This trip is one we have talked about wanting to take for a while. We had in mind that we would wait a few years, though, until the kids were a little older so they would remember some of it. As you may or may not know, my husband is a landscape photographer and we love to visit and photograph National Parks and beautiful areas of God’s majestic creation. For several years now he has been selling beautiful calendars and prints featuring the National Parks as well as Texas landscapes. A few months ago we were approached with an idea from a large corporation who is wanting to purchase a large order of coffee table books for their businesses. Jordan has thousands of photos of the rocky mountains and the northwestern National Parks; however, he really wanted to add the variety of the southwestern National Parks to the book. So, here we are, taking a two week roadtrip with two toddlers, two and under! We decided we needed a hashtag for Instagram to document some of our highlights of the trip- so we will call this trip #MooreParksPlease (MPP Trip). We will be visiting a total of 11 National Parks and I will be doing my best to blog daily with tips and tricks for traveling with toddlers! I hope that you will enjoy following along with our adventure and share with me things that have worked for you when traveling!
Plan. My husband did all of the trip planning as far as itinerary, points of interest, and photograph locations go. Thankfully, he only put two long travel days in the plans. We had traveled to Colorado over the summer last year but made the drive in two days from central Texas. At the time the babies were 8 months and 20 months old. It was an exhausting two full days of travel for them and us, and since we are not on a time crunch this round we are not going to repeat that experience.
Where are we going? — Carlsbad Canyon NP, Guadalupe Mountain NP, Pertrified Forest NP, Grand Canyon NP, Zion NP, Bryce NP, Capitol Reef NP, Arches NP, Canyonlands NP, Mesa Verde NP, Great Sand Dunes NP. We also will be hitting up some other well-known areas such as Horseshoe Bend, Monument Valley, and possibly Palo Duro Canyon.
Many people told us we were crazy for taking a two week long road trip (over 50 hours of drive time from location to location, plus time spent within the parks) with a one year old and a two year old. I have to admit, I have been a little apprehensive and intimidated by the very idea of taking this trip. However, things have worked out in a way that we have this perfect opportunity to take this trip as a family so we wanted to take advantage of it!
Prep. Before our trip began, I did a lot of research and planning prep. I gathered items we planned to take and set piles of laundry aside as it came out of the dryer that I knew we would want/need on this trip. However, we did not actually start to pack and load the car until late the night before we left. This was not ideal, as I wanted more time to feel less pressured as we packed, but due to circumstances out of our control, there we were at 11 pm just starting to pack for a two-week trip. We finished up around 2 am and gladly went to sleep. So, here’s tip #1: start off with more than 5 hours of sleep!
So, what do a one year old and a two year old need to keep them occupied in the carseat for this long!? We are finding out as we go what works best and what doesn’t work at all! So far the kids have been doing an amazing job at staying content, engaged, and pleasant. Of course we have had a handful of breakdowns, but what can we expect with two, two and under! A big key to success on this trip will be flexibility and patience. When we are tired, we have to remember that they are tired too. When we want out of the car, so do they. Redirection works wonders when they are upset (both in the car and out!). Unplanned stops to get out, stretch legs and change diapers are expected and necessary and it’s ok to stray from the plan a little bit! I will be sharing more experiences, tips, tricks and favorite gear throughout the trip. Stay tuned!
Live Moore Fully 