Mileage: 521 or approx 8 hours
Stops: Santa Fe Trail Tracks, Dodge City, Kansas
When coming into Dodge City from the West you will see a large sign that says Santa Fe Trail Tracks. Definitely take the time to see it! We are a history loving family and this certainly fit the bill. For 60 years in the 19th Century, wagons traveled West across this land. The Santa Fe Trail was essentially the superhighway of its day. Fast forward to the 21st Century and you can still see the remnants of the wagon trails and the ruts they left behind.
This stop off has a very nice boardwalk, as well as, informative plaques that detail the history and are very interesting to read.
Dodge City is famous for the many infamous folks that lived, worked or passed through here. For a time in 1884, Dodge City even had a bullfighting ring where Mexican bullfighters would put on a show with specially chosen Longhorn bulls. Now that’s a crazy Old West town! Of course, many people know about Wyatt Earp’s time here and that Doc Holliday even spent time here.
Dodge City is in the process of building a pretty incredible new museum that will be a big hit with visitors. For the meantime, the current location is housed in the Boot Hill Museum and store. They are well worth a visit and we enjoyed learning even more about the Old West, cattle drives and the Santa Fe trail.
While you are in Dodge City you need to get a picture of El Capitan that is just a couple of minutes from the Boothill Museum. The sculpture is of a Texas longhorn steer, common as the lead in cattle drivers. From 1875 and 1885, over four million longhorns were shipped to eastern markets from the railhead in Dodge City and huge economic impact.
Wow, what a great road trip. I like that you were able to see so much including a national park. We are from the east coast so we love taking a west coast road trip. Utah and this area are on our bucket list. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!
Wow! You guys hit some really great spots. My favorite part of the Four Corners National Monument was actually all of the native artists. Such unique and beautiful pieces to buy and great little gifts to bring back. The picture of your son lounging in the middle of the four corners is just absolutely adorable!
Hi Kara! Yes on the amazing pieces. We bought the most beautiful hand crafted & painted Christmas ornament there.
Thank you, Four Corners does makes for great pictures!
Nicole,
This is an amazing piece. I really loved reading it. I lived through your experience vicariously. I have added this to my bicket list.
Would love to do that train ride! I was so close to some of these places when I was in the States but didn’t know about any of them! Good excuse to go back 😉
This road trip sounds amazing and I feel like I got to go along with you in this post. This is a trip I could see myself doing / will pin this for later!
Hi Kristin! Thanks for visiting our blog and thank you for you kind words. Love hearing that you enjoyed the post. If you
take this road trip, make sure to come back and let us know how it went.
This looks like an amazing family trip. It is on our family bucket list to visit this area of the country. It is so beautiful and historic. What a great post about how to see the area and what to do there!
Aw my younger cousins just did a road trip out there with their parents and loved it! It looks like it would be such a fun time with kiddos to road trip through all the sites along the way
This looks like such a fun family trip.
This looks like an amazing trip!! I’d love to go to the Cadillac Ranch. Actually there’s tons in that whole area that I still want to see. We did make an impromptu stop at Mesa Verde which was really cool. So many ideas in this post for next time!
This looks like an awesome road trip! I recently visited New Mexico and loved it but didn’t get the chance to do the 4 corners. Adding it to my list of road trips I want to do!
Thank you, so glad you stopped by! Four Corners is such a unique place to visit and there really is something fun about being in
four states at once. Our boys still talk about it!
I’ve lived in the Southwest for 2 years now and have visited many of these spots, even before living here, I stayed in Farmington for 2 weeks in our RV to explore – it is such a cool area with SO much to do! It is impossible to have a bad road trip through the Southwest!
Hi Andi! We just loved Farmington, it’s such a great city and we definitely want to go back to Three Rivers Brewery.
The Southwest is such a beautiful area of the country.
What a super fun road trip with the kids! My hubby and I want to one day get an RV and tour the US just like this!
Doing this road trip in an RV would be super fun!
This sounds like an incredible trip.I have always wanted to go to the Valley of the Gods, and now you have me wanting to go even more. Thanks for sharing, and I love your pics!
Hi Erin! Thank you so much for your kind words. 🙂 I hope you get to visit Valley of the Gods soon and when you do, come
back and let us know what you thought!
I grew up in Albuquerque, NM. Although there is desert throughout the surrounding areas, there is much history in New Mexico. The post was tastefully written and gave insight to some wonderful places to visit in New Mexico and the surrounding states. I’m glad you had a good time on your trip!
Christa, thank you so much!! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed the post and that you felt it gave New Mexico and the Southwest it’s proper due.
It’s such an amazingly beautiful & historical area of the country.
I love reading about your road trips. Gosh, those buildings in the cave look amazing. As do the landscapes. Makes me want to go there right now.
Hi Lara, I’m so glad you are enjoying our blog posts!! It’s so nice hear and appreciated. This road trip was so much fun and
our boys still talk about it. Hope you are able to see Mesa Verde in the future, it’s definitely worth going!
This sounds like such a fun trip! And doesn’t take much time at all!
So detailed, I love it! I especially love the idea of being in 4 places at once, that makes my heart leap with excitement!
Hi Jade! So happy to hear that you enjoyed the blog post!! 🙂
Visiting Four Corners Monument was a lot of fun and with this road trip you get to see so
many cool things.
What a great informative post! Love that beautiful staircase at the Loretto chapel and valley of the gods looks amazing!
So happy to hear you enjoyed it! The Loretto Chapel staircase is so unique and the story behind it is fascinating
Looks like such a fun trip! I love your photos!
Looks like a great road trip! It’s -25 here today and I hope the weather clears up for some outing! Lovely and detailed post, will save it for future reference
Wow looks like an awesome road trip,I would love to take it during my next visit to US
I’ve seen photos of the four corners before, and I’ve always wanted to go there – now I’ve added the whole of this road trip to my wish list! Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for the kind words!! Hope you’re able to go on this road trip soon. When you get back
please let us know how it went!
Wow, I had no idea about the four corners! Always love me a good road trip so thanks for sharing this, would definitely put this in my bucket list 🙂
It sounds like a really fun family trip. I would love to visit and take photos at the four corners. The train ride from Durango to Silverton looks very scenic.
Looks like you all had a blast. I have always wanted to visit the 4-corners. Now after reading this post I need to do it sooner than later. Thank you for all the information!
Wow this is so majestic. Incredible landscape, staircase,
mouments..