Month: August 2018

Trip Report: Going West – the Itinerary and Week 1 Details

Welcome back! If you need to catch up on the background of this road trip across America, be sure to check out Trip Report: Part 1 which covers general details about the trip plus lots of preparation and planning tips as well.

This post will lay out our entire itinerary plus the details of each stop for the first week. I have written and re-written this post so many times because I’m trying to not overwhelm you, but also give you all the information you may want in planning your own trip someday. Ultimately, I decided to give an outline of the entire trip for those who just want a map, so to speak, and then lay out the details of just the first week. The next post will cover week two, and then week three, etc. In between, I will still be posting recipes and other goodies, so be sure to check those out. I just posted a delicious pork recipe that has been a hit with everyone in my house – and other guinea pigs as well! Be sure to try this one. It’s super easy!

Our exact route across the country and back has been a huge topic of interest to many people, and deservedly so. We really could have gone just about anywhere. We weren’t tied to airports or rental car agencies or even hotels. We were only limited by time. Consequently, this was absolutely one of the biggest tasks in planning the entire trip. We knew we wanted to get to Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, but we literally had the entire country between those places and our home in North Carolina so nailing down the route was a big undertaking. My priorities won’t necessarily be your priorities, but I’ll tell you what we did and why and hopefully that will help you should you want to plan such an adventure.

For those of you who just want to know where our stops were, here’s the outline:

July 2 – Raleigh, NC to Smoky Mountain National Park

July 3 – Hike in Smoky Mountains then drive to Mammoth Cave, KY

July 4 – Tour Mammoth Cave then drive to St. Louis, MO

July 5 – Morning at City Museum in St. Louis then drive to Springfield, IL to tour Lincoln home

July 6 – Drive to De Smet, SD with stopover for lunch in Kansas City, MO and ice cream in Omaha, NE

July 7 – Morning touring De Smet and all the Little House on the Prairie sites then drive to Lead, SD (Badlands/Black Hills area)

July 8-9 – Spent days touring Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Spearfish Falls, Lead/Deadwood, SD

July 10 – Drive to Grand Tetons National Park, specifically, we stayed in Wilson, WY, which is considered part of the Jackson Hole area

July 11-13 – Touring Grand Tetons National Park. Lots of hiking and picture taking!

July 14-16 – Touring Yellowstone National Park

July 17 – Drive to Whitefish, MT, on the outskirts of Glacier National Park

July 18-19 – Touring Glacier National Park

July 20 – Drive to Teddy Roosevelt National Park in Medora, ND

July 21 – Touring Teddy Roosevelt National Park and Medora

July 22 – Drive to Walnut Grove, MN to see more Little House on the Prairie sites.

July 23 – Saw the Little House sites in the morning then drove to Chicago. Toured around Chicago a bit that evening.

July 24 – Spent the morning along Lakeshore Drive, Millennium Park and Michigan Avenue. Then drove to Holland, MI where we camped for the night.

July 25 – Toured Windmill Gardens in Holland, MI and visited one of the beaches in the area. Then drove to Pittsburgh, PA.

July 26 – Left Pittsburgh in AM and drove to Williamsburg, VA. Spent the evening at Busch Gardens.

July 27 – All day at Busch Gardens

July 28 – Morning at Busch Gardens and then we very sadly drove home

And now for the long version if that interests you (it should 😉).

We set out from home on July 2nd. We chose this date because it was a Monday and we wanted one last Sunday at church before our trip. That’s it. Nothing super significant. We just had to pick a date and that’s why we chose July 2nd.

Day 1 – We left Raleigh and headed to Smoky Mountain National Park. We spent the night at Greenbrier Campground, which was located right by one of the entrances to the park. We set up camp, set off to do a little hiking then settled back into camp for the night. I will say that this particular location was not super close to the more popular hiking spots in the Smokies, but that was a-okay with us. We found a fairly secluded hike that meandered along a stream and some old homesteads (just rock foundations, steps and chimneys). That sort of historical stuff always intrigues me. I like to imagine the people who once lived there. Who were they? What was their life like?

