Road trip with my boys 14 and 11

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by weisan

Thank you tex pal and many others for the great suggestions, but guess what, looks like we are all set to spend several days at Durango, all thanks to bking pal for letting us stay at his condo, what a generous and kind offer, we are SO THANKFUL to him!

My boys and I are really looking forward to this road trip. We have not finalized on our daily schedule yet. in fact, what we do in Durango is still wide open for discussion. The only thing that is kinda set in stone is the day we will leave Austin (July 14) and what we will do on July 15, the rest are still in flux. We can use some help and suggestions on how to fill up our time while we use Durango as our "basecamp", and we are open to driving anywhere from 1-3 hrs to go do stuff and then return back to our basecamp to rest for the night and then ready to do that again the next day. We are interested in anything outdoors (biking, hiking, rafting) or indoors (museums, cultural centers). We can eat ANYTHING! We did a trip a few years ago and actually spent a night at Durango, taken the train to Silverton and also visited Mesa Verde.

Over the years, I have done several road tips based on the suggestions that folks have given me here and they have all turned out great!

Blue Ridge Parkway
Spring Break 2017
Washington DC, Virginia Beach
Yellowstone

So...Please help us plan our trip!


Day 1 July 14 Friday: Depart from Austin, spend the night at Carlsbad

Day 2 July 15 Saturday 5:30am Carlsbad Caverns Bat Viewing Ranger's Tour, Explore, arrive at Durango around 9-10 pm

Day 3 July 16 Monday (Durango) - nothing planned yet

Day 4 July 17 Tuesday (Durango) - nothing planned yet

Day 5 July 18 Wednesday (Durango) - nothing planned yet

Day 6 July 19 Thursday (Durango) - nothing planned yet

Day 7 July 20 Friday (Durango) - nothing planned yet

Day 8 July 21 Saturday - open to staying one more night at Durango or begin making our way back to Austin but stop somewhere for a night cap.

Day 9 July 22 Sunday - home in Austin

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Not leaving for over a week but

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/29...-fire-durango/

[weisan]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Not leaving for over a week but

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/29...-fire-durango/

Wow.
Thanks old pal.
Not sure how this might impact the trip.

[weisan]

Eat, walk, swim, hike, bike, sleep, climb, watch, touch, click, jump, wave, scream, laugh, cry.... Repeat.

[tiretrax]

From Carlsbad, drive up to Taos and across the gorge, then up through Chama, Pagosa Springs and into Durango. Beautiful trip. A day trip to Telluride is also a beautiful drive.

BTW, you can camp for up to two weeks with no charge in a National Forest (well, at least for now). After two weeks, you have to move to another one and wait at least 30 (?) days to return.

On the drive home, I suggest you go East to I-25 and drive back through Raton, Amarillo, etc. to see the amazing terrain on that route.

Have a great time.

[weisan]

thank you tire pal for the excellent tip and suggestions.

[weisan]

Leaving tomorrow with my boys on our road trip from Austin TX to Durango, CO, very excited!

We will stop by Carlsbad Caverns before we head straight over. We will spend almost the entire week in that area.

[Scuzzer]

Looks like everyone else has this covered but I'll throw in another rec for Mesa Verde. When my kids were that age we crawled around that place for a couple of days.

Sounds like a great trip, have fun.

[lookout2015]

A little late now, but in addition to Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon is very cool. Amazing ruins, great sky at night when camping.

[cetuximab]

Originally Posted by charliedid

Springs is a good call.

Lot's of hikes/parks...Garden of the Gods, Seven Falls, Cheyenne Park etc. Hiking biking.

We are here in Pueblo.

I take my kids surfing on the waves here in our Whitewater park.

Definitely Colorado.

[weisan]

Thanks pals!

No, is never too late, keep the suggestions coming, we are super flexible and can make any adjustment or changes on the fly.

[weisan]

We will be passing by Albuquerque later today on route from Carlsbad to Durango...

Any particular suggestions for things to do at Albuquerque if we have a couple of hours to spend there?

[OtayBW]

El Patio de Albuquerque restaurant, Harvard Dr SE, ~1.5 mi SE of the intersection of I-25 and I 40. Nothing fancy - just good local NM red/green sauce.

[weisan]

Thanks for the tip Otay pal, unfortunately we ate like there's no tomorrow during lunch at Dragon Chinese Buffet@Carlsbad, so we decided to skip dinner and drove on past Albuq. and straight to our cabin in Durango.

[weisan]

Depending on weather, these are the things in consideration for today:

1. Whitewater rafting Animas river

2. Mountain biking - Hermosa Creek

3. Zip line pine forest

4. Jeep ride

[weisan]

Did the rafting thing with my boys yesterday and we were there when this happened.

Man tubing Animas Whitewater Park requires rescue Sunday
https://durangoherald.com/articles/1...-rescue-sunday

A shot from my video cam, rendering cpr.