My wife and I are itchin’ for the open road. Specifically, to Colorado.
With twin 18 month old girls.
We’re looking at around 3 days out, see friends in Lafayette and Durango, maybe spend a few days in Moab, and head back to the big apple. Probably 16 days total.
Are we crazy?
We take our drives upstate with the girls. 2 - 5 hours just about every week. They’ve been to Virginia a bunch of times, anywhere from 5 to 9 hours (spent more time getting stuck in traffic in PA than I would have spent getting stuck in traffic in the DC area the day of Reagan’s funeral). They haven’t had the day after day grind I mean pleasure of a major road trip, though.
They’ve been OK with the drives we’ve done so far. They look out the window and sing their funny little songs or sleep or bug mommy and generally keep themselves occupied.
We could fly, I suppose, but between plane tickets and renting a car, not to mention accomodations, we’re getting into prohibitively expensive territory.
What’s been your experience road-tripping with your little dopers?
I did Chicago to Denver in 17 hours with a toddler. It was a breeze. He slept most of the time, and was really great company the rest of the time. You just have to stop for potty breaks (if they’re out of diapers…if not…bummer for you!) and food, and occasional stretch. This is a fun thing…not a trip from hell.
Young kids aren’t too much of a problem, since they’ll nap if they’re bored. Older kids are trickier, since they won’t nap as much, and they will raise a fuss if they’re bored.
18 months is a piece of cake. Check back with us when they’re three or four, though…
Seven years ago, we did almost exactly the route you’re planning to do with our 14-month-old son.
Then did a similar trip a year later with the same kid and his four-month-old little brother.
It was fine, the kid(s) was(were) easy to handle. And you’ve got twins, who will probably amuse one another to boot. Go for it…once the kids are in school, it’s much harder to take long road trips because of the need to fit around their school schedule. We haven’t had bigger than a week-long since the one mentioned in the second paragraph, and boy, would we love to. (Which is not to say week-longs aren’t fun as well)
Enjoy! Are you planning on doing Arches National Park (you mentioned Moab, which is the nearest town)? I definitely recommend it. I’d rank it # 1 amongst the National Parks I’ve been to for scenery, and I’ve seen quite a few of them.
I hadn’t planned anything specific with regards to Moab, but now that you mention it Arches should be at the top of the list. I used to go there quite a bit in the 80’s. I guess it would be better family-wise than a place like Canyonlands which is incredible but generally involves a lot of hiking and/or 4WD-ing.