Greenbrier Campground was pretty awesome. It is my experience that most (all) campgrounds are really geared toward RV campers, (not tent campers) and we are tent campers. So there will be about 90% or more of the available space dedicated to those big RVs. This particular campground was no different. The tent area was actually fairly set apart from the RV area on what they called an island. This was nice because it was quieter and the tent spots were right beside a stream so it was beautiful. The downside was that we could not drive to our campsite. We had to park and use wagons to load and unload all our stuff. If you’ve ever car camped, you know that it takes a lot of stuff. So that was mildly inconvenient. Everything else was great. The camp was beautiful and the bathrooms were the best I’ve ever seen (this is the true yardstick of all campgrounds for me). Each stall was private! With a shower, sink and toilet all in one. My home bathroom is not as nice. Just saying.

Sometimes you get lucky, and the campground has some awesome amenities. This particular place had so many games and activities for families to enjoy. With just staying one night, we didn’t have much time to take advantage of all the fun, but the kids did manage to get their work done quickly so they could squeeze in some classic video games (any other 80s children out there remember Atari?).

Day 2 – For this trip, every morning in the campground went like this: I always work up first and promptly my coffee started. My son would then quickly follow out of the tent (he’s an early riser like me). Then my daughter and husband would slowly and begrudgingly get out of bed. Once the gang was all up, I would get breakfast started while the kids packed up all the sleeping bags and pads and my husband took a shower. We would then eat breakfast, and while they finished taking down the tent and loading that in the car, I would do the dishes and take a quick shower. The kids are at the age now where they can be very helpful in the camping process. It made a huge difference on this trip and we’re very thankful. Camping is still a lot of work, but it’s something all four of us thoroughly enjoy. This whole process actually went so smoothly that we are pretty likely to travel this way in the future.

Once all packed up, we headed to the Sugarlands visitor center for information and then set off on another hike. The highlight here was a bear cub playing around in the grass right on the shoulder so we got a great view of him. We also found a lovely picnic spot, but our hike was not great. There were signs about bear activity and we were the only people on the trail. We hiked about a half mile and then I got pretty uncomfortable so we headed back. All the picnic tables were full so we just fixed our food to eat in the car and set off for Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

I had written down all the addresses of the places we were staying so I’d have that in case we didn’t have a cell signal for directions. This was a great idea except that our campground for this night had a big notice on their website stating that GPS would be wrong and to follow their written directions. After about an hour of driving out of our way, we finally made it to Singing Hills Campground. I expected it to be cool and not humid, but the heat wave was in full effect here. Our campsite had zero shade (it was lovely, but no shade), the sun was blaring and we were dying just trying to set up the tent. Wonderful husband to the rescue! He set up the canopy to give us a little shade while I got dinner going and he and the kids got the tent and beds ready. After we ate, we headed out to see if we could find Mammoth Cave since it seemed to us that all GPS directions in this area were not accurate. The owner of the campground suggested we check out a local fudge shop so we definitely did that! About this time, the sky opened up and it poured for about 20 minutes, but we just hung out around the fudge and enjoyed chatting with the lovely lady there. She gave us a lot of information on the history of Mammoth Cave, which was an unexpected treat. And after rain comes rainbows!

We managed to find Mammoth Cave so we would know where we were going the next morning and thankfully, it was only about 15 minutes from our campsite. We headed back “home,” got ready for bed and planned to watch the fireworks from our campground, which the fudge lady told us would be possible. Unfortunately, there were just too many trees in just the wrong places, making it impossible to see the sparklers. It was fine with me though because it was still super hot and humid and I was just ready to call it a night.

Day 3 – Same morning routine as above. We had reserved tickets for a tour at Mammoth Cave at 9:30, but we were all up really early because of the heat and thankfully, we were able to exchange our tickets for an earlier tour. Dad and kids did the Domes and Dripstones tour. I tried to do it, but I am extremely claustrophobic and I just could not go in. The park rangers in charge of our tour could not have been more kind and understanding. They called me a bus so I could get a ride back to the visitors center. Thankfully, there is something called the Historic Entrance at Mammoth Cave and the ranger there let me go in since I had already purchased a ticked for a different tour. The historic entrance is just a big opening in the cave and there are signs and a couple rangers in there for a self-guided tour. I walked in happily because it was 100 degrees outside and super humid and it was 52 degrees in the cave. I knew I could turn around and walk out anytime I wanted and there were only two other people in there with me, which made this a totally bearable experience. Afterward, I met up with the family in the visitors center and my lovely husband confirmed that I had made the right choice in skipping their tour. I will say that going inside a cave was a novel experience and I’m very glad I found a way to do it, but I have zero interest in ever doing it again.

