HELP!!! Trip planning

[Gmjordan1]

Hello
I would like to plan a trip from Pittsburgh to the Grand Canyon with my family. 10-14 days. Has anyone made this trip or can offer suggestions for routes, stopovers,things to see along the way, camping etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Gmjordan1]

Thank You for all the great advice. That is exactly why I went to this forum. I think we will plan something closer & do the western tour when we have more time.

[NoVa_RT]

Pittsburgh to the Grand Canyon is a bit more than 2,000 miles, one-way. Like others, I'd be a bit hesitant to cram that much driving in a 10-14 day trip. 500 miles per day is a lot for one driver in a RV, more so several days in a row. With two drivers, maybe you can go further, but you're still arriving late, setting up late, and moving on early the next day. Could be worth it for some, and careful planning may make the stops more enjoyable, but if I only had 10-14 days, I'd think about closer destinations, even multiple destinations, where driving wouldn't be such a large chunk of the trip. YMMV.

[More_To_See]

Having done a lot of trips like that during the work years I would spend the first couple of days heading out of town just burning up the miles to get away from the home territory. Then slow down and starts smelling the roses as they say.

Personally I wouldn't plan on too much time right at the Grand Canyon South Rim but you might check into including the North Rim which is basically a half day's drive around from the South Rim to get there.

Plan out one route going and another heading back home and do some homework of sites along the way that would be of interest to your family.

A personal favorite of mine that might be of interest to your kids is Meteor Crater a few miles east of Flagstaff. And there is a nice little campground there too but not with much to do for the kids though.

Good luck with the planning and happy travels.

[lhenry8113]

Just a thought. We have stayed in Williams, Az.--actually about a mile out of town. They have an old style train that takes you to the Grand Canyon--it is great for kids--sometimes cowboys have a shoot-out on the train. And they have a number of campgrounds in the area. Look under lodging on the website I am enclosing. Lars
http://experiencewilliams.com/

[tomman58]

I must agree with all posters on this one. There is far more to do then seeing the south rim. there is the north, less people and better IMHO. There is lake powell to stay at and bryce canyon for prettier and Zion far more interesting and the cedars far easier to access. I could go on but you get the idea. This takes weeks not days to experience and you may just do this trip once,or not, but you need to see what the real deal is.

[Chock_Full_o__N]

sdianel wrote:
I agree that is a very aggressive plan but you could do it.
Days 1-5 travel; days 6-8 Canyon; days 9-14 travel.
Long 8 hour driving days, no time to see anything in between home and Canyon.
Not a fun trip in my opinion but definitely doable.

This sounds like a really awful trip! And doubly so if there are kids involved.

OP, if you only have 10-14 days, I would suggest you consider going someplace within 700 miles of your home. Drive for 2 long days and stay & play for 6-10 days. Or you could make a circuit, driving 2 days, resting 2 days, etc until you circle back to your home.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

I agree that is a very aggressive plan but you could do it.
Days 1-5 travel; days 6-8 Canyon; days 9-14 travel.
Long 8 hour driving days, no time to see anything in between home and Canyon.
Not a fun trip in my opinion but definitely doable.

[Dick_B]

Change the plan. It's too far and, unless you hike, too little time is spent at the South Rim. The average is three hours!
Don't know the details of you family makeup but if you have kids I'd go instead to Cedar Point in Ohio which is the roller coaster capital of the world.
Isn't the football hall of fame in Ohio and the rock n roll hall?
Go the other way to the west end of the Erie Canal and take a boat ride out of Lockport.
You could even drive to Springfield, IL and visit the Lincoln Museum. It's good for half a day at least. His tomb is there also. Some parts of the old Route 66 are there. Have a corn dog at the Cozy Inn.
When in doubt do a Google search for `______ tourism' and put the city, state or area in the blank space. You might even put Pittsburgh in there. BTW why is there an `h' at the end of Pittsburgh?

[Roy_Lynne]

Reservations for the Grand Canyon is a must of course. That is a long drive and with 10 days, youll spend most of it driving back and forth, so google the fastest route, get there and spend as much time as you can before you turn around and go back (Driving an 8 hour day is pretty harsh in an RV/or pulling a trailer.)