Road Trips "R" Us by Jim Kenney
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Road Trips "R" Us
by Jim Kenney
I've been taking overnight/multi-day ski trips since boyhood in the late 1960s. The vast majority were accomplished by car, not airplane. If you asked friends for a fitting motto for my family's approach to skiing it might be Road Trips "R" Us. This report will focus on interesting drives and places I've encountered while operating in the road warrior mode. This is my opportunity to tell you about a few of the wild and wonderful things I've seen driving around the country in pursuit of good skiing. Sorry for the length of this piece, I get around.
I guess you'd have to say I'm a prime exponent of the great American love affair with the automobile. By the time I was age 12 my parents had already taken me on two memorable coast to coast motor trips and numerous regional jaunts from the Mid-Atlantic to New England. Since then I've been fortunate to complete probably 20+ cross-country drives during my lifetime, and many more of one or two thousand miles in duration. I enjoy the freedom and adventure of exploring North American ski country by car. There's a form of comfort and security in bringing all manner of stuff right there in the back of a personal vehicle. I even like the drudgery of driving, at least to a point. Seeing the USA while motoring down an open highway is generally far more relaxing and engaging to me than any movie or TV show.
I'm going to separate this discussion into the following rather whimsical categories: beautiful, crazy, scary, lucky, tasty, wonderful, and my secret weapon. These are mostly recent anecdotes. Some pertain to drives specifically traveling to ski resorts, many other stories come from ancillary driving while exploring the US West for several months each winter over the last decade. My wife Kathy and I have enjoyed many memorable moments on our migratory drives to/from Utah and the Washington DC area in early winter and late spring. Our son Vince lives in the Salt Lake City suburbs and we've visited him for entire ski seasons since February 2019, using Utah as a springboard for numerous western drives.
Driving an old railroad bed at Utah's Golden Spike National Historical Park, 31 Mar 2020, photo by Jim Kenney
Beautiful
The first image that comes to mind is a sunset Kathy and I witnessed in Utah on 28 May 2021. Arriving late at Arches National Park, rangers turned us away due to crowds. Revenge travel was at its post-covid peak. Somewhat frustrated, we then drove about 25 miles to the nearby Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park. When we parked our car at super scenic Grand View Point it was nearly 7 PM. We ate a quick picnic and realized we had bumbled our way into a crowd-free section of the park and were about to witness an incredible pinkish-orange sunset. We hiked the short, flat Rim Walk trail along the edge of a huge escarpment overlooking spectacular panoramic views. As the sun went down the sandstone cliffs and canyons of southern Utah lit up like fire all around us.
Sunset on Rim Walk, May 2021, photo by Jim Kenney
In May of 2025 our son Vince encouraged us to make a four-day trip north with him to Yellowstone National Park just before Kathy and I returned to the Washington DC area. Upon arrival we spent all day sightseeing in the northern section of Yellowstone. We completed about 100 miles of driving that first day in the park passing steaming geysers, snowy mountains, waterfalls, bears/bison/elk, and more. The piece de resistance was another bit of 7 PM magic, catching the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone at the golden hour after a long, tiring, but remarkable day.
At the Brink of the Lower Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, photo by Vince Kenney
I think the special beauty of a place can be amplified when you experience it unexpectedly and with low crowds. That's what happened to us in May of 2021 at Colorado National Monument. It features the 23 mile Rim Rock Drive that winds up/down switchbacks, darts through tunnels, and rises onto the mesa top while skirting along majestic canyon walls. The northwest entrance station is only four miles off I-70 and about 20 minutes west of the city of Grand Junction, Colorado. We didn't really know much about this fantastic drive until we did it. I've been back twice since then because it's spectacular, easy to access, and not very busy.
The 450' spire of Independence Monument, a signature feature of Colorado National Monument, May 2021, photo by Jim Kenney
We've been to Zion National Park several times in recent years. It's in southern Utah and has a mild winter climate at a moderate elevation. The popular Canyon Overlook Trail is not much more than a one mile round trip, but it's an exciting one mile! This trail offers great rewards for modest effort, featuring expansive views, elevated boardwalks, and refreshingly cool caves. The trail climbs about 200 vertical feet and ends with a view that is breathtaking, literally and figuratively.
Zion Canyon Overlook, photo by Jim Kenney
Crazy
One of our crazier, but ultimately benign, road trip misadventures occurred in 2019. My wife and I had spent several months skiing in Utah and were driving back to the East Coast in the month of May. We visited the Grand Canyon and then Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Upon leaving the caverns at mid-day my wife plugged our next destination into the GPS : Lackland AFB near San Antonio, TX. Then she started dozing while I drove on a quiet two lane road across west Texas for the next few hours. Eventually we saw a sign saying Rio Grand River just ahead! We had accidently entered Laughlin AFB into the GPS and were at the town of Del Rio next to the Mexican border! Fortunately, while the two Texas Air Force bases are more than 100 miles apart, they were both in the eastern direction and it only cost us about 70 extra minutes of travel time as we continued on that night to San Antonio. You gotta make sure you enter the correct directions in your GPS when traveling through remote sections of the USA!
