Our family has an exciting goal of experiencing all 50 states together before the boys graduate from high school. We started this adventure (and welcomed other families to join us back in 2011 by using the tag #50statesbeforetheygraduate), and now… in 2019, we’re only one state away from achieving our goal! You can virtually visit the states we’ve visited to see what we’ve experienced and/or to offer your own recommendations on those pages! Or… you can check out our roadtrip itineraries for how we achieved visiting 49 states.
This roadtrip was a repeat for us – a second trip through the states of Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming. The difference was… this time, we only had about 10-12 days to pull it off. (That’s what happens when you own a homeschool curriculum business and you’re traveling at a time when families are ordering books for the coming school year!) We also wanted to see things we hadn’t experienced before, so we worked in new sites and scenes as we traveled through these states.
So… here it is. A 10-day roadtrip itinerary through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Illinois
- Superman Statue. Metropolis, IL. (Quick pitstop. Metropolis also has a Superman Museum.)
Other places we’ve visited (on a different trip to Illinois) and recommend:
- Garden of the Gods Recreation Area
- Cave-in-Rock State Park
- World’s Largest Catsup Bottle
- Cahokia Mounds
Missouri
- The Old Courthouse. St. Louis, MO
- Gateway Arch National Park. St. Louis, MO. (1/2 to 1 day)
Other places we’ve visited (on a different trip to Missouri) and recommend:
- National Frontier Trails Museum. Independence, MO
- Arabia Steamboat Museum. Kansas City, MO
- National WWI Museum. Kansas City, MO
Kansas
- Mushroom Rock State Park. (1 hour, great picnic stop)
- Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark. (Up to 1 hour)
- Future site of Little Jerusalem State Park. (drive by for now. When it opens, 1/2-1 day.)
- Van Gogh Sunflowers. Goodland, KS. (quick pitstop)
Other places we’ve visited (on a different trip to Kansas) and recommend:
- Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site. Topeka, KS.
- State Capitol Dome Tour (free and amazing!). Topeka, KS.
- Oz Museum and a walk down the Yellow Brick Road leading to the city park. Great playground and free train rides around park on certain days. Wamego, KS.
- Oregon Trail Park – Scott Springs
- Pony Express Barn Museum, 1-room schoolhouse, sod house, rope ferry. Marysville, KS.
Colorado
- Rocky Mountain National Park. (2 to 4 days)
- Great Sand Dunes National Park. (2 to 4 days)
- Garden of the Gods. (1/2 to 1 day)
- Manitou Cliff Dwellings. (1/2 day)
Other places we’ve visited (on a different trip to Colorado) and recommend:
Wyoming
- Crowheart Butte. (pass by)
- Grand Tetons National Park. (1/2 to 2 full days)
- Yellowstone National Park.(2 to 3 full days)
Our trip
Our trip by days, in the order we visited.
Day 1: Drive Nashville to Metropolis, IL. Get out, stretch, and take a photo with Superman. Drive to St. Louis. Explore The Old Courthouse (site of the Dred Scott Decision). Ride to the top of the Gateway Arch. Explore the Gateway Arch Visitor Center/ Museum. Drive across Missouri and stop for the night near Kansas City, MO.
Day 2: Travel through Kansas. Pitstop at Goodland, KS to stretch and take a photo with Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. Drive through Denver and up Peak to Peak Highway. Stay in Longmont, CO.
Day 3: Drive to Rocky Mountain National Park, Beaver Meadows Visitor Center. Drive to Bear Lake. Hike around Bear Lake. Hike to Alberta Falls. Drive to Alpine Visitor Center. Drive to Holzwarth Historic Site and explore. Drive to Granby, CO and then head north towards Walden, CO. Continue north and stay overnight in Rawlins, WY.
Day 4: Head towards Grand Tetons (see Crowhead Butte) and through Grand Tetons (stop at Colter Bay Visitor Center) and head towards Yellowstone. Arrive Yellowstone Canyon Village. Set up camp.
Day 5: Explore Yellowstone – Drive up to Mammoth Hot Springs to Norris Geyser Basin back to Canyon Village. Places visited/hiked: Tower Fall, Petrified Tree, Wraith Falls, Mammoth Hot Springs, Mammoth Hot Springs Visitor Center, Sheepeater Cliff (picnic lunch), Norris Geyer Basin (Ranger-led talk at Steamboat Geyser).
Day 6: Explore Yellowstone – Old Faithful, Old Faithful Visitor Center, Midway Geyser Basin (Grand Prismatic Spring & Excelsior Geyser Crater). (On a previous visit to Yellowstone we visited other popular areas, including Artist Point, Paint Pots, etc.) Break down camp and head towards Rawlins, WY. Stop overnight in Rawlins, WY.
Day 7: Drive from Rawlins, WY to Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa, CO via Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway and Top of the Rockies Scenic Byway. (See Mt. Elbert.) Explore Great Sand Dunes and play in Medano Creek.
Day 8: Visit Great Sand Dunes National Park Visitor Center. Hike to the top of a 600-foot dune. By mid-afternoon, start heading to Woodland Park, Stay overnight in Woodland Park. (We were hoping to make it to Florissant Fossil Beds but were a bit too late to work that one in.)
Day 9: Explore Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs and Manitou Cliff Dwellings. View Pikes Peak. (Weather was bad, so driving to the top of Pikes Peak is still on our bucket list.) Drive to Colby, KS to stay overnight.
Day 10: Drive to Monument Rocks National Natural Landmark (dirt roads, but well-maintained), drive by location of future Little Jerusalem State Park, and explore Mushroom Rocks State Park. Drive home to Tennessee.
Our favorite resources for roadtrips include:
- National Geographic Guide to National Parks of the United States
- National Geographic Kids Ultimate U.S. Road Trip Atlas: Maps, Games, Activities, and More for Hours of Backseat Fun
- National Geographic Kids National Parks Guide USA Centennial Edition: The Most Amazing Sights, Scenes, and Cool Activities from Coast to Coast!
- Roadtrippers app and website
That wraps up the places we visited this time around and how we did it. Stay tuned for detailed overviews of each place we visited, which we’ll post on this section of our website.