I realize these pictures are dark, but they are in a cave so I’m thankful they came out at all. I wanted to give you some idea of what you might see on this tour and how cramped it was in some places.

I walked in a great big opening and it was fairly non-claustrophic feeling inside the whole way.

We said goodby to Mammoth Cave and then drove on to St. Louis. This was July 4th so we were excited to be in a big city for the celebration. We stopped for a picnic lunch along the Ohio River in Owensboro, KY. There was an amazing waterfront park there with great big swings, an awesome playground and water splash area for kids. If I lived there, I would be at that park all the time. As long as it wasn’t 100 degrees. Did I mention it was hot? It was hot. Really, really hot. Like over 100 degrees hot.

We stayed at a Home to Home Suites in St. Louis, which I think was on the wrong side of the tracks. I loved the suite with practically a full kitchen, but was slightly frightened by our surroundings! We observed a lot of unsavory activity, but there was also a pretty active police presence so I guess it was ok?

After we unloaded the car, we drove downtown, ate dinner at a restaurant (woo hoo!) and then settled in at the Arch to watch the fireworks. We could have probably arrived much later, but we were happy to have a spot to camp out. There was an air show with some stunt planes, then parachuters. There was good people watching too! According to my daughter, the only downside was lots of smokers and lots of inappropriate clothing. She was right!! The fireworks show was amazing and even though I confess to being a little grouchy about having to wait so long in the heat, it was a good show and made my husband very happy. We high-tailed it out of there after the show. I was slightly frightened. St. Louis didn’t strike me as the safest city. It was a long day and we all slept like babies.

Day 4 – Morning in St. Louis – we visited the City Museum. All I can say is that this is not a museum like most people think of museums. It’s part playground, part fun house. All four of us had a blast! If you go, I suggest you wear pants and definitely don’t let your kids roam without you. There are many places where you can get lost. Tons of slides and many where from the top, you have no idea where the bottom is!

This picture is from the bottom of the 10 story slide. You climb up and up and up and up some more. I couldn’t go all the way because it got really tight, lots of people and dark and there was no clear exit. Those are no-nos for me! But my family did it several times.
See all that wire mesh looking stuff? You climb in and on and through all of that. It’s crazy!!!We had to tear ourselves away from all the fun to drive to Springfield, IL (this drive took us on Route 66, which was really cool). We arrived in town in time to squeeze in a tour of the Lincoln home and associated buildings in Springfield. We also visited the Lincoln grave site.

This is Mary Todd Lincoln’s bedroom, complete with one of her dresses laid out on the bed and many of her own furnishings.

This is Mrs. Lincoln’s stove! The very stove she cooked on while they lived in this house. I bet they had a fairly Paleo diet back then!

This is my very own road-side attraction. The martini-drinking pink elephant is pretty cute too. 

We camped outside Springfield at the Double J Campground. We were the only tenters that night so had the whole tent area to ourselves. It was nice to be able to spread out a bit. But see how we’re right next to a cornfield? We were actually surrounded by cornfields. Something came running out of that field in the middle of the night with an enormous crash. I did not get a lot of sleep!

This campground also had a lot of stuff for the kids to do, including this giant-sized checker board. Those heavy buckets looked like too much work to me! Oh, and this place had really nice bathrooms too. 

