My family recently took a road trip out west and I must say that traveling during a pandemic was not quite what I expected.
My family loves to travel. We like to travel together as a family of 4, and when we’re able, my husband & I love to travel alone. There’s nothing better than seeing things the way my kids see them. There’s also nothing worse than hearing the groans from the backseat as we tell them to turn off their screens & “enjoy the scenery!” But traveling during a pandemic is a little different.
Let The Adventure Begin
Recently, our family drove to Colorado, yes we drove through five different states while traveling during a pandemic! We made it to Richardson, TX, before we decided to stop. We took our masks, Clorox wipes, and Lysol sprays & checked into our hotel room around midnight. After spraying or wiping everything down and using our pillows, we all crashed.
The next morning, we stopped at a drive-through for breakfast, again being extra cautious & headed out of town for our first actual stop, Guthrie, OK. The husband has family there & it was nice to relax. My kids swam, ran around mask free, fished, rode four-wheelers (don’t worry, they wore helmets!), and enjoyed life without too many restraints. Our short time with family ended & we were back on the road!
Colorado Here We Come
We checked into hotel #2. Again with the Clorox & Lysol & masks. We even had to make an appointment for our family to swim in the indoor pool. It was just the 4 of us, and we got 1 hour only! Colorado Springs requested the public wear a mask, but it wasn’t mandatory. We spent two days in Colorado Springs & then drove for 2 hours to Breckenridge.
Once you arrived in Breckenridge, we checked into our Airbnb. We were provided with Clorox wipes there, so we didn’t have to use our own. There we hiked and enjoyed most of our time outdoors. We didn’t need a mask unless we were in town. Dining was open indoors or out, but we chose to dine al fresco every time, not because we were afraid of getting COVID, but because the weather was incredible and we didn’t want to waste a second it!
Enjoying The Sites
Two days later (are you noticing a trend?), we loaded up the car and kids yet again and drove five hours to a little box canyon called Ouray. After we ate lunch outside, we masked up and took a tour of the Bachelor Syracuse Mine. We went 1500 ft into the abandoned mine from the late 1800s, and once the tour finished, we panned for gold. We came up empty, but it was still fun.
Then we got back into the car and drove just a little farther to the town of Telluride. There, masks weren’t a choice but a MUST. When we checked into our hotel, we were given face masks, in case we’d made it this far without them, I guess, and Clorox wipes. We had to wear masks everywhere in town except if we were in our hotel room.
Shops were open, but very few people were allowed inside at once. I remember one place had a max of 15 people. When a store reached max capacity, they’d rope off the store until people left. Many restaurants, however, were still closed to the indoor dining. We chose outdoors because what southerner can resist 74-degree weather in July?!
Heading Home
Finally, after you guessed it… 2 days, we loaded up our rental car yet again & drove home! 3:43 am Mountain Time. Our goal was to make it to Tyler, Texas, before we stopped but decided to skip the hotel and drove straight home.
I wish I could tell you it was easy to travel during a pandemic, but with each state border crossed, our house, our bed, our four-legged family member seemed farther away. I had no idea that 7 out of the 20 hours spent on the road would be driving across Texas! If you did the math, you know we didn’t get home until around 12:45 Monday morning! I’m not sure if I’d ever attempt a 20-hour drive again because it took days to recover, but I would surely travel by car, with or without my kids, even while traveling during a pandemic again!
Just be prepared for plans to change, and don’t get disappointed if something you truly wanted to do wasn’t open. It may not turn out to be quite the adventure you’d hoped. Just make sure you know the rules and laws of the places you’re visiting!
PS: We pulled our masks down or off for photos only, and our photographers stood well over 6 ft. away from us!
To read more tips on travel, visit 6 Travel Tips when Traveling with the Family and Traveling with Tots.
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