Family-Friendly
A family road trip through the West asks everyone to give a little — the ten-year-old, the teenager, the grandparent who'd rather sit in the shade — and the good stops give something back to each of them. These are the places broad enough to hold that range: a short walk with a big payoff, a bench and a view, a visitor center out of the heat, a story worth the drive. Plan for the slowest and hungriest among you, and the West does the rest.
I-5 / US-501
US-61
UT-91
UT-101
Scenic Byway 125
Anasazi State Park Museum
Ruins of a 900-year-old Ancestral Puebloan village
Escalante Interagency Visitor Center
Your essential stop before heading into the backcountry
Escalante Petrified Forest State Park
Walk among 150-million-year-old stone trees
Lower Calf Creek Falls
A 126-foot waterfall hidden in a desert canyon
Mossy Cave Trail
A hidden waterfall and ice cave just off the highway
I-155
Hill Aerospace Museum
Over 90 military aircraft displayed indoors and on the tarmac
Lagoon Amusement Park
A beloved family amusement park operating since 1886
Ogden Union Station
A grand 1924 train depot turned museum complex
Temple Square
The spiritual and architectural heart of Salt Lake City
Thanksgiving Point
A massive complex with dinosaur bones, gardens, and a curiosity museum
I-15 (Ghost Town Road exit)1
I-15 / I-40 / Historic Route 661
I-15 / I-701
Kelbaker Road (off I-15 / I-40)1
UT-181
I-191
UT-242
US-404
Dinosaur National Monument
A wall of 1,500 dinosaur bones still embedded in the rock where they were found
Jordanelle State Park
A sapphire reservoir nestled between the Wasatch and Uinta mountains
Utah Field House of Natural History
A dinosaur museum with life-size replicas in an outdoor garden
Vernal
The self-proclaimed Dinosaur Capital of Utah
CA-491
CA-49 / CA-201
CA-49 / Parrotts Ferry Road1
US-50 & US-3951
Pioneertown Road (off CA-62)1
Historic Route 66 (Mt. Vernon Ave.)1
Historic Route 66 terminus area1
I-701
I-70 / US-1911
I-803
Elko
The railroad built it, cattle made it, and gold keeps it — the working capital of northeast Nevada, a frontier cow town that never got around to becoming a relic.
Reno
The river crossing the Comstock needed, made a city by the railroad—then reinvented as divorce capital, gambling town, and now tech hub: the Biggest Little City in the World
Winnemucca
The crossing town at the western end of the Humboldt — Basque tables, a 1900 bank robbery the town still pins on Butch Cassidy, and the spot where I-80 meets US-95.
I-80 / Donner Pass Road1
UT-831
US-896
American West Heritage Center
A living history farm spanning 160 acres of Cache Valley
Bear Lake
The Caribbean of the Rockies — a turquoise lake straddling the Utah-Idaho border
Bear Lake Raspberry Shakes
Legendary raspberry milkshakes from locally grown berries
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
The largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the United States
Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
Sweeping dunes of coral-colored sand framed by red cliffs
Logan Canyon
A winding National Scenic Byway through limestone cliffs and alpine forest
US-89 / US-911
UT-921
UT-1012
UT-1131
UT-1503
US-1892
CA-1901
US-1917
Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum
An Ancestral Puebloan ruin you can climb down into
Flaming Gorge Dam
A 502-foot concrete dam with a free guided tour inside
Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
A turquoise reservoir carved into blazing red canyon walls
Hole N the Rock
A 5,000-square-foot home carved inside a massive sandstone boulder
Moab
The adventure capital of the American Southwest
Steinaker State Park
A warm-water reservoir popular for swimming in the desert heat
Wilson Arch
A stunning natural arch visible right from the highway