Welcome to the Alamo, photo by Jim Kenney
Crazy is sometimes strangely beautiful. On 14 April 2022 Kathy and I drove from Salt Lake City to Mammoth Mountain ski area in California. It was approximately 550 miles (9 hours) through high desert and a series of dusty valleys and isolated mountain ridges. We cut straight through the heart of Nevada and it was one of the most remote and low traffic drives I've ever taken in the USA. I saw two different signs on separate sections of the route through Nevada (mostly two lane roads including US 6) that said "Next Gas 124 miles" and "Next Gas 167 miles". I can only describe the whole of central Nevada as magnificent in its stark desolation.
Miller's Rest Area along US 6 near Tonapah, NV, photo by Jim Kenney
On a prolonged ski road trip to the Canadian Rockies in late March of 2026 we drove from Banff to Jasper and back on the spectacular Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93, 180 miles each way). The center piece of the drive is the Columbia Icefield, which represents the tip of an approximately 100 square miles of interconnected glaciers straddling the Alberta-British Columbia border. We passed the Columbia Icefield area going north and south and each time it exhibited a crazy-harsh microclimate. The temperature dropped 10 degrees F in the immediate vicinity with ferocious swirling winds. We briefly explored the edge of the icefields on snowshoes and touring skis. We wore light jackets over car clothes and could only last about 30 minutes in the cold and wind.
Vince Kenney touring the Columbia Icefield, photo by Jim Kenney
On the opposite end of the temperature and moisture spectrum, in late May of 2025 we crossed northern Arizona on a return drive from Utah to the Washington DC area. We diverted to tour nearby Monument Valley, the fabulously scenic location of many fine, old Hollywood western films. There is a small fee that goes to the Navaho Indian Nation to use a 17 mile dirt loop road to see the highlights of the area. We debated whether to pay extra to ride with a Navaho guide in an open air shuttle bus or drive ourselves. It was 93 degrees and we decided to use our own air-conditioned car. The dirt road was crazy bumpy and extremely dusty. We missed out on hearing some local knowledge, but when we saw a shuttle full of windswept tourists with masks over their faces to block the dust, we knew we had made the right touring choice.
Dusty Tourists in Monument Valley, photo by Jim Kenney
Scary
When you do a lot of ski road trips you inevitably run into treacherous snow conditions. I was driving solo across the USA in January 2023 in my rugged, ten-year-old Subaru Outback with snow tires (since replaced with a Toyota Rav4 Hybrid). I started the day near St. Louis and was heading west. In the evening I ran into a serious storm near the KS/CO border that closed I-70 . I wanted to ski Copper Mountain the next day, so I left the interstate at Oakley, KS and continued on twisty, country roads (US40) through heavy blowing snow for exactly 88 harrowing miles attempting to bypass the closed section of I-70. Maybe it was not the smartest decision? I passed a nasty multi-car wreck on a dark curve in the road. By the time I entered little Cheyenne Wells, CO (pop 900) it was pitch dark and the police had closed all roads in or out of town. I spent an unplanned night in a small motel (OYO) there and was very glad they had a room for me. I-70 was closed for a total of 18 hours, but I dug out my car the next morning and made it to ski that afternoon at Copper Mtn, CO.
I-70 was littered with wrecks and vehicle debris the morning after a January 2023 snowstorm in eastern Colorado, photo by Jim Kenney
I-70 was littered with wrecks and vehicle debris the morning after a January 2023 snowstorm in eastern Colorado, photo by Jim Kenney
Probably my least favorite DC-to-SLC passage was in February, 2021 when I made a drive west by myself in two days. It was 17 hours on the road, 8 hours in a motel in central Missouri, and 17 more hours on the road to my son’s house in Utah. I was trying to minimize exposure to Covid-19 virus before being vaccinated and decided to limit my motel stays to one night. I won’t attempt that again in two days, at least not solo. I made it safely through intermittent snow squalls much of the way, but it was an exhausting, bleary-eyed slog! There was no messing around and few, if any, photographs taken on that drive!
