Since we completed our first long road trip and made it back home safely, looking back, we enjoyed it immensely. 2021 was the year America was starting to slowly get back to “normal” from our statewide quarantine so back on the road we go! This was also the year Jacob was a 4th grader so he was the one able to get us into all the National Parks and he proudly showed the rangers his America the Beautiful card as we entered Zion, Badlands, Yosemite, Crater Lake, and Redwoods. We thought we could use it to enter Mount Rushmore but the park pass is not valid there. We also visited Crazy Horse Memorial, and the Black Hills this trip. Writing this now 5 years later, the kids still talk about how much fun and how special this trip was.
As you can probably tell if you’ve been going on this travel journey with us, we absolutely LOVE Zion National Park so since we were heading out that way for this trip, our first destination was no other than this magical place. Due to some scheduling conflict, I didn’t book a campsite at Zion ahead of time as I like to do but thankfully we were able to book one night there. If you know you will be going to Zion try to book your site up to six months in advance to stay inside the park in Watchman Campground. There are other places to stay too but you will have a long drive in if you stay outside of it. We stayed on site B025 and we had an amazing view of the mountains. We hiked right out of the campground for a bit before having a magical night under the stars.
Next day we moved to the oversize parking lot and took the shuttle to the Narrows, stop #9. We pre-packed our water proof bag with our strap sandals, a towel, water, and our lunch. We already had on our bathing suit under our water clothes, our hat, water proof phone pouches, and our water shoes on so we could go right in when we got there. We were all very excited to give this another go; last time the kids were much younger so this time around we were able to hike a lot longer which allowed us to go across deep sections I never been able to do before. We hiked about 4 hours before we turned around and hiked back. It was just as breathtaking as the first time I did it. One thing I did wish we had was a wooden walking stick. I brought our metal one but it did not work very well. Be sure to have a decent pair of water shoes with a proper sole when you go there, it is very slippery. There are so many different trails here to hike and to see but our whole purpose was the Narrows again so after we were done, we swapped our water shoes for the sandals we brought so we could comfortably walk back to the shuttle stop. The entrance to the Narrows is a little over a mile away from the shuttle stop so I learned from our first time that walking that distance with wet shoes on is not fun but keeping your wet clothes on does help keep you cool in the heat.
The next two nights we stayed in a small RV park in St. George. Most people there are long term residents but we still felt welcome and they have a beautiful mountain behind the park so you were still surrounded by mountains. Hillside Palms RV Park is 32 miles away from Zion. There are other RV parks around to choose from but we chose this one so we could explore the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve that was right behind us. We were able to ride our bikes there (up the hills so be ready for that) but be sure to visit this beauty when you go, we all had so much fun hiking around and they even have their own “Narrows” you can try to squeeze through.
Heading out of beautiful Utah, we proceeded to make our way to South Dakota next. We had an all day driving day but there are absolutely no Cracker Barrels in this part of the country so we ended up spending the night in a parking lot at a gas station surrounded by trucks so we wouldn’t feel alone. It wasn’t our best night sleep ever so we would have liked to find a campground instead but there weren’t many options around the time we hit our 500 mile mark that put us near Rawlins, WY. Up Bright and early, we continued along. Before we left, a coworker said we just had to visit the Badlands since we were heading up there and we are so glad we did! This place is soo cool! We made it here about six hours later and Jacob got us in for free with his pass. We drove around and stopped at various spots to get a closer look. The boys enjoyed hiking down inside of it as the girls stayed back and watched. Now we can say we’ve been there and we got the T-shirt 🙂
We were only about two hours away from our campground so back on the road we went again. We drove past the little town adjacent to Mount Rushmore and ended at our first KOA experience ever and what an experience it was! This one truly set the standards high, this place is amazing! Jacob still talks about this place to this day. Mount Rushmore KOA at Palmer Gulch is the place to be! We have stayed in many others since then and this one is still our favorite. First of all, it’s huge, it has great amenities, great activities for the kids, a water slide, horse riding, and an ice cream parlor on site to name a few.
Next day we headed back up to Rushmore and we were blown away by how beautiful this place is in person; the details, the cleanliness, the vibe, everything about it is truly a sight to see. Not to mention how amazing that it was all done basically by hand. We also saw the studio with the plans for it and we hiked up a bit to get a closer look. Definitely a must see place.
Another coworker stated we just had to go see the Crazy Horse Memorial too so we did! Reading the story there made us sad. You can definitely see a difference between these two places as well.. It is very obvious which one is government funded and which one is not. I’m still glad we came and we learned some History this summer too.
Continuing along, we headed to Yellowstone National Park next. We drove all the way to Cody, Wyoming where we stopped to do our laundry at a local laundromat and to stock up. As soon as we entered the town, there was a huge sign saying “Keep California out of Cody” so yeah… we were a little scared rolling into this town with our California license plate. Luckily everyone we encountered was very nice. We stopped to stock up and stayed the night at the local Walmart just outside the Yellowstone entrance and I have to tell you: this place felt like we were in a campground instead of a parking lot with so many people there staying the night too! People had their chairs out, chitchatting away; it was kinda crazy and kinda cool at the same time.
Next morning Jacob got us into the park for free, proud as can be as we entered and made our way to some of the must see sites such as Yellowstone Lake, West Thumb, and Old faithful before making our way to our home for the night: Grant Village Campground. We set up the hammocks and just enjoyed spending some time in nature, enjoying the quietness we often take for granted. I was happy to see that they have many different lodging options here to choose from, all of them can be booked via the same site so that does not have to be a reason you can’t come visit this beautiful place.
