Several years ago when our family learned that the United States government offered a free family National Park pass for kids in 4th grade, we started making plans for the summer of 2019. Starting from Cleveland, Ohio, we would make our west, trying to visit as many parks as we could within at least a two week period.

While we always planned on driving out west, initial thoughts contemplated were about purchasing a motorhome to make the journey. However, after researching a vehicle and logistics for a family of five, any type of camper became cost prohibitive. Even a pop-up camper was considered, but lots of the national parks we were told only allow hard sided vehicles because of the threat of bears. So our trip would be done via van and staying in cabins or hotels.

Once we knew the travel logistics, it was time to plan the route. We knew ultimately, we wanted to get to Yellowstone as the main point of interest. Since our family is also Cedar Fair Platinum pass holders, we also wanted to try and make a stop at Valleyfair (and Mall of America) on the way out. So we started plugging and chugging, looking for tools to help the planning.

Ultimately, we landed on the RoadTrippers program. This was an invaluable tool once we knew the route. We were able to plug in our stops along the route, and then search if there was anything nearby to see.

So for example, on our drive from Cleveland to Minnesota, we would pull up the RoadTrippers app and look for additional points of interest, like one of the last remaining Pink Elephant gas stations for a quick photo stop.

We ended up buying a yearly subscription to RoadTrippers, since it allowed us to add additional points of interest to our map beyond what the free version allows.

When it comes to accommodations, the early you start the better. We started booking cabins and hotels about a year out for the national parks since they do fill up well in advance. We succumbed to the sticker shock at staying in the national park cabins because we feared during the peak summer travel months, traffic can be a nightmare, and did not want to worry about having to drive hours back out of a park to a hotel outside the boundaries of the park to save a buck.

We will get more into each of the resorts as we go through this series of posts, but one note is that booking so far in advance and getting locked into a route comes with its own set of pitfalls. As we continued to plan the trip, we considered changing routes, days, etc.; however, since some of the properties sell out a year in advance, we found ourselves unable to change plans since there were no other rooms to switch into without often paying a huge premium above the cheaper rooms we had booked.

Continue reading about the journey at the links below.

National Park Road Trip: Cleveland to Los Angeles (Part 1)
National Park Road Trip: Cleveland to Minnesota (Part 2)
National Park Road Trip: Traveling to The Badlands (Part 3)
National Park Road Trip: The Badlands (Part 4)
National Park Road Trip: Mt. Rushmore, Mammoth Site & Needles Highway (Part 5)
National Park Road Trip: Devils Tower and Onto Cody, WY (Part 6)
National Park Road Trip: Yellowstone Day 1 (Part 7)
National Park Road Trip: Yellowstone Day 2 (Part 8)
National Park Road Trip: Grand Teton National Park (Part 9)
National Park Road Trip: California or Bust (Part 10)
National Park Road Trip: Disneyland & Galaxy’s Edge (Part 11)
National Park Road Trip: Knott’s Berry Farm (Part 12)
National Park Road Trip: Journey East (Part 13)
National Park Road Trip: Worlds of Fun (Part 14)