Day 5 – We packed up camp early and started our first very long drive – all the way to De Smet, SD – about 10 hours of drive time. We stopped in Kansas City, MO for a nice BBQ lunch, then drove into Kansas City, Kansas just to say we went to Kansas too. Then we stopped in Omaha, Nebraska in the afternoon for some keto ice cream! Our route actually took us right along the border of Nebraska, but my husband is trying to conquer all 50 states, so being that close to one, we had to go in. And I don’t like to do something without a purpose, so I made ice cream the purpose. 😊

Then we drove and drove some more! We went through Iowa, more Missouri and finally made it to South Dakota. Most of this drive took us along the Missouri River and the terrain was beautiful. Lots of rolling green and corn fields. You might be wondering what in the world is in De Smet, SD. Well, I’ll gladly tell you! It is the home of the Ingalls family homestead. You know, the Ingalls of Little House on the Prairie. If you only know the TV show, then you are missing out on a real treasure of the book series. Little Town on the Prairie, By the Shores of Silver Lake and The Long Winter are all set in De Smet, SD. We were able to camp on the prairie – the actual land that the Ingalls family staked their claim on in the 1800s. It was magical. Really, truly, this was an awesome experience. Even my boys were pretty impressed.

It got REALLY windy overnight, so I was up bright and early. My son got up with me and we ran around taking pictures of the sunrise. Can you see the tree beside the covered wagon? That is not a Dr. Seuss tree. It’s just really windy. It was breathtaking out there in the morning. So cool and crisp.  If you are someone who “needs space,” it’s in De Smet, South Dakota. Seriously, this place makes you want to take a great big deep breath and take off running.

Day 6 – We spent the morning exploring the prairie and all the buildings there. They had the original shanty the Ingalls family inhabited on their claim, they had a replica sod house, a replica of the house Pa built and many more buildings. We LOVED this place. Then we went into town and saw the Surveyor’s house and Laura and Almonzo’s house and one of the school buildings in which Laura taught for a while. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, please read the Little House books! As much as we loved this place, we had another medium sized drive over to the Badlands area of South Dakota so we tore ourselves away about lunch time.

This is the “claim shanty.” Can you imagine six people living in there? This map shows all the buildings and gives descriptions of what’s on the prairie. What the map doesn’t show is all the kittens that were roaming around. Made one little girl very happy.  This is the inside of the sod dugout. Yes, it is literally dug out of the hillside and the walls are made of stacked sod.  This is the outside of the dugout. Don’t you think this would make the perfect little girl’s play house? Only, it was the real house for six people! So apparently, this land used to be completely devoid of trees. When the Ingalls family arrived, there were absolutely no trees. Growing up in North Carolina, where we have trees all around us, that is hard for me to imagine. So Pa went someplace (I can’t remember where) and brought back one baby cottonwood tree for each of his girls and planted them right here. Yes, we are standing in front of the trees that Pa planted!

Between Little House land and the Badlands, we had to stop and see the Corn Palace and Wall Drug. These were quick stops, but we simply could not be in the area and not go! We arrived in Lead, SD around dinner time, checked into our hotel, which happened to be the Town Hall back in the gold boom days, then went out to dinner.

Day 7 – We took off early to explore Badlands National Park. I did not realize that the hotel I chose was two hours from Badlands. We drove right past it yesterday to get to this hotel! I thought Badlands, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse were all really close together, but they are not. My husband is the best sport in the world, so he said it was fine and never complained about all the driving. We ended up spending one very long day at Badlands because they were having an astronomy festival at night that he wanted to see.

The Badlands seriously look like something from another planet. I’m sure some episodes of Star Trek were filmed here! One of the cool things about this park, is that you can climb anywhere and everywhere. This does, of course, require some common sense, but if you possess some of that, it’s safe and a really nifty experience. (side note: apparently I said “nifty” too often on this trip and my son banned me from saying it anymore! Kids can be so bossy.)

After touring all of the National Park, we exited the park for another visit to Wall Drug. We were just killing time until dark when the astronomy festival began. We got a nice snack of homemade ice cream and wandered around this gigantic store. There were lots of historic photographs of the area, which were very interesting. Then we drove into Rapid City for dinner at Talley’s Silver Spoon. Then back to Badlands. We enjoyed the astronomy festival, getting to observe the Milky Way, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, some other galaxies besides the Milky Way, and a deteriorating star (I can’t remember the name for this.) The really cool thing about these festivals is that they are run by volunteers who just happen to love astronomy, so they’re very knowledgeable and love sharing their knowledge. We left for the drive back to the hotel around 11:00, making it back around 1 AM. My dear husband drove about eight hours that day and I am very thankful. One thing about driving in South Dakota – there are a lot of bugs! We were hitting so many bugs on our drive back that night that it sounded like rain. Disgusting!