Interstate 80 Archway at Kearney, NE, February 2021, photo by Jim Kenney
Don't ever let your gas gauge get below one-third full in Big Sky country. In March of 2018 I drove from Utah to Revelstoke, BC with my wife Kathy and my son Vince. Eight hours after leaving Salt Lake City we exited I-90 east of Missoula, MT around 8:30 PM to head north to Canada. There was a motel at the exit, but I was not sleepy and decided to drive a little longer as the border was 200 miles away. It wasn't snowy, but it was remote. We saw very little in the way of civilization as we traveled on dark, two lane roads. Over the next 80 minutes the "low gas" light came on in the car. When we finally came upon an automated gas station and the tiny Seeley Lake Motor Lodge I was extremely relieved to make stops at both! Seeley Lake lies at the epicenter of several sparsely populated wilderness areas. When we hit the road again in the morning it took another 90 miles before we came to the next motel and gas places near Kalispell, MT.
Cowboys near Seeley Lake, MT, photo by Jim Kenney
I could do an entire, separate article on ski road trip misadventures. There was the 50-yard uncontrolled slide in 2019 down westbound US 50 at Monarch Pass, CO. There was also the white knuckle drive on the Snowbird, UT access road in 2021 that caught me totally off guard because it was caused by a puny, but extremely slippery three inch snowfall in the month of April. Having spent most of my life based in the Mid-Atlantic I never owned snow tires, but incidents like these convinced me they were mandatory equipment for any vehicle venturing on long winter road trips across the continent.
The current Kenney Family Toyota Rav4 on Highway 93 between Panorama ski area and Banff, Alberta, March 2026, photo by Jim Kenney.
Lucky
I don't know whether to call it lucky, scary or crazy, but in July of 2020 Kathy and I completed a four day/2,200 mile road trip from Utah to Virginia at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic without incident. This was, however, unlike any car trip I've ever taken before. It may sound overly cautious now, but in 2020 the fear of infection was very real and we interacted with no one on the entire trip. We dry camped three nights in primitive sites. We carried all food and drink supplies with us in our vehicle. Our only retail purchases were at self serve gas pumps every 500 miles. Other than campground toilets and the occasional porta-potty we used no indoor plumbing - for crying out loud. While civilian car traffic was light, I felt a deep sense of appreciation for the truckers of America. These essential workers that so many of us rely upon for all types of deliveries continued the business of moving goods and equipment at a rate that seemed equal or greater than their normal volume.
Midwest Truckers, July 2020, photo by Jim Kenney
Often during my winter stays in Utah over the last decade I have made road trips to Las Vegas for brief periods to enjoy non-ski entertainment with friends. When making this drive I'll sometimes continue on to Southern California to see family members living there. In February of 2022 I made a quick three-day diversion to visit my oldest brother Ed and his wife Carol in the San Diego area. Carol was in the advanced stages of dementia, but I spent some peaceful, quality time with her and Ed. It was the last occasion I would see Carol alive as she died several months later. There was something blessed in my timing and the weather that February in San Diego was in the mid-80s with sunshine, a delightful contrast to my recent immersion in the snowy Wasatch Mountains of Utah.
Brotherly California Beach Walk, February 2022, photo by Jim Kenney
My wife and I spent two days and one night at the south rim of the Grand Canyon over Memorial Day Weekend in 2019. As we were driving through California the day before our arrival, Kathy called the National Park lodging reservations number to see if there were any last minute openings and to our surprise we were able to get a one room cabin. The historic cabin was so much nicer than we expected that Kathy and I immediately hugged each other with glee the moment we stepped inside. It was just 40 feet from the rim, possibly one of the choicest locations in the entire park! I might give the Grand Canyon my vote as the most impressive natural wonder in America.
Breakfast View from Grand Canyon cabin, photo by Jim Kenney
I could go on and on about the joys of serendipity that always seem to occur during road trips. Some of our fun surprises have included catching a free, outdoor concert on a random Saturday night at the beautiful old town plaza gazebo in Albuquerque, stumbling onto opening day of the season for touring the upper mesa and archeological sites at Chimney Rock National Monument in south-central Colorado, and discovering a quiet, but spectacular stretch of State Route 12 in central Utah with its hogback road surface and 1000' drop-offs on both sides.
Three photos by Jim Kenney
Albuquerque Concert:
The Pueblo Indian Ruins at Chimney Rock National Monument:
This photo doesn't do justice to the acrophobic qualities of Utah's SR 12.
Tasty
Here is a quick recap of some fun road trip dining experiences. Kathy and I have dined twice in the last ten years at Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada, most recently in March of 2026. The food is very good, the ambiance is outstanding, and the scenery is world class.
With friends, March 2026, photo by Jim Kenney
In March of 2025 Kathy and I were driving from Schweitzer Ski area in northern Idaho back to Salt Lake City. We had just left Idaho on I-90 and crossed into northwestern Montana. It was late and we were hungry. The first establishment we came upon was a dive bar, the Montana Bar and Casino to be exact. The Saturday night special was prime rib. We were in Montana and what else could I do, but place an order for the prime rib, especially when the waitress said they only had one serving left. That piece of meat was to-die-for with a delicious salty crust.
