I wanted to go somewhere that didn’t look just like home. For several years I had been researching the Grand Canyon, but flights were expensive. After talking to a friend who did a 2-week tour of the national parks, we came up with this 5-day itinerary. The focus was on the three Utah parks – Arches, Canyonlands and Capitol Reef and we made Moab our base. The nearest airports are Salt Lake City and Denver. Since Denver was significantly less expensive and we’d get to explore some of Colorado, we chose that route. It sounds like a lot, but it worked and was the perfect amount of time. One more day and everyone would be getting cranky. Here’s our Utah and Colorado itinerary. Be sure to click on the hyper-links for detailed posts on each place.

Day 1

Fly to Denver

Vail Ski Resort – lunch

Colorado National Monument

Dinner and Overnight in Moab, Utah

Day 2

Arches National Park

Canyonlands National Park

Return to Arches NP for Delicate Arch trail at Sunset

Overnight in Moab

Day 3

Canyonlands National Park

Dead Horse Point State Park

Capital Reef NP

Dinner and Overnight in Moab

Day 4

Scenic drive to Telluride

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Overnight in Salida, Co

Day 5

Boulder, Co

Rocky Mountain National Park

Overnight in Denver for early flight the next morning