Stay tuned for week 2 where we reach what I believe must be some of the most beautiful places on the face of the earth! Here’s a sneak peek:

 

Trip Report: The Great American Road Trip, Part 1 (with Tweenagers!)

If you know me at all personally, then you know that my family just returned from an entire month on the road. I’ve been planning this trip for well over a year and we were all so stinkin’ excited about it that I would talk about it to anyone and everyone. Except for the internet world, because I possess some common sense, but now that we’re back, I’m ready to give you all the details. (I’m going to sprinkle a few photos throughout this post, but you’ll have to come back for Part 2 to see our whole itinerary and get details on these beautiful places.)

The most common response I received when I told people about our upcoming trip was, “I really want to do that same trip! You have to tell me all about it when you get back.”

So buckle up, buttercup, because I’m going to tell you all about it! Because this is primarily a blog about food and how my family maintains a mostly paleo existence, I will focus on how we managed to eat well and stay healthy during an entire month on the road. And all the while I’ll fill you in on some of our favorite sites and activities so you can add them to your bucket list if you haven’t already been there.

But first, let’s talk PREP! One entire month in the (old) minivan with two adults and two tweenagers with the goal of everyone still being alive and well at the end does not come without some extensive planning. In my mind, this is really the very most important part and the part where I was winging it the most. I scoured Google-land and found very little help. There was lots of information for parents of little kids hitting the road, but I didn’t find anything helpful for road trips with older kids. My hope is that our experience will help you to have a positive experience should you ever embark on such an adventure.

A little background: I love to travel. I don’t know where this comes from because I didn’t exactly grow up in a traveling family. We went to the beach on occasion, but mostly we visited Colonial Williamsburg. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Williamsburg and we actually have a little joke in our family that all trips must begin or end with Williamsburg, but this didn’t exactly stretch my travel muscle. In spite of this, I’ve always had a desire to see the country. I’d like to see the whole world too, but I want to start with this big country of ours. There is so much of it I haven’t seen. I am so blessed to live in the great state of North Carolina where we can drive a few hours and be at the beach or a few hours in the opposite direction and be in the mountains, so really, we get a lot of great experiences without going very far. But I knew that there was more out there and I wanted to see it.

There were some nay-sayers who told us driving across the country would be booor-ring, nothing to see but wheat fields and dirt. Well, I’ll have you know that it’s mostly corn fields, not wheat.

All kidding aside, I didn’t really care. Wheat fields, dirt, boring, schmoring, I wanted to see it, so see it we did!

Our primary destinations were National Parks out west and lodging in those areas fills up WAAAAY in advance, so planning tip #1 is that you settle on your itinerary and book your lodging absolutely as far in advance as you can. You may even let the availability of lodging dictate your itinerary. Ultimately, that’s how it panned out for us. If you want to actually stay in one of the National Park lodges, then you need to strap on your fortitude and get ready to call and call and call some more. They begin booking at least one year in advance and fill up immediately. There are always cancellations though, so persistence is key. We gave up on this pretty quickly though because we wanted a space with a kitchen. I’ll talk more about that later. Even so, wherever you plan to stay, you need to get that little detail nailed down early. And don’t think that because you plan to camp/RV that you won’t have any trouble finding availability. Campgrounds are among the first places to fill up.

Once you set your itinerary and pick where you will stay, you can start planning how you are going to survive in the car. Let me just say that I know flying saves time, but it does not save money or convenience. I looked at this trip considering transportation every which way and driving the whole way was by far the most economical and convenient (you basically have your house with you the whole time.) So if you need tips for a big trip involving flying, I can’t help you. And remember, we eat paleo because we have to in order to stay well. We could absolutely not survive a month on restaurant meals. We couldn’t afford it and we would be sick. Car travel means food with you at all times and this is really the only way to go for us.

