Having grown up going camping with my family every summer and being dragged on hikes by my mom when I was little, it was almost as if I was being primed for a love of national parks from the beginning. And love them I do! I feel so immensely grateful and privileged to live in such a beautiful region of the world with the ability to explore. Fortunately, this is something I also share with my husband, so when I floated the idea of a road trip for our honeymoon, it didn’t take much convincing. He and I have traveled quite a bit before, but a road trip? That was certainly a new adventure for us.
So before diving in, let’s talk about logistics. When all was said and done, we visited 14 National Parks and Monuments, and drove through countless national forests, deserts, and reservation lands to rack up almost 6,000 miles over the course of three weeks. For those three weeks, we mostly camped at National Park Service-hosted campgrounds in the teardrop trailer we rented locally. However, we did end up staying in a few more hotels than expected due to the weather. Que unbearable heat in Arches National Park and a blizzard in Yellowstone. Overall, we were very fortunate not run into major issues, but we did lose a few pieces of our trailer, some bike racks, and cracked the windshield of my SUV (that reminds me, I should get that replaced).
To start the trip, our plans were delayed a couple of hours due to some difficulty hitching up the trailer. Apparently, the brand of trailer we rented usually just needs a really good whack, and with a good ole whack, we were on the road! For our first stop, we made it to the “gateway of the west”, Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, MO. Even in the pouring rain, it was exciting and memorable as our very first stop on this grand trip.
Leaving from St. Louis, we made our way to New Mexico with an overnight stop at the border of Missouri and Oklahoma. Driving all day the following day, we finally made it to our first major destination. If you know anything about Carlsbad Caverns, you might know that they host a nightly bat flight program at the entrance of the cave at sunset, and it was our goal to make it in time. If you can imagine a warm summer night driving up into the hills of New Mexico while the sun is setting, hoping to make it to the top in time. Luckily for us, we could see the millions of bats as we drove up, meaning we made it just in time. Apparently, there are millions of bats that live in this cave system, and it can take hours each night for them all to fly out. After hiking all the way down into the cave, we packed up and made our way west, with a fun pitstop in between.
Now, another fun fact about me is that I am obsessed with theories about aliens and although I fully believe that the aliens or their aircraft are housed in Dayton at the Wright Patt Air Force Base (if you want to know more on why I think that, you should look into Project Blue Book), I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to stop in Roswell and take in all the fun alien themed sights. While that stop was not originally in our plan, we just couldn’t help it, and I can’t thank my husband enough for putting up with all the podcast episodes on aliens that I made him listen to on our way.
The Desert
I loved the desert and the parks that we visited down there were absolutely stunning. White Sands National Park was like something out of this world. The gypsum sand was quite mind-blowing, and the sand surfing, while fun, is much much harder than it looks. Saguaro National Park had beautiful views and towering saguaros, and we were lucky enough to see them bloom. Due to the heat, we only hiked in the morning and then drove into Tucson for new bike racks and a nice cold beer. We also did a scenic drive up Mt. Lemon, and the views did not disappoint!
Next I need to spend some time talking about Joshua Tree. I wish that I could describe to you how it felt driving miles through the Colorado and Mojave deserts to make it into the park. Think vast flatlands all framed by mountains and silence. I will never forget being so struck by how remote, quiet, and untouched the landscape was. It was like something I had never experienced anywhere else in the world. Nothing like a vast desert to really check your place in this world. While in the park itself, we camped among the boulders and stars, hiked through the Joshua Tree forests, overlooked Coachella Valley, stumbled on petroglyphs, and even found a local brewery in town to pass some of the hottest hours of the day. Visiting the desert during the beginning of the summer season is certainly less crowded, but that does mean being much more strategic about your water intake and taking advantages to cool down, providing a great excuse to check out the local food and social scene.
Canyons and Arches
The second leg of our trip took us north to a slightly cooler (but not by much!) part of the country that most people are familiar with, the Grand Canyon. And what a sight to see! If you have never been to the Grand Canyon, think about how big you imagine it to be and multiply that by at least 10. This canyon is so big that your brain truly cannot comprehend what you are looking at and how vast it actually is.
