is most of the trip is on this side of the mountains.

Is your family into American History? Car racing? Are they 2 and 4 yrs old or 14 and 16? You gotta provide some context.
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We won’t be camping or spending more than one day in any one place. My boy is 15 and likes history. My daughter is 10 (and acts like she’s 19) and mainly likes telling me she doesn’t want to do what the rest of the family wants to do. In which case she sometimes loses her vote.
:biggrin1:
 
Man can I come with ya!!!???? I'll bring some meat and good times!! That sounds like an epic adventure.. I hate to say.. I'm a hermit.. I use to travel as a kid as I drag raced Jr. Dragsters growing up.. But once I became an adult and moved out into the woods in WV my hermit life began.. Never been much further west than Kentucky but traveled the whole east coast.. Mt. Rushmore and the grand canyon would be an amazing place to see!

would love to see this stay in qtalk as I forget other catagories exist! I have no clue what to recommend but hope you have a wonderful trip!
 
Wow! So many options. Since you are hitting the Grand Canyon, might as well slide over to Utah and drive through Canyonlands, Zion’s, and Arches National parks on your way up to Idaho. You might even include Salt Lake City and Park City as you go up I-15. Park City has a great summertime recreation area at the ski resort with an Alpine Slide down a big ski run along with the Olympic Village bob sled runs and horseback trail rides. Don’t forget to visit Jackson, Wyoming and catch the downtown gun fight and stage coach robbery along with the performing theater arts. There are lots of historical sites to see along the way that your son will enjoy. Being from Idaho, you probably know about many of these. Google sites to see in Arizona, Nevada (Hoover Dam/Vegas), and Utah to get more ideas. Have fun. Should be a great trip!

Edit: forgot to mention that there are several great BBQ places in Utah. Try Bam-Bams in Provo or SLC and Big Johnson’s BBQ in Layton (just opening this month).
 
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Glacier National Park. Road to the sun. Incredible. In northwest Montana.
 
SDAR said:
Glacier National Park. Road to the sun. Incredible. In northwest Montana.
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I forgot to mention that we will be seeing Glacier NP while we are in Montana. My folks live 2 hours from there.
 
stewartr002 said:
Wow! So many options. Since you are hitting the Grand Canyon, might as well slide over to Utah and drive through Canyonlands, Zion’s, and Arches National parks on your way up to Idaho. You might even include Salt Lake City and Park City as you go up I-15. Park City has a great summertime recreation area at the ski resort with an Alpine Slide down a big ski run along with the Olympic Village bob sled runs and horseback trail rides. Don’t forget to visit Jackson, Wyoming and catch the downtown gun fight and stage coach robbery along with the performing theater arts. There are lots of historical sites to see along the way that your son will enjoy. Being from Idaho, you probably know about many of these. Google sites to see in Arizona, Nevada (Hoover Dam/Vegas), and Utah to get more ideas. Have fun. Should be a great trip!

Edit: forgot to mention that there are several great BBQ places in Utah. Try Bam-Bams in Provo or SLC and Big Johnson’s BBQ in Layton (just opening this month).
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I know there are many places in AZ, NV, UT, WY, ID, & MT and I’ve seen a number of them. It’s been years though for me and my wife and kids have seen none of them. The real challenge will be to narrow our choices down, because we could spend several days at least in most of these places. I’d love to be able to take the kids to a trailhead and hike to see some incredible views. We won’t be able to devote an entire day to that, so not sure how feasible that will be.
 
blazinfire said:
Man can I come with ya!!!???? I'll bring some meat and good times!! That sounds like an epic adventure.. I hate to say.. I'm a hermit.. I use to travel as a kid as I drag raced Jr. Dragsters growing up.. But once I became an adult and moved out into the woods in WV my hermit life began.. Never been much further west than Kentucky but traveled the whole east coast.. Mt. Rushmore and the grand canyon would be an amazing place to see!

would love to see this stay in qtalk as I forget other catagories exist! I have no clue what to recommend but hope you have a wonderful trip!
Click to expand...

I’ve traveled up and down both coasts and quite a bit in between. In the continental US there are 5 states I’ve not been to, and looking forward to crossing them off the list with this trip! I’ll bring everyone along through pictures and stories of our travels.
 
