Jo Piazza, Nick Aster and their camper van took a trip through the National Parks of Colorado You can also find out more about the following: Utah wasn’t just a summer escape—it was a way to reconnect with the adventures they loved pre-kids. Jo says it was time for an out-of-the-country trip. “We’d visited a lot of these national parks when we lived in San Francisco, but now it was about showing our kids—Charlie, 5, and Beatrix, 3—what makes these places so special.”
The couple from Philadelphia, who were expecting their 3rd child (Eliza) at the moment, planned a 10-day trip that began and finished in Denver. Along the way they visited Rocky Mountain National Park Steamboat Springs Dinosaur National Monument Moab Arches Canyonlands Black Canyon of Gunnison Breckenridge. Jo laughs, “It was an epic romp.” Here’s how they spent their family vacation—and how much it cost.
Why rent a campervan?
Jo, who was pregnant, outdoorsy and realistic about camping with her two young children, knew that she needed something more than just a tent. She says, “Sleeping in the dirt was not going to work.” “A van gave me a good place to sleep—and full disclosure, Nick often slept out in the tent with the kids to give me a bit of luxury.”
They rented their “cabin camper” through Outdoorsy—a fully tricked-out truck with a massive cap in the back that felt like a log cabin on wheels. Jo says that “people commented on it wherever we went.” “We would get high fives from people who wanted to take photos. At one point, someone said, ‘Hey man, we saw you in Canyonlands two days ago! “That thing is awesome.”
Plan a flexible route to visit national parks
This trip was deliberately open-ended, unlike their usual vacations that are meticulously planned. Jo explains, “We were thinking of a general route.” “We knew that Rocky Mountain was the first place we would visit, as it is so near to the airport. Charlie will go crazy for Dinosaur. We figured the rest out on our own. That’s the beauty of traveling by van—you don’t need to lock in hotels every night.”
This flexibility proved useful during a heatwave that occurred in Moab in July. Jo says, “We decided to break up our camping trip with a stay in the Marriott. It was super unhip.” “It was equipped with a water park and a faux red rock swimming pool. The National Parks ethos was not followed, but we leaned in because of the 100-degree heat. They You can also read about it.”
Parents’ top highlights You can also find out more about the following: kids
Jo and Nick were not always able to pick the moments that kids would have chosen, but they accepted it. Jo explains that the kids are still talking about their time at the Dinosaur National Monument and the pool they visited in Moab. They were also strangely intrigued by how much attention our van received.
