I’ve (Julie) finally come to semi-peace with the idea that I’m no longer able to go on trips to faraway places. Those days are in the past, at least for the next decade. But I still love to travel so I’ve become happy, even thrilled, to be able to explore the area in which I live.
Winter is no fun and I’m getting really anxious to get out of town. Spring can’t come fast enough!! So I’ve started planning our family trips for the year and would like any ideas and/or experiences you may have regarding my list of potential weekend getaways.
Careful consideration must be made to insure fun for a toddler and preschooler along with an overly excited shutter-clicker of a husband. I guess my biggest worry is that we’d get somewhere and I’d have to just sit and watch the kids play (get hurt and lost) instead of doing my own playing. One more consideration, Madeleine hasn’t been camping yet and I’m not sure how well she’d do. We’d first like to take her somewhere close before we venture camping in Southern Utah. We’re also open to motels/hotels/lodges/cabins.
(Most of the below images are not ours. Click on them for the source.)
- Loop from Bonneville Salt Flats to Lehman Caves and Great Basin National Park to Little Sahara Sand Dunes and through Eureka ghost town.
- Arches National Park. Enough interest for adults who won’t be able to hike much due to the kids?
- Canyonlands National Park. Same as above.
- Goblin Valley State Park. A little afraid of the kids getting lost… and I’d love to do this and the above two parks on the same trip, but I’d be afraid of whizzing by everything in order to see it all.
- Capitol Reef/Calf Creek Falls. We did this last year and LOVED it, but didn’t do all the hikes we wanted. But again, the kids aren’t big hikers.
- Kolob Canyon on the way to Valley of Fire State Park. Love the park, but not sure it’s worth the long drive.
- We’d love to do Grand Teton and Yellowstone but are afraid that the kids aren’t old enough yet.
We also want to do some 1-night camping trips to Bear Lake and anywhere else close.
We’re, as always, open to friends and family joining us in the fun. Let me know your experiences with these locales and if you’re interested in planning a weekend trip with us. We’d love to have you!!
Rob & Julie Snow Family Blog 
The spectacular Valley of Fire State Park Park has much to offer. You can easily spend an entire day exploring. Check with the visitor center first and get a trail map or bring a topographic map and GPS receiver if you prefer to get away from the beaten path.
Don't be afraid of Yellowstone. We go nearly every Labor Day weekend, therefore, taking the little ones are just fine. Stay in a hotel in West Yellowstone and you are right by the entrance to the park. I've got lots of info if you need it.
I've been all over Southern Utah since I was a kid. We took our whole family everywhere.
Capitol Reef is a fun one with a bunch of old cabins and stuff you can actually go an touch.
In Bryce Canyon there is a nice place called Ruby's Inn that offers a bunch of stuff and they have cabins, or tent areas. They say the Amphitheater is a must see at sunrise.
One of our favorite places has been Dead Horse Point. It has a great view and kids of all ages love to run around the place. Make sure you let your kids spit off the edge, it comes back up because of the up draft.
We have taken both our young kids camping at Zions and Arches. Zions is probably more kid friendly because you can see a ton if sites without doing a ton of hiking, cause of the shuttles. At both Arches and Zions we got a map that told us how long different hikes were. The hike to delicate arch definitely isn't kid friendly, but balancing rock is a good one and even the Double Arch hike is an easy one for kids.
Goblin Valley is huge, but there is a great overlook the explains about the hoodoos and you can even go run around in them. It would be a great place for kids to go and run around. It would be difficult to go run around in and get lost.
Dinosaurland is a good one that isn't too far. If you do Arches or Canyonlands they are across the street from each other so you need to visit both in the same trip.
These are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
Here is a list from the Trapper Trails Council on a bunch of places to go camping within our council. http://www.trappertrails.net/pdfdocs/camplist.pdf
Here is a link for the whole nation, but there are tons of campgrounds in Utah and how to reserve your campsites. http://www.recreation.gov/
We went to arches when the boys were 4 and 2 and I was pregnant with McCall. It was great. There are plenty of small hikes to take the kids on-we stayed in a hotel so they looked forward to the pool at night. I would def. recommend arches (you can photograph Delicate Arch when the kids are older). Your kids would love the sand and the rocks. Good Luck.
Those sound like fun! We've enjoyed one-night camping just east of Jordanelle along the river and also in Kamas. We will be taking Karlee on her first camping trip up to Bear Lake over the 4th of July. Should be interesting.
At some point, Arches National Park is a must. Our profile picture was taken there!
We absolutely LOVED camping in the park (Devil's Garden Campground). We've been there a few times, once before Jayden came along and a couple times since then. Very different experiences, both fun. I almost think you have to do it both ways. How can you go to Arches and not photograph Delicate Arch, right? But it's a three mile hike to get there, and it's not a site you'd want your kids running around (dangerous).
On the other hand, the campground itself is a lot of fun for kids. There are places for the kids to climb around, there are also sand dunes and cute little lizards running around. There are also a couple trails in the park that are spectacular AND good for little kids.
We've gone for Memorial Day and also in October. Memorial Day was pretty hot, and in October we experienced the spectrum of weather.
Hope that helps- probably not! haha