While financial/healthstuffs have been really stressing me out in the evenings after I get off of work, I am everyday looking more and more forward to our upcoming trip. I sort of forgot how soon it was (12 more days!) until our good friend Melanie, who we'll be visiting in SLC, recently emailed me about info. !!!!
In truth, I have been planning this vacation for over 6-months. Of course that wasn't every day planning by any means, but I made sure to book the necessary campsites exactly six months before our intended arrival to the several parks we'll be canvassing. These places get competitive! I'm really happy we're going right as the season opens because that should mean less crowds and crisp weather. I can't wait to fall asleep at night alongside my husband in the desert air.
I wanted to share our itinerary (shorthanded) with you all, as I think I did this for our Chicago trip. I was also going to provide a price breakdown, like last time, especially since I receive questions from friends about "how" we make travel happen within our budget and time. Yes, we will be spending a lot of our time driving. I'm sure by the end we will be sick of it, but I am excited to see everything outside of wintertime.
ItineraryDay 0, May 25 -- leave CLT for SLC, arriving at night
Day 1, May 26 -- leave from SLC to Zion National Park, UT
Day 2, May 27 -- Zion
Day 3, May 28 -- leave Zion for Grand Canyon NP (North Rim), AZ
Day 4, May 29 -- leave Grand Canyon for Bryce NP, UT
Day 5, May 30 -- leave Bryce for Capitol Reef NP, UT (lunch stop), arrive in Arches NP, UT
Day 6, May 31 -- day in Arches, head back to SLC in the evening
Day 7, June 1 -- leave SLC for Idaho Falls, ID (lunch stop), arrive in Yellowstone NP, MT/WY
Day 8, June 2 -- Yellowstone
Day 9, June 3 -- Yellowstone
Day 10, June 4 -- Yellowstone
Day 11, June 5 -- leave Yellowstone for Grand Tetons NP, WY, arrive back to SLC
Day 12, June 6 -- leave SLC for CLT
Approximate Costs (for two people)
- Airfare: $612.80
- Car rental: $185.39
- Lodging: $141.00
- Fuel: $320.00 [based on approx. 2000 miles of travel (rounding up), a vehicle with 25mpg (rounding down), and gas $4.00/gallon (hopefully rounding up??)]
- Food: $150.00
- Activities: $150.00 (being generous, as most of our activities will be hiking)
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TOTAL: $1559.19 (and this amount reflects about 6-months of our allotted travel savings money)
I don't know what most of our friends spend on trips, but at $780 per person, I don't think this too much travel money for such a long trip to so many places, and for what we consider one of our "big vacations" of the year. We might be overdoing it with all of the driving, but that will be a lesson learned at a later date. Surprised by our car rate for 12-days of renting? I'll share details on that soon. Impressed with our lodging costs? Try camping next time you travel. This will be our first flighted camping trip and we're super stoked. I am doing a mock pack trial this weekend (keep in mind we're utilizing duffel bags instead of backpacking frames) and plan to take some photos to show you all how this can easily be done!
What do you guys think? Are we going to kill one another after driving for so long? Did we spend too much on this trip? What activities would you be keen to do if you were on a similar trip?
