Visiting National Parks with Teens

Every teenager I know hears about a National Park like Zion or Sequoia and is immediately enthralled and ready for action.

No. Not really.

They want to go to the beach, or Hollywood, or Universal, or NYC. The idea of boiling, rotten-egg smelling pools of water that you can't even splash your little brother with are hardly appealing. Still, my sister and I have had a great time shepherding our big crew through many National Parks over the years.

First rule, and it applies to our husbands as much as our children: moms plan the trip. We might ask the children what they are learning about in school to make it match, and make sure the guys know when to request vacation, but in the end, me and my sister make the decisions.

Our full brood is ten deep. Me, my sister, my husband, her husband, my twins (boy/non-binary), and her four boys. The ages now range from 7-16 with the middle three all at 15. When we started this they were all still on the edge of puberty.

They visit from Iowa every summer and usually the zoo and some water parks would suffice. As they got older we wanted to do more.

Our first trip was Mesa Verde and Grand Canyon. We planned out when to leave Denver, where to stay in Mesa Verde, the campgrounds in Arizona, and how/when we would all return.

My sister and I were raised in the car. Road trips multiple times a year and our father was a cab driver. We know how to road trip. So again. We make the rules and we plan the trip.

If you are planning a big trip with lots of teens or children, I recommend no more than two people planning. Keep it simple. Keep it realistic. You will not drive 10 hours in one stretch and want to be anywhere near a car the following day.

Rule Two: when you are planning, plan it around food. I am not even kidding a little bit. We learned this on our first trip when we needed to buy breakfast on our way out of Grand Canyon Village and ended up paying over 150 dollars to McDonald's to feed the ravenous children.

Plan the food ahead of time. Coolers in the car, a picnic in Yellowstone, a cute diner in Laramie, one fancy dinner with a view (because the food won't be great) and if you aren't camping, go for the Air B&B or other place where you can cook your own food.

I promise that cleaning the dishes from a 10 person spaghetti meal is more satisfying than waiting three hours for a table at a restaurant outside of Zion that only has four menu items for 20 dollars a pop and no way to seat all of you together.

Keep a cooler with apples, a loaf of bread, peanut butter and jelly at all times. A large carton of goldfish and a full water bottle for each human should also be on hand.

Keep the children fed and hydrated. This will keep everyone happy. Teenagers need to eat. A lot. Make sure that they do and plan for it.

I know I can roll out with a cup of coffee and a nicotine lozenge, but the children will want real food, because they are not tiny adults who have already succumbed to bad habits.

Third, once you have a destination and a basic plan, THEN you ask the children what they are most looking forward to. Everyone gets a bucket list item and we make sure all of them are full-filled.

Seeing a bear? Hiking the Narrows at dawn? Touring the Mesa ruins? Riding a donkey? Watching Old Faithful at sunset? Playing Capture the Flag at the campsite (that's usually the little one)... This way you can plan more of the micro pieces and budget accordingly.

Only a couple of you want to take a boat out on Jenny Lake? That's fine, the rest are more than happy to hike along the Snake River or fish. Don't be afraid to split up and always keep a head count. Be adventurous and say yes.

Finally, keep it flexible. This should actually be number one. If you wake up and most of you are feeling worn out, spend the day in and watch movies. It's ok. One of our favorite days was having a huge ping pong competition in the rec room of our Air B&B and then playing Catan.

Keep phones away from the children (and yourselves) on those days and you will be amazed at the joyful time you can all have just being together.

Get out there and teach our future to appreciate the beautiful parks!