When I graduated High School - Summer of 1988- my family did a trip like that. Mom n Dad n 4 kids - Mini Van pulling a Pop Up Camper. Left St Louis Area and Went to Denver area - Rocky Mtns then meandered thru Colorado and hit some Ski Lodges that had Sled tracks down the slopes under the Lifts, then North n South Dakota - Mt Rushmore ,Badlands n things, then over to YellowStone, down to Slat Lake City to see Great Salt Lake n few things, then Down to Gran Canyon in Arizona and rode Mules half way down ( all way down was an overnite camp at the bottom trip) then across New Mexico and saw some Billy the Kid and Cowboy Stuff, then across Oklahoma and Arkansas then back up to St Louis area. Alot of things I dont remember exactly but we would camp 1-2 nites and see things in the area (mostly histoical type stuff) then drive a half to full day and stay 1-2 nites again. It was a 2 1/2 week trip.

My Dad was in the Air Force so we moved every 3-4 years. When I was in Middle school in South Carolina we did a trip up n down the East coast. Disney World, Beaches, Stone Mountain in Georgia, Washington DC for Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial , n things all the way to Plymouth Rock.........it was a 3 week trip I think........

Me n my Wife always said we were going to take our kids on trips like that but Never Happened...... kids are 26 n 27 now.......
 
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SmittyJonz said:
when I graduated High School - Summer of 1988- my family did a trip like that. Mom n Dad n 4 kids - Mini Van pulling a Pop Up Camper. Left St Louis Area and Went to Denver area - Rocky Mtns then meandered thru Colorado and hit some Ski Lodges that had Sled tracks down the slopes under the Lifts, then North n South Dakota - Mt Rushmore ,Badlands n things, then over to YellowStone, down to Slat Lake City to see Great Salt Lake n few things, then Down to Gran Canyon in Arizona and rode Mules half way down ( all way down was an overnite camp at the bottom trip) then across New Mexico and saw some Billy the Kid and Cowboy Stuff, then across Oklahoma and Arkansas then back up to St Louis area. Alot of things I dont remember exactly but we would camp 1-2 nites and see things in the area (mostly histoical type stuff) then drive a half to full day and stay 1-2 nites again. It was a 2 1/2 week trip.

Me n my Wife always said we were going to take our kids on a trip like that but Never Happened...... kids are 26 n 27 now.......
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My family did a similar summer trip, only it was probably 8-9 years earlier. And we had a red VW Bug, black vinyl seats w/ no AC. I remember we went to the Rose Bowl, Disneyland, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion NP, Dodge City, Mt Rushmore, and probably a bunch of stuff I forgot. We got as far east as Illinois, but I have no idea what we saw there. Probably relatives. 17 days, lots of miles, no AC. Good times!
 
Rockinar said:
What place is going to let you rent a van and take it out of State and not hammer you with milage charge??
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Hertz for one.

I have rented big sedans, a Nissan Pathfinder, and even an Altima once. Taking the Pathfinder to Canada was easy. I averaged about 4,000 miles on those trips. No mileage penalties. :p
 
SDAR said:
Glacier National Park. Road to the sun. Incredible. In northwest Montana.
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Absolutely! Did that on our way to Canada. Glacier NP and Montana in general is a super nice place to spend a few days. Banff outside of Calgary is really nice too if you have a passport!

Kansas City BBQ is awesome if you can hit it on your way.
 
If your boy is into history Fort Robison in western Nebraska is considered one of the top parks in America. He will not want to just spend one day. 22,000 acres of hiking fishing history. More then you can do in one day.
 
kfdvm said:
If your boy is into history Fort Robison in western Nebraska is considered one of the top parks in America. He will not want to just spend one day. 22,000 acres of hiking fishing history. More then you can do in one day.
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Thanks, we’ll look into this!
 
Here is a preliminary list of some things we plan to see on our trip.

Biltmore Estate, NC
Gatlinburg, TN
Crater of Diamonds NP, Arkansas
San Antonio, TX (The Alamo)
El Paso, TX
Tucson, AZ
Lake Havasu City, AZ (London Bridge)
Kingman, AZ
Peach Springs, AZ (the part of Route 66 is regarded by some as the best)
Grand Canyon
Yellowstone NP
Glacier NP
Mt Rushmore
Lambeau Field, WI
Chicago, IL
Fat Cap Smoked Meats in Roseland, IN (if we happen to be driving past at lunch or dinner time)
 
Sounds like part of your trip may be driving I-80? If you happen through DesMoines, do yourself a favor and stop at Smoky D's BBQ. Best restaurant BBQ I've ever had.

Ed
 
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