But admittedly, driving does take more time and the kids can’t flop around from the floor board to the back window like we did as kids so they need plenty of entertainment for their travels. Here’s what I did:

  • I bought these organizers for the back of the seat. They had a blast choosing what they would take along. It took them about a month to finalize their choices. Really, anticipation and planning of the trip is a huge part of the fun.

  • For Easter this year, I bought the kids these travel journals. The cool thing about this particular one is that one side of the paper is lined and the other is blank. Perfect for writing about the experience and then adding a favorite picture. (I started gifting my kids things for this trip back at Christmas time. It really made shopping so much more fun to know I wasn’t just giving them junk, but things that would be really practical.)

  • My son’s absolute favorite thing I bought for this trip: a trash can. Yep, the trash can was the hit of all the car accessories and activities. Specifically, I found a rectangular-ish cereal container with a flip up lid. I bought small kitchen trash bags and we just switched them out regularly. Since we ate lunch in the car most of the time and since kids snack INCESSANTLY, this did it’s job of keeping the car just a wee bit neater. I found my container at Walmart, but this one is similar. Just make sure the opening is large enough to get your trash in. Seems obvious, but many of these things have small, round openings.

  • We have old iPhones and iPads that the kids use on trips for games, music, movies and TV shows. Our kids are totally into whatever my husband and I liked as kids, especially 80s music, so we decided to buy some DVD sets of shows we enjoyed as kids and surprise the kids with those for the trip. Some of their favorites were The Cosby Show, The Dukes of Hazard and The Brady Bunch. It was so fun to hear them giggle at the same things we enjoyed so long ago.

One kid had this iPad holder – because it was cheaper but did the job and the other kid had this one (shown below) because it would extend and the iPad would sit in between their seats. I also bought a headphone splitter so they would be all set up to watch the same show together. They both had movies they watched individually, but these throw-back shows they watched together.

  • Several years ago, prior to a trip to Disney World, someone told us that they gave their kids quarters and pennies so they could buy pressed pennies. It makes for a fun and cheap souvenir. We introduced this ingenious idea to our kids and they loved it. So for Easter this year, instead of putting candy in those plastic eggs for the egg hunt, I put quarters and pennies in them. The eggs were all either blue or green and each kid was allowed to find their color egg only. That way they each got the exact same number of coins. Fairness is key, as all parents know. I also gave them a container of Mini M&Ms because these tubes are the perfect size to hold the coins without them getting scrambled up. The kids just load them in: two quarters, one penny, two quarters, one penny, etc. Here’s a pic of the Mini M&Ms in case you don’t know what these are. Pressed pennies are their favorite souvenir to collect. Occasionally, it’s a little irritating to track down the penny machines, but the cost savings overall is worth it.

  • As for adult entertainment (not that kind), we didn’t need any. We had a lot of music so we listened to that, actually talked to each other and looked out the window. The country is BEAUTIFUL. I can’t say it enough. We were constantly surprised by the landscape. If you haven’t driven through South Dakota, you’re missing something. It’s beautiful. And the speed limit is 80 so it doesn’t take long. 😃

This last item is not for the kids’ entertainment, but simply for packing sanity: Clear plastic storage bins with locking lids.

I bought several of these flat, rectangular, clear tubs. Two held food items, one held all of our jackets.

I also bought several smaller tubs that held hats, gloves, and other small accessories.

I loved this one for our traveling medicine cabinet. The lids locked in place and the carry handle made this one easy to bring in and out of the car. One layer contained all my supplements and emergency medicine in case I got glutened (which I did – twice). The other layer contained all the extra stuff like pain meds, sunscreen, cold medicine, Benadryl, bandaids, etc. I’m the one who is most careful with my feet and shoes and I’m the one who got blisters! Moleskin to the rescue. I never found moleskin in a local store at home, so if you want this (you do) order it from Amazon. Take all that you might possibly need in this regard so you don’t find yourself searching for a drug store at the most inopportune time.

One more random box I found in my attic to hold all of our extra shoes and hiking boots. Of course, we had suitcases, a cooler and a few miscellaneous bags, but packing was much easier and more organized because of these boxes. I know my family thought me crazy to spend so much time shopping for plastic tubs, but I wanted ones with mostly straight sides (not sloping sides so as to maximize storage and save space) and I wanted locking lids. I ended up finding the perfect ones at Target. I’ve linked to the exact ones I bought. These are NOT affiliate links. I’m just showing you what worked for us.