Two amazing highlights from our time here were biking to the north and hiking down into the canyon (which is not something I ever thought I’d do as someone who lives that wheezy lifestyle). Another highlight was taking a helicopter tour over the canyon itself! Not something I would typically consider doing, but when else would you do it, so why not on your honeymoon! It was such a fun, once-in-a-lifetime activity, and at just about 40 minutes was over just before my motion sickness really kicked in.
Next up, we made our way to Page, AZ, to make quick stops at Horseshoe Bend and take a tour of Antelope Canyon. Both were breathtaking, but I would highly recommend trying to go during the off-season since both destinations were VERY touristy. Have you ever seen those tour groups where the guide is holding a flag above their head and talking to a group with those walkie-talkie-looking devices? Yeah, they were that touristy. That said, Antelope Canyon was incredibly cool, and if it’s somewhere you would like to go, don’t forget to book a tour from an indigenous-owned company. The canyon sits on reservation land, and the general public is not permitted to enter without a guide. Although I don’t know how you would make it on your own, as we had to take a what I can only describe as a safari bus to drive through the dunes.
The next stop was one of my favorites from the entire trip, Mesa Verde. Mesa Verde was one of the most beautiful and interesting places. Camping on top of a mesa and sleeping under the Milky Way was an experience like none other. Another fun fact about me is that I love history and actually wanted to be an archeologist when I was little. That said, during our time there, I was able to cross off bucket list items such as climbing down into a cliffside dwelling and visiting my 20th UNESCO World Heritage site.
From there, our next stop was Arches National Park, and while we planned to spend two days and had a campsite towards the top of the park, we did not end up staying. Now, don’t get me wrong, Arches is an incredibly nice park and some of the arches are very cool, but by the time we got there, it was just way too hot. The campsite we booked had no power, no trees, and there was so much wind that you couldn't even put up a pop-up tent for some shade. All it took was one look in each other's eyes from across the picnic table to decide that we did not want to be there. So it was that moment that we decided to get a hotel down in Moab and to make a game out of seeing as many arches as we could on the way out.
Mountains
The third and final leg of our trip took us up into the beautiful Tetons, Yellowstone, and the Black Hills, but before we got there, we made a few stops on the way, the first one being at Dinosaur National Monument. In case you need to know more about me, another fun fact is that I love dinosaurs and prehistoric animals and think they are the coolest. So this stop was a top highlight for me. Then, before continuing our journey into Grand Teton National Park, we made another quick pitstop to go whitewater rafting in Jackson Hole.
Driving up into the mountains was such an experience. The Tetons were so beautiful, magnificent, and still, and there was no better way to see them than taking a river raft tour. While I do wish we could have spent more time hiking, we were very fortunate to see various wildlife, including a small bear cub! Traveling up into Yellowstone was filled with many animal sightings. Overall, we saw a few bears, countless bison, and even a few moose! While there, we walked numerous trails to see geysers, hot springs, mineral pools, and mud volcanoes, and had much more on our list, but then, to our surprise, it started to snow. Due to the cold and lack of heat in our trailer, we drove down the mountains and descended into Cody, WY, for the night. This decision officially started our trip home, passing through Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, and the Badlands.
Overall, our trip was unforgettable and now I have so many ideas for new trips! In this post, I really only scratched the surface of our adventure. If you want to learn more about our time at each park and get specific tips for visiting these destinations, please check back for more posts and check out our itinerary below!
Road Trip Itinerary
Start: Central Ohio
St. Louis Gateway Arch, MO
Carlsbad Caverns, NM
Roswell, NM
White Sands National Park, NM
Saguaro National Park, AZ
Joshua Tree National Park, CA
Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Page, AZ
Horseshoe Bend, AZ
Antelope Canyon, AZ
Mesa Verde, CO
Hovenweep National Monument, CO
Arches National Park, UT
Dinosaur National Monument, UT
Vernal, UT
Grand Teton National Park, WY
Yellowstone National Park, WY
Cody, WY
Mount Rushmore, SD
Badlands National Park, SD
