Must See Stops Along Extended Road Trip?

Hi M., I went on a road trip about 10 years ago camping and visiting fun places for a total of 6 months. Back then I didn't have kids, so I couldn't tell you about stroller-friendly places, but I can tell you what was fun.
* Jackson Hole, WY is a fun town, good hiking trails.
* Salt Lake City - you can camp on Antelope Island and swim in Salt Lake - a lot of fun - the water is so salty that you basically float on top...
* Moab Utah and Arches National Park near Moab - absolutely beautiful place to see - here I camped at a local hostel for very little money
* Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monuments in SD is nice to see
* Crater Lake National Park in Oregon - really nice to see, there was a campground nearby too
* Shasta Lake, CA was fun - nice lake and good hiking too

If you want to go down south a little, Grand Canyon North rim and South rim, Brice Canyon, 4 corners, Lake Powell Arizona, Zion Park, Aztec Ruins New Mexico, Mesa Verde CO -all really beautifull...a lot more to see there

I stayed away from main highways, took smaller roads and found things and places to see as I was driving. Also, I would ask local people for recommendations on campgrounds and places to see. People everywhere are very helpfull and friendly...

I hope this helps and have fun !!!! Enjoy your trip!
Yvette

Probably one of our favorite places on our last road trip was CircleView Ranch in South Dakota. It is right outside of the Badland National Park (which is a must see!) The ranch is fantastic. The kids were able to feed the chickens and goats. The owners were wonderful- breakfast was delicious. We have been taking long road trips every year with our family and just love the quality time we spend together. Good luck!

I drove to Montana with my 4 kids last summer (13 10 5 2) so we're crazy too:) Yellowstone was so much fun, tons! of wildlife if you could do 2 days there I would try. There is alot of driving in the park but since it was so slow we didn't have to worry about car seats and the little ones loved it! They weren't to impressed with the gysers but loved all the animals. I was really stressed about making sure we had a place to stay but out that way there are so many more camping spots and national forests are super cheap to stay at $10 or so a night. We knew the route we would be traveling on the way there so I looked up the cities chamber of commerce or recreation dept numbers and called for some refferals and got some packets in the mail. We found alot of small beaches that way to stop mid day and take a break. On the way back there where two highways that looked like they would be faster to take, but since they went through the mountains/senic routes, it was slow going added about 8 hours to our trip. If I had no kids it would have been fine but I wished I would have asked at the gas stations because when we got off the first one the guy was like oh you could have made it in two hours (instead of the five the first one took) There is a website that lists public parks that we used alot or we would stop at the police station and ask. Have fun!