I really agonized over how to pack our clothes. I knew it would be 10 days before we had laundry facilities in our rental and I didn’t want to take precious vacation time going to laundromats or washing clothes at campgrounds so I made sure we all had 10 days worth of clothes and a few extra socks and undies. We each took two pairs of pajamas, which turned out to not be enough. It was so hot early on and since our tent does not have air conditioning, we sweated quite a bit at night. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like sleeping in sweaty pjs. So that was a little yucky. I think I would pack 3-4 pairs of pjs for a similar trip in the future.

I bought some packing cubes, but ended up not using them (these were nice and I recommend them if you think they would be helpful). This is what I did instead: the kids shared one medium sized suitcase and my husband and I shared another. We went through the trip day by day and packed exactly what we would wear – complete outfits minus shoes – starting with day 10 at the bottom and working our way up. Each night, all I had to do was unzip two suitcases, pull the top outfit from each pile and then leave the suitcases in the car. It worked VERY well and I would do it exactly like that again. We have very old, hand-me-down suitcases, so I can’t link to what I used, but they were soft-sided and similar to this. Just your average carry-on size. 

I packed an extra suitcase with one nice outfit for each of us in case we ate out someplace fancier, one swim suit each and a couple pairs of long pants and long sleeve shirts for each of us. We really kept the packing minimal. For the most part, we had typical hot summer weather everywhere we went. At Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier, it got chilly at night, but we were in homes there, not a tent and we made do with jackets and hiking pants with zip on/off legs. We didn’t use our cold weather clothes at all. Which is not to say you wouldn’t need them on a similar trip. We just happened to travel during a huge heat wave so it was warmer than normal just about everywhere we went.

Here is a bad selfie of us all packed up and ready to go. We were attempting to show the very loaded van! Since we camped most of the way out and back, but not every single night, I kept all the camping gear on the left side and all the suitcases on the right side. The cooler and room temp. food was in the middle. That way, if it was a non-camping night, we didn’t even have to touch that side of the car. It really worked well and I’m very proud of myself!

Things I would do differently next time:

  • Limit the screen time more. We tried to limit it on this trip, but let’s be honest, it’s easier for those in the front seat to carry on conversations and regain some sanity when the people in the backseat are silent. We love having fun conversations and listening to music and sometimes audiobooks, but we didn’t do it as much as I wish we had – looking back. At the time, it was fine, but now I wish we had done less.
  • I wish we had given the kids some money to spend at gas stations. I know that may sound silly and counter to our healthy eating lifestyle, but here’s the thing: we drove 8,000 miles. We stopped for gas constantly. We had some very long driving days so my husband and I were always filling up on caffeine at these stops. The kids were always begging for a snack at the gas station and we said “no” every time but one. Gas station convenience stores are like candy land and I felt bad always saying no. I think it would be fun in the future to give them a certain amount of cash that they can spend as they will at these stops. They get to budget their money and when it’s gone it’s gone, but they also get the fun of picking out what they want from all the goodies on display.
  • It might have been nice to spend two nights some places just to get more rest. I say this with a big question mark because we packed in a ton and were gone 4 full weeks. We wouldn’t have seen as much if we had relaxed more and we really couldn’t have stayed away longer. That’s always the big dilemma with us – rush, rush, rush and see more or take it easy and actually relax. We’re not so good at relaxing on vacation.

That’s it really. I have very few regrets and would pack up and go again tomorrow if we could. In fact, why don’t you all go buy my book, buy a whole bunch of Beautycounter and watch a bunch of my videos so my husband can quit his job and we can travel full time? We already homeschool so we are just poised for this life! 😉

Check back soon for Part 2 which will give you our full itinerary. In Part 3 I’ll dive deep into our favorite spots. And last, but not least, Part 4 will cover food, because that was a really big deal for us. We are firm believers in food as medicine and we wanted to stay well so we wouldn’t have to miss anything. I’ll go ahead and spoil the ending: nobody even had as much as a sniffle the whole time!

Thanks for reading!