Interior of the Montana Bar and Casino, photo by Jim Kenney
I'm far from a sophisticated gourmand. A good burger is all I need sometimes. In late December of 2025 Kathy, Vince and I were making a return drive from California to Salt Lake City when we stopped at the Cliffside Restaurant in St. George, UT. The french fries=B, the bacon-cheese-steak burger=A, and the scenic views=A+.
View from Cliffside Restaurant, photo by Jim Kenney
There is not a lot of exciting geography in the Midwest, but there is some very good eating. When in Dodge City, KS you gotta try a steak. I don't think it matters which restaurant, everything will be as fresh as can be. You are surrounded by beef processing and meat packing plants for miles in every direction.
Dodge City steer, June 2023, photo by Jim Kenney
In May of 2024 Kathy and I passed through Columbus, OH and stopped for a meal at Schmidts Sausage Haus. It's a very popular local institution. We were lucky to get seated for dinner with only a short wait. I love German food and Schmidts has been around since 1886.
Schmidts was Delish, photo by Jim Kenney
There is a really cool and tasty old school ice cream parlor in Zanesville, OH (not far from the terrific and free Zanesville Museum of Art). It was named Tom's Ice Cream Bowl by early customers because the servings were so big they had to be served in soup bowls. Not learning this history until it was too late, I made a tactical error and ordered a single scoop in a sugar cone. I should have gone with the bowl. It was a mess. I had to eat it as quick as I could standing out on the front yard of the shop while it dripped like crazy. My wife said this was due to the absence of additives and stabilizers in homemade ice cream. A double scoop serving was humongous. Too bad I was so busy with my own dessert that I never got to take a photo of a double scooper.
Tom's Ice Cream Bowl since 1948, photo by Jim Kenney
The Bahnhof WVrsthaus & Biergarten in Huntington, WV has good beer, good food, and unbelievably huge cream puffs. They are extremely tasty and the size of cantaloupes. God only knows how many calories are in each one?
Mega-cream puffs, June 2023. photo by Jim Kenney
Wonderful:
My wife Kathy and I are practicing Catholics. On any given Sunday during our travels we will usually attend Mass somewhere along the route. We've visited many far flung churches this way. One of the most beautiful is the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is perched atop a wondrous setting in the red rock cliffs of Sedona, AZ.
Inside the Chapel of the Holy Cross, photo by Jim Kenney
Another holy place we've visited is the Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden, CO. The complex includes a museum, chapel, dining hall, retreat house, etc. and is set high on a mountain in the foothills of the Rockies about 15 miles west of Denver. Mother Cabrini is considered the patron saint of immigrants and founded something like 67 schools, orphanages, and hospitals in the early years of the 20th Century for the global benefit of immigrant people. During our visit to the Colorado shrine it was bustling with Hispanics from the Denver area, many of whom were likely recent immigrants themselves.
Mother Cabrini historic 1914 stone Retreat House, photo by Jim Kenney
I think we'd have to rank the Monastery of Christ in the Desert about 75 miles north of Santa Fe, NM as one of the most powerfully spiritual discoveries in our road tripping around North America. It's one hour from the nearest highway down a rather sketchy dirt road. We visited it for an afternoon in May 2023. It seemed like such a beautiful refuge that we went back again for an overnight stay in May of 2024. Guests stay in simple quarters and have the opportunity to eat meals with the Benedictine Monks, attend prayers with them in their amazing chapel, and quietly explore their austere, but gorgeous property set between the Chama River and huge sandstone cliffs. It's a wonderful place for a tired traveler to de-stress.
Christ in the Desert Monastery, NM, photo by Jim Kenney
Secret Weapon:
Finally, the greatest aid a road warrior can have is a devoted travel companion and for me that is my wife Kathy. Even though she no longer skis, she supports my winter adventures in a very real way as navigator, motel reservation specialist, restaurant selector, gas station finder, budget analyst, music/podcast curator, and liaison with friends and family around the country. She will also pitch in and help with driving duites. We've both begun to enjoy using Gemini and our smart phones as an electronic tour guide to enrich long drives and learn about new places.
A favorite photo of Kathy at Arches National Park, UT, May 2024, photo by Jim Kenney
Kathy has suffered through most of the aforementioned crazy and scary travel stuff, and has been vital to most of the happy and wonderful experiences. I tend to be maniacally focused on reaching every next destination. Kathy injects a more reasoned "stop and smell the roses" approach to travel, which is far better for retirees like ourselves. Kathy can roll with the punches, and also give as good as she gets. Kathy adds class and beauty to any party and makes the road ahead much more fun.
Kathy navigating our next adventure on the road up Capulin Volcano National Monument in northeastern NM, photo by Jim Kenney
