Tally The Trip

Great stops between Las Vegas and Los Angeles Buffalo Bill's Casino - Primm, Nevada Buffalo Bill's Casino - Primm, Nevada Our first stop was Buffalo Bill's Casino in Primm, Nevada. Primm is one of those tiny places that just pops a huge casino out of nowhere. You are driving along through nothingness, then boom out of nowhere a huge casino! No town surrounding it, just three (?) massive casino resorts. I looked up the population and it is around the 700 people mark. I guess they all work at one of the casinos or resorts. The carpark was full of these dune buggy style vehicles, music and people hanging out. There was race meet, very awesome for the young petrol head to see.

To visit three National Parks in Three days is a big task! Longer to explore would've been ideal but given our tight time frame and winter weather conditions, three days is what we had. We planned our route to make the most of our time, so that we were seeing sights while still covering some travel distance.  The first thing you will need to do is buy an America The Beautiful Pass. This link will take you to the page that helps you plan and decide the best pass for you . For three parks in three days the Annual Pass was the best value for us. We are a family of four, Mum, Dad and two teenagers. The fact that they are teenagers means we often have to pay for for adult entries to any attraction as family passes are for younger children. You can buy your annual pass at the entrance to the park. 

 Family Road Trip from Tucson to The Grand Canyon Bass Pro Shops - Phoenix, Arizona After a fairly early start, well as early as we could get two teenagers moving without a death wish! We made our way to Phoenix Arizona. With the most exiting of all stops for our two keen fisherman. What an experience a Bass Pro store is!

Family Road Trip San Diego to Tucson and Tombstone Arizona After spending a busy two days in San Diego it was time to hit the road and head for Tucson Arizona. This is the part of the trip my family was the most excited about. We have a western book reading, cowboy and history fiend among us. So naturally Tombstone, Arizona had made the must visit list. GMC Terrain Rental Car - Kumeyaay Highway  This was going to be our biggest drive day of the entire 14 day road trip, with a drive time of 5 hours and 56 minutes. According to google maps of course. It took us a fair bit longer with stops along the way.

Hidden Costs of a USA Family Road Trip There are so many hidden costs I was not expecting on this road trip. The major one was the rental car but there were many other small ones that added up. So here we go! Rental Cars Our Rental Car - GMC Terrain - Kanab, Utah Hiring a rental car is a big chunk of your budget, right up there with accommodation. But the freedom of having your own car is well worth the cost. Unless you are basing yourself in a large city where public transport is readily available, you will need one in the USA. I did look into trains but there is not much available yet.