Our Road Trip Itinerary 2017

This past summer we spent two weeks to get from Louisiana to Seattle, Washington. This was our first prolonged road trip together and we not only survived, but we had a wonderful time! We wanted to hit up as many national parks as we could on our first road trip together, and we felt like we definitely accomplished that goal in this trip.

Note: We stayed in our tent for all the nights except for when we were in Amarillo, Texas and Spokane, Washington when we stayed in an Air BnB. This not only made the trip more exciting, but saved us hundreds of dollars. We were able to stretch out our trek into a road trip because of money-saving decisions such as this one, so we definitely recommend it! 

Day 1:

Ruston, Louisiana to Amarillo, Texas

Driving time: 9.5 hours

Day 2:

Amarillo, TX (with a short stop at Capulin Volcano National Monument)  to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado

Driving time: 5.5 hours (Capulin Volcano is right on the way)

Day 3:

Great Sand Dunes National Park to Rocky Mountain National Park

Driving time: 5.5 hours (we took the scenic route, not going through Denver)

Day 4:

Full day in Rocky Mountain National Park

Day 5:

Rocky Mountain National Park to Yellowstone National Park

Driving time: about 11 hours

Day 6:

Full day in Yellowstone National Park

Day 7:

Day trip to Grand Teton National Park

Driving time: 1-1.5 hours

Day 8- Day 12

Full days in Yellowstone National Park

Day 13:

Yellowstone National Park to Spokane, Washington

Driving time: 6-7 hours

Day 14:

Spokane, WA to Seattle, Washington

Driving time: 4.5 hours

Our longest driving days were the 10 hour days, but we managed to break up the driving time pretty well between traveling to the different parks. The whole drive was beautiful and while it did take longer, it was well worth it to take more scenic routes than to cut through places like Denver.

Are there any places you would have added to our trek?

Much love.

Chelsea