My husband and I had wanted to take the family into Moab for awhile, so we found a long weekend that worked around our schedules and started planning. We were very happy with how much fun we had together, and absolutely stunned by the area's natural beauty, so I thought I'd share our experience with you for your own travels!
Southeastern Utah is desert, so temps can get pretty hot and dry during the summer (and very cold in the winter)! A friend advised October or November for a visit, as parks wouldn't be packed and the weather would be nice and neutral. Temperatures were in the 50s and 60s, and sunny during the day- perfect for hikes and souvenir shopping downtown.
The drive itself... well, five hours is a bit above the max we would typically drive for a long weekend, but the drive west on I70 is one of our favorites as you pass the ski towns and through Eagle County. The scenery changes from cityscape, to snowcaps, to red rock are pretty enough to make the time pass faster... that, snacks and a couple of Netflix downloads, and we were there before we knew it!
Where we stayed:
The Moab area has, and I mean this literally, endless campgrounds in great locations. It looked like most that we passed were state campgrounds, and even in November there were plenty of campers enjoying a weekend out. We, however, wanted to find a cabin or private rental for our weekend. To this end, Red Cliffs Lodge exceeded our expectations for the trip. We were able to book a two bedroom cabin with the Colorado River and a huge cliff in our backyard! Fun fact: John Wayne's Rio Grande and parts of Thelma and Louise were filmed at Red Cliffs Lodge! It is also home to a winery, restaurant, western film museum and horse ranch with guided trail rides- links below. The staff was more than friendly, and happy to answer my *numerous* questions on the area and places to visit. Their breakfast buffet was fresh, hot, and very reasonably priced for both adults and kids. We hiked around a few times right on the property, visited the horse stables and were able to meet a few of the horses.
Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage Link
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Moab Giants:
Google something along the lines of "family attractions in southeastern Utah" and the Moab Giants Dinosaur Museum will be on of your top results. As a homeschool family, we haven't exactly taken the dive into dinosaur research to date, but we do love learning about history and all things science, so I knew it would be a hit for us- and possibly spark the interest to learn more about the ancient scaly fellas. Moab Giants was both educational and fun! The museum itself had some fun interactive elements, but this was one small stop in the attraction as a whole. You can visit a 3d theatre about dinosaur history, a 5d prehistoric aquarium, a dino playground, and more. I highly recommend the Dinosaur Trail when visiting- a chronologically planned 1/2 mile trail with over 100 life-sized dinosaur replicas, that makes you feel like you're walking through history and viewing the creatures on the prowl and in their natural habitat. The museum itself is located on the site of past paleontology digs, which you can learn more about at the museum and on their website.
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Things to know:
- You have the option to book passes for inside attractions, outside attractions, or both. However, if you're looking to have a bad weather day backup plan, note that you will still be walking outside quite a bit, even between inside attractions. We visited on a beautiful day that turned windy and rainy, and were running in the rain between attractions
- The entire attraction is pretty stroller friendly
- They have a cafe onsite, which was surprisingly affordable, compared to some other on-site attraction restaurants we've been to
- All attractions were open, even with COVID restrictions
National Park Visits:
In my husband's office we keep a framed scratch off list of parks through the National Parks System (found on Amazon similar to this one, in case you're interested!) This has been such a great way to get the whole family excited about visiting new parks and learning how very vast and unique different areas of our country can be. We visited both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks on this trip.
Unlike our own Rocky Mountain National Park, the parks in Utah are not requiring reservations for entrance. While I read that this has become problematic on busy weekends, especially in a year where road trips trumped airplane travel, we didn't have to wait long to enter either park. (The websites will recommend arriving either right at open or later in the afternoon, which we did.)
Do you know that every 4th grader in the country receives a free National Parks Pass for their family for an entire year? See the article below?
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Link: National Park Service Offers Free Admission to 4th Graders, Families
Additionally, for the remainder of 2020, the NPS is also providing a free parks pass to 5th graders as well! To claim your free pass, CLICK HERE!
Additional Area Facts:
Have you been to Moab? Have you considered south eastern Utah for a family trip? Here are some helpful facts:
- Average temps are similar to what we see here on the Front Range, with virtually no precipitation.
- Moab is roughly 400 miles from Denver, straight west on I70. Without traffic or long stops, you're looking at about 5 hours.
- The Moab area is known for its two National Parks- Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. However, from here you are actually only 145 miles from Capitol Reef National Park as well! (Utah hosts FIVE National Parks total, nicknamed "The Big 5").
- Roughly twenty miles south of Moab are the La Sal Mountains, which are part of Manti-La Sal National Forest. These alpine mountains are the second highest mountain range in Utah, reaching heights of nearly 13,000 feet.
- Moab boasts itself as an outdoorsman's dream, with endless mountain biking spots, rock climbing, horseback riding, ATV, sky diving, fishing, etc. Discovermoab.com is a great site for more information!
I really hope you enjoyed this trip review. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about taking kids of different ages to the area, or help connect you to the lodge where we stayed!