We are now on day ten of this trip, after a nice breakfast, we packed up and hit the road visiting others must see: very pleasing to the eyes, but not to the nose. The smell of rotten eggs hits you hard even if you are inside! The natural sulfur in that region is the culprit so just be prepared to keep your eyes open and plug your nose as you drive through that part of this park. We spent the rest of the day just stopping along the road at the many scenic sites to marvel at the natural beauty this park has to offer: from the sulfur mountains, pond springs, waterfalls, and even the very famous Grand Prismatic Spring.
We spent the night in a different campground still inside the Park at Madison Campground since we are heading out from the east entrance/exit. This park is so huge that it really is too far to drive back and forth if you are staying in the same place unless you utilize their shuttle system. This palace is so big that it would take you nearly 8 hours just to drive through it without stops so I would recommend planning ahead and staying in two different campgrounds so you don’t have to drive back and forth; they have plenty to choose from if you book early enough.
Heading out, we were originally planning on going to Glacier from here but we decided to turn that into its own trip in the future so we headed to Oregon next to visit family. Around our 500 miles driving mark, we found Wildhouse Resort & Casino where you can stay overnight for free in the parking lot or they have a campground you can book and plug in for the night if you prefer utilities and amenities. We just stayed in the parking lot based on a google review we read so thank you to the person who mentioned that.
Up bright and early, we continue along to our destination of the day, Oregon and Washington are separated by water and the scenery is so pretty. Driving along we came across the beautiful Multnomah Falls so we had to stop and show our kids how beautiful it is. We made it to Hillsboro and had a wonderful time visiting family. I couldn’t find a campground or a RV park nearby so I remembered what a great experience it was to stay in a hotel parking lot so that’s what we did and it was a great night’s sleep!
Two weeks into our trip now, after a lovely breakfast and family hangout, we begin to make our way south. We planned on staying the night at the Walmart in Eugene but parking security quickly came to us and said we are not allowed there anymore. Apparently they had problems with full time RVers “living” in their parking lot so they now banned everyone from staying the night there. That put a little wrench in our plans as we were banking on staying there the night so we had to keep driving and thankfully we found a Pilot truck stop instead. Again, never our first choice but a decent 2nd or 3rd option if needed and I’m thankful that we have that option when needed so thank you Pilot.
Day fifteen is off to a great start, we were just miles away from Crater Lake and oh my… what a sight! All four of us were in awe of just how stunning this place is. I could not believe I was really looking at something real, it truly looks like you are staring at a painting. Thankfully we went on a clear sky day so it was absolutely magical, every angle was more beautiful than the next. We drove all the way around stopping constantly and just in shock of what we were looking at, it didn’t move! It felt surreal. The lines where the blue water, the mountains, and the blue sky meet was so crisp that it made you feel like you were staring at another universe, so peaceful. Truly a must see at least once, so be sure to stop when you are near the Oregon/ California border region.
From there we headed to our long anticipated campsite in the Redwoods. I’ve always wanted to camp since I first passed through when I was fourteen so thirty years later, here we are 😉 I booked two different campgrounds this time too since I didn’t know how long we would take at Craker Lake so I didn’t want to arrive in the dark. I booked a spot at Grassy Flat Campground for one night right off the main road (Redwood Highway 199) and it was okay. They have a lot of first come first serve sites but I don’t play that game, I NEED to know where we are going to sleep as much as I can so since they have a few sites you can book ahead, that’s what I did. There are plenty of other options around so you have options around this area for your trip.
Next day we finally experienced Redwoods and all its foresty majesty. We stayed 2 nights at Panther Flat campground and had a wonderful time disconnecting and enjoying nature. We rode our bikes down to the river and Jacob was the only brave one to enter. Dad got wet too just in case but the flow was making me nervous so he rode the river until we couldn’t follow him by foot anymore. This campground was great but we first tried to book at Jedediah Smith Campground and it gets book solid very fast. This place looks wonderful so maybe you have better luck, you can book your spot there, here.
Day sixteen was filled with a lot to see. First up is an absolute must if you are in this area is to drive through the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway just off the 101 Hwy about an hour south of the campground AND (a big and) you must drive through the Avenue of the Giants, also just off the 101 Hwy another 2 hours south. Both of these scenic roads allow you to be fully emerged in a forest like no other. You can pull over and explore, you can hike a little or a lot, regardless of what you choose, it will be a memory that will last forever. There are other pretty cool things to do here such as Trees of Mystery, driving through a tree, treehouse, and others that we toured in past visits so it is not included in this trip. With so many boondocking days in a row, we booked a full hookup site to complete our RV life housekeeping aka: charge batteries and dump. We decided on Half Moon Bay RV Resort because we were meeting some family members nearby. We are so happy we found this place because walking distance away there is a beautiful tree lined path leading you to the wavecrest beach trail that guides you all the way to the beach! This was a pleasant stay.
After a great night’s sleep,we were on our last stretch back home. We drove inland first and met some more family members for lunch before hitting the highway for 300 miles all the way home. Our prior trip was so far away until we reached our destination that caused us to have a lot of full driving days in a row. Learning from that trip, I feel this one was still a pretty far trip but it was spaced out just right so we only had one full day drive at a time sandwiched with activity days so it made this trip feel more like a vacation. We saw a lot of cool places and we created immeasurable memories that will last a lifetime. We would do this again in a heart beat but not until we see the many other beauties this country has to offer. Thank you for reading, I hope it inspires you to plan your trip soon.
Safe travels,
Brenda Fabbro
