Vacation vs. naps. Looking for a place with a separate BR in national park.

[beth33]

As is pretty typical, I imagine, my LO tends to nap best in his crib at home. When traveling, he has done pretty well when we've gotten a suite where we can put him down and leave the room. The last time that we got a regular hotel room his naps were TERRIBLE and by the third day he was totally exhausted and getting pretty impatient/cranky. That was early last fall.

When on vacation, I like to keep to his schedule every other day, more or less. (Roughly this: 7 am WU, 7-8:30 eat and get ready, 12-1:30 pm nap, 1:30-2, 7:30 pm bedtime) That means that on day 1 we may do something that takes a little longer and he won't nap till 1 pm or so, but then on day 2 we make sure that he is in his crib by noon. Day 3 we push things a little again, but day 4 we go back to the schedule. Etc. This means that we have, at most, 4.5 hours to do stuff (including travel time).

DH and I want to take LO (now 15 months) to a national park this summer. We were thinking of staying there around 1 week. To allow us to minimize driving time and therefore maximize our time doing stuff, we want to stay in the park itself. I am having a VERY hard time finding any two room accommodations within the parks that are reasonably priced. (I could manage to budget $200 or so a night, especially since activities tend to be free in the park, but we can't swing $500!)

I'd love your thoughts / input / suggestions. Thanks!


Oh, BTW, here are the parks we're considering right now in case you're curious.

Olympic National Park, Washington
Lassen Volcanic National Park, Mineral, CA
Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO (probably not 1st choice b/c flood damage)
Mount Rainier National Park, Ashford, WA
Mesa Verde National Park, Mesa Verde, CO
Yosemite National Park, Yosemite, CA
Yellowstone: Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho
Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts

[nona]

i think 15 months is a REALLY hard age.

when we tried this with my DS, we either hung outside the room until he was asleep or made a makeshift "wall" if the room was big enough using furniture.

he only naps 1.5 hours each day?

[zeri]

ouch oh my goodness that is a LOT. I am not sure where you are located - it sounds like western US but then I see a Massachusetts campground there? I had found cabins in eastern US parks that were cheaper, but if you are in the west and not too southerly, I would consider coming to Canada. Your dollar is strong and you would be able to stay near Banff in Alberta (random search give me around CAD 259/night for a one bedroom condo with kitchen, but it isn't the economy hotel) or somewhere in BC (some parks have accommodations like this: http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/kootenay/activ/camping/otentik.aspx).

I voted other because I would expand my range to near parks that had cheaper accommodations - with us it was more night time sleep than naps, but I WILL not stay for longer than a night in a hotel with only one room, or everyone has to go to be at 8 with the kids!

[Mama2boys]

we do 1 bedroom suites, and sometimes DH and I sleep on the sofa come bed, not great but that way the night is ours to watch a movie have wine etc etc other nights we move the kids once we are ready for bed

BUT so far we have only done it in a hotel

[Mama2Athena]

We took my DD to the Grand Canyon when she was 15 months old.  I'll admit that I'm super cheap so we didn't even consider a suite, let alone anything inside or close to the park.  We did a single hotel room with 7 year old son in tow and travel time from hotel to park entrance was about 1.5 hours drive.  Needless to say, we weren't able to just go back to the hotel to put her down for a nap.  My DD also naps best in her crib, but will also take 30-40 minute car naps if needed.  At that point, she was down to one nap, but on our trip she did a couple short naps every day in the car.  We just made sure we were driving during her potential nap times.  Luckily it worked out fine - we were able to drive and "sightsee" while she napped.  My son was kept occupied with an iPad so that he wouldn't disturb DD while she napped.  Would napping in the car be an option for your LO?

[michaeljacknnugg]

I'd have him nap out and about, in the buggy or in the car. We've stayed away quite a lot with DS and I don't remember ever trying to make him nap in the same room. Nighttime sleep was ok with us all together, though.

[beth33]

i think 15 months is a REALLY hard age.

when we tried this with my DS, we either hung outside the room until he was asleep or made a makeshift "wall" if the room was big enough using furniture.

he only naps 1.5 hours each day?

Yup, 1.5 hr nap on a pretty good / normal day. If he falls asleep in the car, he can stop at the 45 minute mark. That's a sign of a... challenging day. I would love him to sleep longer, but what can you do? He had started to sleep a little longer before DST, but I'm not sure if that was his nap finally starting to lengthen out or just a growth spurt. I hope the former but suspect the latter.

[beth33]

ouch oh my goodness that is a LOT. I am not sure where you are located - it sounds like western US but then I see a Massachusetts campground there? I had found cabins in eastern US parks that were cheaper, but if you are in the west and not too southerly, I would consider coming to Canada. Your dollar is strong and you would be able to stay near Banff in Alberta (random search give me around CAD 259/night for a one bedroom condo with kitchen, but it isn't the economy hotel) or somewhere in BC (some parks have accommodations like this: http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/kootenay/activ/camping/otentik.aspx).


I voted other because I would expand my range to near parks that had cheaper accommodations - with us it was more night time sleep than naps, but I WILL not stay for longer than a night in a hotel with only one room, or everyone has to go to be at 8 with the kids!

What an interesting suggestion! I'll definitely check Canada out. It might be time to get LO a passport and make him an international traveler

On a side note, we actually live in the east, but most of the parks we want to see are in the west. We've been to a decent number locally, actually.

[*Liz*]

I'd do naps out and about as well - and just accept things will be a bit bumpy for the holiday.

One thing I have done when we only had one room was put kids to sleep while I sat in the corridor and then gone back in once they were asleep. We have also pushed the buggy till they fall asleep so we can stay up a bit later than 8pm.

Personally I do go away despite the 'difficulties'. I take a 'life is for experiencing' approach, sure, we can holiday when the kids are older, but who knows how life will be then anyway, yk??

I've had holidays where a child has been in bed restless all night. Fresh air always clears my head though  , and memories of the holiday are all lovely now  .

[Miraclelim]

Hi my little one is also 15 mth. I took her home for a week holiday n we have to share a room, me dd n my dh. I was very nervous as she has never slept with us in the bed room since she was born n she is a light sleeper. But what I have got is a snoozeshade for portacot. That is a blessing for us because dd needs to sleep in a pitch black room without seeing anyone in the room otherwise she won't sleep, this snooze shade  we put over the portacot and blocked out 85-90% of the light hence if we r quiet in the room or sleeping at night she has no clue that we r in the same room. U can google it or http://www.snoozeshade.com.

Good luck

[beth33]

Hi my little one is also 15 mth. I took her home for a week holiday n we have to share a room, me dd n my dh. I was very nervous as she has never slept with us in the bed room since she was born n she is a light sleeper. But what I have got is a snoozeshade for portacot. That is a blessing for us because dd needs to sleep in a pitch black room without seeing anyone in the room otherwise she won't sleep, this snooze shade  we put over the portacot and blocked out 85-90% of the light hence if we r quiet in the room or sleeping at night she has no clue that we r in the same room. U can google it or http://www.snoozeshade.com.

Good luck

That looks interesting. Definitely worth considering.